#he WILL take rad damage

[bakedbeanz]

Affix your blades and steel your nerves Maraud the façade 'cause the children want awnsers Corrode from the inside like a good type of cancer...

[demonlorddiva]

Obey Me! Brothers Accidentally Hurting MC

this is fun and this is silly and i like it!!!! TW: mentions of blood and injuries

Thanks so much for the love on my last post!!

Lucifer

Lucifer is yelling at his brothers (typical) but they are getting the lecture of a LIFETIME

hes yelling, scolding, the whole nine yards

you come out of your room to see what the comotion is about and stand behind him

he doesnt see you, and while waving his arms he accidentally smacks you with the back of his hand

immedietly grabs your face to see if your okay

yells at the brothers to go to their room

please tell him your fine, hes so worried

will be sweet for the rest of the week

flowers,dinner, alone time whatever you want

Mammon

Hes running away from Lucifer

probably running up his debts again

turns the corner at RAD and doesnt see you

immediately runs into you and sends you to the floor

grabs you before you can smack your head

the most guilty giving you a million apologies immedietly

grabbing your head and appendages to check for blood or brusies

"Im sorry! Im sorry! are you okay? you dont have one of those concussions do ya?"

when you tell him your fine he relaxes

until he hears Lucifer yelling again

He grabs you buy the arm, yanks you up, and starts running with you

Levi

(i saw this as a headcannon somewhere like this and ill link it if i find it but this is so accurate)

You wanted to see Levi so what do you do? go to his room to see what hes doing

You knock and give the passcode, but hear no response

you hear a loud game and some aggravated sounds]

inside, Levi is tired of this boss in his game. this is the millionth time hes played this and he can't get past! hes over it.

in anger, he chucks his controler at the door... the second you walk in and check on him

the controler hits the door frame and smacks you in the face, you cover your face and taking a few steps back

bro immediately screams

scrambling to get to you

thinks you've died

yells so bad everyone hears him screaming and comes out

"ive killed my player 2! i cant go on! im the worst, you must hate me now! your gonna have brain damage and its all my fault-"

Grab him by the shoulders and tell him you'll live and your not mad at him

Satan

(saw this in multiple hc,in different ways, ill link them if i see it, gonna roll with this)

Satan is PISSED

Mammon stole one of his rare books to sell online, and hes hot on his tail

hes got one of those books in his hands, and as mammon turns a corner he chucks one it at him

right in the way of the front door, that you open immediately... getting a book to the face as your carrying groceries in

grabs you before you fall to the floor

checking you for injuries

hes read up on human biology and is immedietly worried

he apologizes so quick and so many times

when you tell him your fine he turns to mammon and he runs

he makes sure your okay before booking to mammon to whoop him

Asmo

your helping him clean out his closet

Hes on a ladder reaching for his spring clothes when he slips and falls

when your right behind him.. about to grab that box from him...

yall fumble and he falls on top of you

"oh my! Darling are you okay?"

on the floor he grabs your face and checks your face for any pain

when he sees your blush he blushes too, grabing your cheek

"oh honey, us stuck in this situation seems like fate dont you?"

Beel

You and Beel are tasked with setting up dewcorations for Diavolos newest festival

Beel is running out of streamers so you think of handing him another roll will be so helpful!

you walk up behind him on the ladder

"hey! got another roll for yo-"

Beel, started, turns around and accidentally elbows you right in the eye

you stuble back, clutching your eye

he grabs you, immediately teary eyed. thinking youll hate him, that your afraid of him

it takes you and solomon telling him over and over that your fine

puts an ice pack on your eye and holds it there

at dinner, he offers you more food

"here, have this, you need to get your strength up"

Belphegor

hes set the perfect trap

when Lucifer walks through this door he will be hit with a bucket of devildom tree sap!

what he doesnt expect was you walking through the door before him

covered in sap and clearly upset he looks at you in shock

Worst case senario: unlocked

He gets chewed out by Lucifer first

But spends the rest of the night getting the sap out of your hair while watching movies and apologizing a million times

Makes beel go and get your favorite snacks and cuddles you all night

[denpa-dere]

house arrest 5

afab!mc x belphie

description: NSFW. You are confined to your room for your own protection. But how long will that last when the only thing standing between you and your housemates is a door and some willpower? Belpharoo to the rescue!

warnings: breeding kink with talk scents/scenting, afab reader with she/her pronouns. dom/sub dynamics. Spoilers: choking.

tags: @love-and-fiction

|| Intro || Mammon || Asmo (mini) || Levi || Satan (mini) || Beel || Lucifer (mini) || Asmo || Belphie (mini) || Belphie || Barbatos (mini) || Satan || Diavolo (mini) ||

What you needed was a distraction.

Belphie figured he could make that happen. He shot off a quick text letting you know to count to five, then book it. At the top of the stairs, he swooned.

It wasn't so bad. Half-consciousness allowed his body to fall limp enough to absorb the blows without taking too much damage. The scene proved dramatic, having the others at his side within moments.

He couldn't possibly go to RAD in this state. Please, Lucifer, have mercy? Let him stay home just this once to recuperate?

Despite leery side-eyes and a few biting comments mumbled under-breath, the baby of the family got his way. No funny business, he promised. He needed to rest.

He promised.

Lucifer stalked off, sure to chew a hole through the inside of his cheek all the way to school.

Puffed up on his victory, Belphegor practically skipped his way to your room.

___

“Ah, Belphie!” You greeted the seventh-born, “Thank you for covering for me.”

He closed the door behind him, “It wasn't easy. It hurt, actually. And you owe me.”

“I do,” You soothed, meeting him across the room. You gingerly cupped his face in your hands, “Don't think I forgot.”

He leaned into your touch and sighed, smiling dreamily up at you.

“Anything you want,” You breathed, taken in by dark doe eyes rimmed with deep purple.

He reached for your hand, dragging it across his cool flesh, coming to rest at the base of his throat. He cocked his head to the side and hummed, hoping you understood.

With trembling fingers, you slid your hands around to guide him by the neck into a firm kiss. He melted under your touch, allowing himself to be pulled with you; to collapse onto the bed, a heap of tangled limbs.

Belphie sighed your name as you nipped down his neck, featherlight touch drifting to his waist. You ghosted your thumbs over his hip bones, leaving a trail of goosebumps in your wake.

“Oh I adore you,” you murmured against his forehead. You threaded a hand through his hair, gripping firmly at the roots. He whined at the pressure, tilting his head up, giving you access to the column of his throat. You sucked strawberry marks onto his milky skin, earning pretty whimpers to savor later in your memory.

Despite having the strength to snap you like a toothpick, Belphegor was something of a princess. A romantic at heart, he wanted nothing more than for you to choose him, over and over again. He bit his lip to stifle the sweet sounds threatening to spill from between them.

“Please,” He whined, “Stop teasing me.”

You had half a mind to put him in his place for even asking.

“Get your cock out,” You said, voice just breaking a whisper. His pupils dilated, fingers hooking in the waistband of his pants, shimmying the fabric down around his hips. He throbbed against your clothed body, already needy and leaking from his rosy tip.

You gracelessly shoved off your bottoms while he reached for you, desperate to melt together. You were going easy on him and he was losing his patience. Didn't you love him? Didn't you want to make him yours? Instead of voicing those thoughts, he nipped at your wrists, your hands planted on either side of his head.

“Behave,” You ordered, trying to hide your amusement. You never were good at that sort of thing.

You smelled so fucking good. Belphie had been safely sequestered away, content to sleep away this troublesome week. That was, until Beel had burst into their shared room carrying a bundle of your limp form, inoculating him with your heady scent. Ever since, the seventh-born’s dreams had been haunted by thoughts of you, you, and only you. It was humiliating– waking from naps with sticky sheets, a pillow clenched between his legs, his twin shooting him a piteous look that read: ‘I'm sorry. I should have shared.’

It was enough to drive a man mad.

You slipped a hand between your bodies, taking him in your warm grasp. A shiver rolled up his spine when your fingers curled around his length, coaxing a soft groan from the demon. He rocked his hips against you, smearing precum across your stomach in search of friction.

You raised up enough to angle his cock against your sex, slick from his adorable, needy display. You held him there, twitching against your slit, and waited.

“Please.”

There it was.

“Good boy,” Your praise shifted into a moan as you lowered down onto him. The stretch of your velvety walls had his eyes rolling back. Belphie groped at your thighs, your ass, your hips, eventually settling at your waist. Unable to hold himself back anymore, he set in at a feverish pace. He chewed his lip while he fucked you, hissing curses punctuated with high pitched moans.

You were starting to feel, maybe, just a little bit powerful.

You wrapped your hands around his throat and squeezed.

Belphegor thrashed beneath you, eyes wild, and came harder than he ever had in his long, long life.

___

Clutched against a content, sleeping Belphie, you were faced with a new problem.

How were you supposed to get him out?

Before you could figure it out, your bedroom door clicked open.

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

Do you have any headcanons about the Ghoul's cum? Is it an unusual color, taste, or texture? Is it radioactive? If you look at it under a microscope, do the sperm cells look mutated? Can he get someone pregnant? If he cums inside someone, are there any side effects?

I feel like my answer to this shouldn't start with "I have actually given much thought to what ghoul cum would be like", and it shouldn't be as long as it is, Anon, but here we go:

I headcanon that being a ghoul does make you infertile, especially as a man...early on. Radiation is a massive sperm-killer so I think all the human sperm would be wiped out pretty damn quick. But I think if you manage to stay alive long enough into the ghoulification process (which can be instantaneous or can be drawn out over years and years), your boys could possibly adjust and "heal" from being so damaged by the radiation and start producing sperm again. In the lore of the games, there are records of ghouls reproducing with one another (though it is not elaborated on at all and is apparently rare), so why would it be out of the realm of possibility (in the Fallout universe) that they could reproduce with healthy humans?

I think it would take the right human, the right ghoul, and the right conditions (my heart says 'radstorm', but I know how deeply corny that is), but I do think it's possible for some ghouls to get women pregnant.

I don't think their sperm themselves would necessarily be remarkable under a microscope; sperm having multiple heads/tails, no head/tail, and other malformations already exists in human men, and the number of them visible in a sample is used as an indicator of sperm quality. I think, that close, a sample from a ghoul would just look like a sample from a regular man with poor quality sperm.

The semen would be very radioactive after a few years, especially if you had sexual contact with an older ghoul or a still-sentient glowing one like Jason Bright or Oswald the Outrageous. I think it has a bit of a strangely-colored hue and I think it's thicker in consistency than before. You will absolutely get sick from it (especially if you swallow it) if you don't properly prep with Rad-X. Expect all the traditional symptoms of radiation sickness (fever, fatigue/fainting, confusion, vomiting, red inflammation and burns in the places you had direct physical contact, bleeding from the nose/mouth, unusual bruising) if you don't, and have Radaway ready for afterwards. What's the stuff for if not saving us from ourselves?

When a ghoul cums inside you, you can absolutely taste it, like you rested a nickle on the back of your tongue. You'll really hate it at first, but eventually you'll come to tolerate, even like it. Try not to let them "shoot up the club" every single time, though, since it'll probably leave you incredibly raw and sore. It's also long-accepted ghoul-fucker canon that your sentient ghoul lover cumming inside of/all over you can hide your scent from feral ghouls.

When I tell you that shit would taste so bad, I'm not even sure I have the proper words for what I think it would be like. Sort of like licking a battery combined with the bitter, acidic flavor of bile (and also the taste of semen, which doesn't exactly taste great anyway). You'll probably try to be sexy and brave and at least let your ghoul lover cum on your tongue once, but trust me when I say you'll never offer again. Especially since their regenerative abilities make them cum buckets every single time.

Godspeed, ghoul fuckers. We wouldn't do it if we weren't willing to risk a little rad exposure, right?

[obae-me]

A Taste Of His Own Medicine- Full Revised Masterpost

No one asked for it, but I wanted it, so here it is! I was going through some of my old stuff, particularly this series because it was a personal favorite of mine. And boy oh boy did I feel like it was outdated. Partially because of nightbringer, but also because my writing style has changed a bit over the last few years. So, I figured I'd go through it all, edit a few things, take out a few bits I didn't agree with character wise, and add some details here and there to make it all flow a little better! Lucifer's chapter especially got a chunky overhaul (yeesh that one made me cringe). The changes aren't enormous, but just enough to make a difference I think. And now I get to put them all in one nice little post! I'll still be keeping my older versions on my masterlist. It'll be kinda neat to have both there for comparison's sake. Plus I added a little bonus scene at the end that's... a teaser of things I have planned. See if you can guess what it is. Oh, and if you're new here, hi! Enjoy a silly fic I made!

Anyways, enjoy!

Warnings: Sickness, fainting, blood mention, gagging, fighting, medication use, brief taking of double doses. General sickfic things.

It spread as a rumor first. The halls of RAD were always abuzz with the latest news; the newest trend, an upcoming event, what Diavolo was having for lunch. However, lately the only thing everyone seemed to be talking about was a new airborne virus. Students clustered less frequently in the halls, sharing hushed whispers on who had been most recently afflicted. You had been assured that humans should be immune to this particular strain but to still err on the side of caution. Take the proper steps to keep yourself in good health. Waves of sickness like this always came closer to the wintertime, much like the human realm. And while the air in the Devildom carried a general sense of anxiety, no one in the House of Lamentation seemed worried in the least.

“We’re technically fallen angels, not demons.”

“Psh, you think a little virus is enough to affect us? No chance!”

“There’s no way any of us will get sick. Don’t worry.”

Pride was rampant throughout the House. So…perhaps it was only fitting that Lucifer was the first in the household to catch it.

He had shown symptoms a few days before, beginning with not having the energy to scold Mammon. Then it snowballed from there. Almost losing his balance while going up the stairs, putting too much sweetener in his coffee, failing to focus over relatively mindless things, it concerned you. Everyone else didn’t seem to notice…or perhaps they were pretending not to, taking advantage of Lucifer’s odd state and doing whatever their sinful little hearts desired. No one thought it could be that serious, otherwise they might’ve done something about it. Kept a closer eye on him… But this was Lucifer after all. He got like this sometimes, they all claimed. He was simply working himself too hard again. But…even so…you knew something was off. This was more than just your typical burnout.

Did you dare risk damaging his pride to ask? You weighed the outcomes in your mind, deciding in the end to go check on what was wrong that night. Hoping to appeal to him, you had even made some of his favorite tea. You’d even prepared a second cup for you, secretly wanting to maybe share a moment of time together… Stepping slowly to ensure you didn’t spill a single drop, you went straight to his bedroom, knocking on his door exactly twice in even beats. No answer. His study then, perhaps. So you headed there, passing the shelves of dusty tomes to see that the bookshelf which served as his secret entrance was wide open.

“Lucifer?” you called, holding yourself back on worried feet. Waltzing in unannounced did not always grant you the warmest of receptions. He preferred to have some sort of warning. Although, this time there was no response to your announcement. “Lucifer?” you asked again, your voice slightly louder. Still nothing. You couldn’t hear any music… and he wasn’t often known to wear headphones. Just a peek couldn’t hurt, could it? Just to make sure he wasn’t inside. You stepped forward and poked your head through the doorway.

At first glance, the office appeared empty, his overly grandiose chair devoid of its demon. However, after a better look, you noticed that he was inside, just not how you expected him to be. The Prideful Lucifer was crumpled on the ground, surrounded by what should’ve been a stack of papers, but now was just a scattered mess on the floor.

The heart in your chest nearly stopped, your mind jumping to various grisly conclusions. Somehow you managed to put the teacups aside without dropping them like one might do in a dramatic soap opera episode. The musical sting was audible in your mind. You rushed to him, moving him with a strained grunt so he was flat on his back. You shouted his name in an attempt to wake him, checking for wounds. “Lucifer!” He didn’t move. Not even a twitch. Burning crimson cheeks flushed brightly on skin as white as a sheet. You checked his breathing. Constant, luckily, but shaky. There was a faint tremble throughout his body. Your hand drifted down to his cheek as you caressed his face. To say he looked terrible was an understatement.

You fumbled for your D.D.D. desperately hoping that someone would pick up quickly. But who to call? Your mind ran through everyone you knew. Mammon? Barbatos? Diavolo? Perhaps Beel was your best bet. He was dependable. You didn’t want to risk anyone else taking advantage of him like this. Besides there was no way you could drag Lucifer up to bed alone, and Beel was easily as strong as three of you.

You dialed Gluttony, doing your best to not bite your knuckles in worry. Each echoing ring felt far too long… Pick up… Pick up! “Oh, MC, you called at a good time.” The breath that came out of you was almost a gasp. “I’m getting ready to order food since the kitchen is empty. What do you want? I’ll get it for you?” Beel sounded like he was still in the middle of chewing, which probably meant he just now emptied out the kitchen. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that though.

“Beel- Beel! I… I came into the office and… Please come down to Lucifer’s study, I- I need your help! Lucifer- Lucifer he’s…not well.” Your voice shook, doing your best to form comprehensive words aside from the panic. You’d hid the fact that he collapsed to save some of his pride. Even though it would be fairly obvious once Beel got here…

Beelzebub’s tone went more serious. He swallowed whatever food he had left before speaking again. “I’ll be right there.” He hung up.

Now that Beel was coming to help, you felt a bit more relaxed, but not by much. You put your D.D.D. back into your pocket and knelt beside Lucifer’s body. His head was lifted up with your shaking hands, letting him use your lap as a pillow. You brushed away the hair that was now starting to stick to his skin. You’d never seen him like this before, and you were certain that Lucifer would rather die than be discovered like this. Nevertheless you couldn’t help but pet his head.

It wasn’t too long before Beel came in, messy crumbs all over his shirt as he left in a haste. Once he saw the state Lucifer was in, he scanned back over his shoulder. “Mammon is busy arguing with Levi, Belphie is taking a nap, Asmo’s out, and I’m hoping Satan is in his room. Let’s get Lucifer to bed quickly.” He came over and quickly lifted his elder brother up off the floor. It didn’t matter how long you had been around him, any time Beel was able to show of just how strong he was, it left you in awe. “Why don’t you go ahead of us and meet me in his room?” Beel asked. For a second, you blinked in a stupor before you quickly nodded, bolting as fast as your feet would take you up the stairs towards the second floor to his grand master bedroom.

Careful of potential eyes, you looked around for anyone before opening the door. As Beel said, you could hear Mammon and Levi going at it, but they were a few rooms away. You invited yourself inside, leaving the entrance open just a crack so Beel could easily come right in. Now to prep Lucifer’s bed. It was extremely large, entirely unnecessary for one person, but a perfect fit for the Demon of Pride. You took one corner of the silky sheets and folded them aside. Then you waited. And waited. And waited. After what seemed like eternity- but was realistically only a few minutes- both brothers entered the room. You got up and quietly shut the door behind them while Beel placed Lucifer on the bed.

“What do we do now?” you asked. “Should we call a doctor?”

Beel’s mouth tightened. It was obvious he was worried, but he shook his head. “We… can’t. We leave him alone and he’ll probably call someone when he wakes up.”

You stood there, jaw open, not able to fully process the words. “’We can’t?’ W-What do you mean, ‘we can’t’?”

“It’s sort of an unspoken rule… If Lucifer ever gets sick we have to leave him alone. Even just the fact that we brought him up here might get us in trouble.” Beel looked a bit downtrodden.

You stammered over your words. “I- but- we can’t- That’s the most ridiculous and hypocritical rule I’ve ever heard! If it were someone else, Lucifer would have everything covered as soon as possible!”

“It’s mostly to keep Satan and Belphie away… and to make sure Diavolo doesn’t find out. He tends to be a worrier.” Beel explained. He shrugged, glancing over at his brother for a moment as he thought. “I’ll go keep watch over this room. Maybe if you take care of him, he won’t be as upset. Please…take care of him MC.” With that he left, however you could still hear him outside the door, already munching on something as he stress ate.

You nervously paced. Taking care of him sounded easy in theory, but in actuality you had no idea how to take care of a demon. Would it be the same as a human? Probably not but that was all you knew how to do, so it had to be better than nothing, right? So you left the room for just a moment to grab a few things. A glass of water so he could stay hydrated and a bowl of cold water with a soft rag to bring down his temperature.

When you returned to the room, you froze. Lucifer was sitting up slightly in bed, looking disoriented. A relived sigh released all the built up tension in your lungs. “Oh, thank Diavolo… Lucifer, are you okay?” His head swung around at you, eyes a bit wide. He didn’t notice you had entered. “MC… what’re you doing in here? I--” He cut himself off in shock as you placed the cup of water in his hands and the bowl on his nightstand. You got the rag damp, wringing out the excess.

“Do you not remember?” you asked him, raising a hand to put the rag against his face. Embarrassed and clearly overwhelmed, he swatted your touch away and forcefully put the glass back in your hands.

“Enough of this fussing! There’s no need for it.” He scowled, but his dry lips were a bit poutier than he intended. “I don’t know what’s gotten you to believe you needed to come in my room, but I don’t remember inviting you. It’s about time you took your leave.” His tone was stern but his words didn’t have the usual sharp impact they normally did when he was upset. They just sounded tired. Strained. You frowned. You couldn’t tell if he was unaware he collapsed or just glancing over the fact he did. Either way he was clearly lying about being alright. You decided not to bring up the study situation for his pride’s sake, but even with your two fully ordinary human eyes you could tell that he needed to be looked after.

You’d defied him before and hadn’t died yet. Sure there had been close calls, but… what was going against him one more time going to do? “I’m not leaving," you told him.

Lucifer disapproved. His eyes went narrow and air around him grew even hotter. A few more red splotches showed up on his face… “Would you like to say that again? I hope for your sake I misheard you.”

“I’m not leaving you right now, Lucifer.” You stood your ground. Sometimes stubbornness needed to be met with more stubbornness. Lucifer clenched his jaw and stood up. Too quickly. He lost his balance and fell to his knees, clutching tightly the only thing keeping him from falling over. You. He had his face buried in your shirt, his breathing now ragged. Seeing him like this was torture… although there was something about seeing Pride be humbled that gave him further access to your heart. He wasn’t some untouchable distant concept. He was a person who got sick sometimes, just like you. Once more, you ran your hand through his hair, tender fingers rubbing at the pressure points on his scalp. Even him just being this close made you hot. He was a burning furnace. “You’re not well, Lucifer… And I know you won’t ever admit it so you don’t have to say anything, you don’t have to ask, I’ll do the begging, just please let me take care of you. You take care of everyone else, so when you can’t even take care of yourself let me take care of you. Please.”

He didn’t respond, just kept his face hidden. For a second, he motioned as if he was going to push you away… but he pulled you closer, his grip on your clothes getting tighter. Acceptance… You bent down to grab one of his arms to help him get to his feet. His throat cleared as he sat on the edge of his bed. It was clear he had a lot to say, but he kept everything to himself. Lucifer’s eyes wandered, looking at everything in his room except for you. Slowly, you reached towards his neck, taking the stuffy tie off of him. Kneeling down, you removed his dress shoes, tucking them aside. He loosened a few of his own buttons, already looking a little better without so many unnecessary layers. Finally, you took both his hands in your own, feeling the curves of his palms before stripping his hands of their gloves. When he got back inside his bed he turned away from you. Sulking and feeling thoroughly defeated probably. Flustered, if you could allow yourself to think so. You tried hard not to smile. He would absolutely kill you if he knew you thought he was being cute.

With a hand on his shoulder, you urged him to lie on his back. Once he begrudgingly did, you pulled the blankets up to his neck and had the rag in hand again. You ran the cool fabric across his cheeks before folding it up and settling it across his forehead. Then you went over to one of his record players, scouring through his large collection until you found the record that he told you was a favorite of his. And not one of his cursed ones. You placed it on the player, making sure the music was loud enough to be heard but not enough to keep him up. It started with a soft piece, something calm and hauntingly beautiful. Hopefully it would help him relax.

Lucifer already had his eyes closed again, the red in his cheeks gone down from cherry to coral- in other words, just a touch. However, it was enough to make you feel less antsy at his condition. You had been so close to contacting Diavolo, but now it seemed as if you didn’t need to. Since you had just had your hands in the water, they were cool to the touch, so you gently brushed them against his cheek again. This time he moved his head to melt into you. A soothed hum left his throat. He grabbed your sleeve, now looking up at you with an expression entirely different than just a few minutes before. “Please…don’t leave tonight.” His voice was soft and hush, almost as if he didn’t want to hear his own words. You rubbed his cheekbone with your thumb. A shiver ran through his body and it was hard to tell if it was from your touch or from the fever.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. Sleep now.” He shut his eyes and with a large shuddering sigh, he seemed to drift back to sleep. You took the rag, it already warm, and you touched your forehead to his. “Sweet dreams.” You whispered.

Lucifer recovered fairly quickly. What had left lesser demons bedridden for a week or so only had the eldest brother recovering for a handful of days. Now, he had done his best to keep himself isolated, but once his siblings eventually learned how bad off he had been- despite your best efforts to keep it a secret- they all came in on their own time to check on him. At the end of the day, even if they often had each other by the throat, they cared for each other deeply. You had to wonder if the extra unexpected TLC was part of what got Lucifer back up on his feet so rapidly.

Mammon was in and out of Luci’s room pretty frequently. Despite yours and Pride’s warnings, he was determined to do his duty as second in line and take care of his sibling. So, no one was all too surprised when Greed fell ill not even a single day after Lucifer was symptomless. But, what did catch everyone off guard was that Mammon was not the only one who got suddenly sick. Out of every other brother, Satan was also next to fall ill to the Devil’s Cold. Lucifer commented proudly that Wrath had been excellent in his service, bringing him specially crafted potions to lesson pain and bringing him up special meals to restore his vigor. All was revealed much to Satan’s dismay. Apparently it was meant to be a secret. He tried to twist it into some sort of reverse psychology prank, but everyone knew Satan was acting out of worry. So, a proper deed was returned in kind, Lucifer looking after the both of them to the best of his abilities. Such a doting older sibling through and through. Although, despite the rare opportunity to have Lucifer wait on them hand-and-foot, Mammon and Satan were both acting strangely difficult. Satan’s denial of Lucifer’s fussing made more sense, strained relationship and all, but Mammon’s sudden cold stubbornness was rather uncharacteristic. So, while the eldest was busy finishing the two extra workloads of Student Council business, he asked that you check up on the second-eldest.

You eagerly agreed. For not only was Mammon being reserved towards his siblings, but also towards you… It was a sensation you weren’t used to, him being so close to you and all. This would be a good excuse to see him. Approaching his room, you knocked on his door, pressing your ear against the expensive looking wood only to hear a groan from inside. It wasn’t what you would define as a dismissive groan, so you let yourself in. Overhead completely off, extra light from his displays all dimmed, you were left stumbling around in darkness for the light switch. Once you flicked it on, the pained moan you heard before returned, albeit louder this time. Seemed he was sensitive to light at the moment. You bit your bottom lip and flicked his light back off, opting to use the glow from the screen of your D.D.D. instead.

The faint light gave you enough vision to spot giant lump under the covers of his bed. Not a single part of Mammon’s body was exposed. He was all bundled in a ball. You came over, a nice hot drink in your hands in a shiny golden-colored mug. Lucifer had told you that the concoction was good for demons, and among that one of Mammon’s favorites. To you, it just smelled like cinnamon and milk.

You gently pressed your hand over the bed lump, shaking it slightly as you announced your presence with a soft voice. “Mammon, it’s me… Lucifer sent me. I have something for you.”

The blob of blankets shifted, little chirps of discomfort making their way to your ears. He scuttled away from you at first, the blanket pulled tighter around him. It required several minutes of coaxing for him to come out. The covers fell away as he finally sat up in bed, hair sticking up every which way. His black tank-top was sticking tight to his torso, his face devoid of the normal vibrancy it usually held. Not only that, but it seemed the exhaustion had him stuck halfway between his demon and human form. His body marks were present across his body, but they were very translucent. His horns were absent from his head, but you could see his wings tucked against his back. His nails were the sharpness of talons. Normally, his eyes shined at you, little flecks of gold floating in the seas of blue. Now his color was dulled. But at the sight of you, a bit of him perked up. You were a much needed presence. Even if he talked up a big game over text about ��not needing to see you’, at the end of the day, having you at his side was what he wanted most of all. You could read from his expression that he regretted not having you come in sooner.

You held out the drink for him, and he reached for it with shaking hands. Worried he’d spill it, you cupped your own hands around his, giving him the added support as he brought the rim of the mug to his lips, taking mini sips while giving himself breaks to breathe in-between. You frowned… He was barely able to hold and consume his own drink. When he was done drinking it, you put the half-empty mug aside on his nightstand.

“Th-ank you, huma-hu… MC,” he croaked, his eyelids fluttered and he fell back onto his bed, his face buried in his pillow. He let his hand dangle over the side of his bed, his fingers almost grazing the floor. Your heart ached seeing him in this position… but you secretly had to admit, he was being awfully cute. His tsundere nature was gone, you only wished he didn’t need to be this far gone to be sweet with you. You ran a hand through his crazed hair. A little greasy. He would need to wash up. You’d let Lucifer handle that one. Mammon turned his head slightly, just enough to see you with one eye cracked open. You saw it glisten with tears for a split second before he turned back into his pillow. Lucifer was probably caring in his own demanding way, but you wanted to bet he’d never been treated like this before.

You shook your head a bit at that thought and went about rummaging though his clothes to find a cleaner outfit for him to wear. Lucifer could help him get changed out of those sweaty things later. You folded up a suitable replacement and placed it on his couch, pushing aside empty shopping bags. Then you sat beside Mammon on the mattress, reaching for the rag Lucifer had brought to him earlier. Mammon must’ve been tossing and turning for a while, seeing as it was at the end of his pillow case, threatening to fall to the floor. You dipped it in the bowl of cool water that was left on the nightstand, feeling the feverish warmth dissolve out of it.

“Mammon…Mammon, turn your head,” you asked. He raised up his dangling arm to reach for the covers…and pulled the fabric over his body with a huff. You had been wrong, apparently. There was still a twinge of tsundere left in him. It was comforting, at least, knowing that he still was the embarrassed little demon with that playful attitude you adored. You covered up a small smile with your hand. “Mammon, please. Pretty please? Pretty please with Grimm on top?” You pleaded with him, leaning on him with your own body till he squirmed under your pressure.

“Oi…” he croaked. “Fine…” He shuffled around under his sheets before showing just the upper part of his head, his gaze plastered on anything other than your face. You tried hard not to chuckle, you really did. He was being so stubborn about this. You placed the cool rag on his forehead and heard him sigh. You used a finger to pull down his blankets so you could see his features. You cupped his chin to move his head and guide his gaze towards yours. You stroked his cheek and watched a twinge of color return to his cheeks as he blushed.

“Do you need anything else, Mammon?” You asked him gently. It was a bold move to ask Greed what he wanted. You could only begin to imagine what he’d ask for. Cold cash? A new pair of shoes? A car? At the moment though, you didn’t care what he asked, you’d get it for him if it was within your power…and your budget.

To your surprise, he frowned at the thought of being pampered, apparently. He licked his cracked lips and shook his head. “N-Nah…you can…go.” Had hell frozen over? Was this why Lucifer had asked you to check on him? Was he so miserable right now, he couldn’t even turn to his sin? Or was there something more to it?

“Mammon… you’re not being greedy by letting me help you. I can grab you whatever you think you need. Hell, I’d go fishing in Lucifer’s wallet if I thought it would make you feel better.”

The second-born tried to laugh a little but just ended up coughing. After he wrestled control over his own lungs, he blinked a little, thinking. “Can I…have some water, maybe?” He talked as if this was a new sensation, as if he had never coveted anything in his life.

“Of course. Anything else?” If you managed to poke and prod a little more of his sin to come out, you’d feel a little better.

“I…don’t know…” Poor Mammon seemed pretty out of it, like he was dangerously close to falling asleep, but being forced awake by the sheer discomfort in his body. If you could help him out, he might stop tossing and turning.

“Okay,” you nodded, a little idea illuminating in the back of your mind. If he couldn’t be greedy, you’d be greedy for him. “I’ll be right back with a few things, okay?” His fingers snagged onto the end of your sleeve, upset at the thought of letting you go, but his hand dropped back to the bed. With an assuring squeeze to his shoulder, you left his room.

A quick text was sent to the other residents of the House, requiring a quick meeting in the common-room. You tried hard not to pace as you waited for each brother to trickle in, a curious look on all their faces. Lucifer showed up last, his arms folded but appearing more concerned than frustrated. “I’m assuming this has to do with Mammon,” the eldest chimed in before anything was said.

“Exactly.” Turning your head, you gave each brother a determined look before setting your plan in action. “We’re all putting together a Get-Well-Basket for Mammon!”

A sleepy voice raised a little. “Huh?… A Get-Well-Basket?”

You nodded. “Yeah, you know, like a little assortment of gifts to show someone you care. It doesn’t have to be much, but just grab things you think would make him feel better! Oh, and he likes words of affirmation, so you all have to write a nice note!” A few of them tried to groan, but you were hearing none of it. “Go on! Right now! The master of your pact demands you! Don’t make me use ‘stay’.” The grumbles turned into quick agreements as the able-bodied set off in their quest to prepare their brother a basket. You hurried off to your own room, grabbing an open Akuzon box off your floor, a set of pens and a stack of sticky-notes off your desk. Then you looked around for something to give your precious demon of Greed. A lot of the things you owned… had been bought by him. You guessed you hadn’t realized till now how much he bought things for you. He deserved some nice things back… Not wanting to leave Mammon waiting too much longer, you snagged a nice pair of socks and a crystal you’d bought at a nearby magic shop. They got thrown in the box as you went back to the common-room.

A few other brothers were already there by the time you returned. Pleased with them, you set the box on a nearby coffee-table and handed each of them a pen and a note. “Now, your little letters. Make them nice or I’ll force you do them again!”

Dramatic huffs and puffs were made for the show of things, but they all seemed to really think about something nice to say. “How’s he doing, by the way?” Beel wondered aloud, speaking as he recently entered the room. Different eyes flickered down to the floor. Seems they all were wondering the same thing but none of them knew how to say it.

“Not the best,” you admitted, taking a few of the brother’s gifts and settling them in the reused box. “Which is why I thought this little pick-me-up would do him some good.” The rest of the demons fell silent, finishing their notes and attaching them to their gifts.

“Tell him- Tell him I said to feel better,” Levi sighed, giving you a little wave before returning to his bedroom.

“Yeah! Tell him that if he misses out going to that party with me next week, I won’t ever forgive him!” Asmo’s eyes narrowed at nothing in particular, kissing his note before putting it with his gift. The other siblings had similar sentiments, their well-wishes eventually compiled into one box. You found yourself smiling. This would help for sure. With the box and the water he originally asked for in hand, you returned to his room.

Mammon was sitting up again when you came back, his knees tucked against his chest, his finger tugging at a loose thread on the hem of his blanket. The soft light coming from a book lamp on his nightstand helped you keep from tripping on the floor. When you walked in through the door, you could’ve sworn you saw him smile. His eyes took turns observing you and the curious box in your arms. “Wha’s that?” he wondered, his words slurred slightly.

“It’s for you.” In a few steps, you were back at his side, giving him the water first for him to drink before settling the Get-Well-Basket at his feet. “From me and all your brothers. To make you feel better.”

It was clear he was confused for a good while. “For…me?” But then, that little glimmer in his eyes returned as he started to rummage through the box. He read a few of the notes, scoffing and tossing most of them aside. Whatever they all had wrote had clearly touched him and made him embarrassed. It seemed as if this idea of yours was a success.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

The demon of greed had to think deeply again before putting the box of gifts on the ground near his bed. He sighed a little, letting his legs leave his chest and go flat under the covers. Mammon hesitated before holding his hand out. “Y…Yo…” Even if he hadn’t fully said it, it was clear what he wanted in his time of need. You.

Something in your chest squeezed. You took Mammon’s hand and pulled him towards you, embracing him in a hug. His weary head rested on your shoulder, his shoulders relaxing, the tension leaving his body as your hand found it’s way between the joints of his wings. “You didn’t have to ask. I’m here whenever you need me. It’s not selfish to want someone by your side when you don’t feel well. And I want to be here...with you.” You could hear his little gasp as you held him, his breathing eventually becoming slower, calmer. With you at his side, he finally had enough peace of mind to relax. “Get some sleep if you can… everybody is waiting for you to get better…”

Mammon was now well on the mend thanks to your efforts. Sprung up like quite the spring chicken with you doting on him. He got his energy back faster than Lucifer did, but his symptoms lingered longer. It was rather amusing actually. Hard to steal stuff while your sniffles give away your location sneaking through the halls. Although, even with two counts of demon-caretaking under your belt and a self-proclaimed gift of healing, you had yet to check up on Wrath. Not to say you didn’t want to, you just… couldn’t. Banned, in fact. Deterred by Lucifer himself. But you just wanted to help. Lucifer was constantly busy, not to mention that his knowledgeable yet vengeful younger brother was expending all his strength that he should’ve used to recover busting the house to pieces in several fever-fueled rampages. It had seemed like the logical choice, and rarely did Lucifer prevent you from keeping an eye on his brothers. So why now of all times?

“He’s being…unreasonable,” was Lucifer’s answer. Out of all the possible reasons, this seemed among the most pathetic. A rearranged ‘because I said so’ with some vagueness sprinkled in. Disappointing.

“If I remember correctly, you were also pretty unreasonable,” you stated, trying to hold back a smirk steadily curling across your lips. He just scowled, glaring you up and down, trying to decide if he abhorred your backtalk or found it endearing. He leaned back in his cushy seat in his study, placing down his much too expensive pen by the pile of work he needed to finish by tonight. Another lecture on getting better rest tickled the back of your throat, tempting you. Recovered or not, he needed to give his body proper sleep lest he fall into another bout of sickness…

“And if I remember correctly, we agreed it would not be discussed again.” His sharp expression softened just a touch, a light shade of pink gracing his cheeks as he recalled how you took care of him in his weakened state. Before he thought about it too hard, he cleared his throat. Staggering hairs were brushed away from his forehead as he folded his arms in front of his chest. It heaved in a sigh. “His body and mind have been considerably weakened, therefore he has little to no control over his anger. He is Wrath, and I shudder to think what may befall you should you try to talk to him right now.” He peered deep into your eyes, taking note of your unwavering stance and stern composition. “And yet I suspect you’re going to go see him anyway.”

Bingo. Your hobby of thrusting yourself into dangerous situations formed another greying hair on Lucifer’s head. With a look equal parts exhaustion and worry, Pride lifted his hand and snapped his gloved fingers. Something in the house shifted. The magical lock placed on Satan’s room was broken for you. Although, Lucifer had to go over some rules, ensuring that, at the very least, Beel would be just outside should anything happen. You were to be whisked out of there at the first trace of danger.

The demon’s door was right in front of you now, and for a second you hesitated. You took a deep breath, clutching to your chest some medicine and a hardcover book from the human world containing old fables. Knowing him, he’d probably read it already, but it was worth a try. You knocked on the door, glancing a look at Beel before loudly stating your presence to the inhabitant of the room. Pushing the door open, you were pleased to find that so far you were unharmed, which was admittedly a great first step.

However, you quickly found yourself awash in a sea of books. A mess in Satan’s room was pretty normal. But this… was on a new scale. Honestly, you were almost impressed. Books and scrolls were haphazardly stacked, covering the floor, basically everywhere. You couldn’t even see his bed, it was hidden somewhere in this labyrinth of tomes. You held your breath, not even daring to breathe for fear everything around you would come tumbling down. The last thing you wanted was to be crushed to death. If the books didn’t kill you, you had a wary feeling Satan might for disturbing his ‘organized library’. So, you carefully weaved your way through slender passageways in the piles before you found, what you assumed, was Satan’s bed.

The reason you could only ‘assume’ is because at this juncture in time it hardly looked like a bed at all. Just a quick glance and it would’ve blended in with any other heap in this room. It was camouflaged with more books, torn pages, binders, pamphlets, a few cat figures, dioramas, etc.. Self reminder to check to see if there were any shows on demon-hoarders in the Devildom…

A jagged green-tipped tail dangled from beneath the bed-pile. It twitched and flicked, sending some novels skidding across the floor. You inhaled deep through your nose.

“Satan? It’s me.”

Satan’s tail whipped across the space between you and the bed. It struck one of the impossibly high stacks of books, sending it teetering and tottering threateningly before it crashed down. If you hadn’t taken a few steps back, you would’ve been one with that pile… You huffed to yourself. Rude… You wanted to help him and this was how he was treating you?

“Satan, please.” A book whizzed past your head and you winced, the sting of a little paper-cut blooming across your cheek. The air in the room was suddenly noticeably hot. You knew these were demons. You knew they were capable of destroying you in seconds, but that didn’t stop your stubborn nature from feeling absolutely offended. And so, as if you had a death wish, you scolded him. “Satan!” You strutted over, throwing the covers back and sending even more clutter to the floor, but at least you could look at him. But a part of you wished you couldn’t.

Teeth were bared as his mouth formed a menacing scowl. Hair was messy and untamed. His eyes were glowing an unnatural green, a lens behind his irises reflecting back at you like a creature in the shadows. A deep resonant rumble emanated from his chest. He looked absolutely feral, but it wasn’t till he pressed himself into the corner of his bed and the wall, knees close to his chest, that you put your fear beside yourself. Yes, at first glance you may have been entirely convinced he was going to tear your throat out, but then you ran your gaze over him a few times… His face was covered in patches of crimson. He was only wearing a green long-sleeved shirt and stripped boxers covered in kittens wearing top-hats. There was a sheet of paper skewered onto one of his horns, and he now was curled up protectively against the wall in a little ball. He was scared.

“Get out,” he demanded. It would’ve been threatening sounding if his lungs didn’t sound as if he swallowed a squeaky toy. He was wheezing, fingertips shaking, his tail protectively curled up against his legs, the tip of it quivering.

To be honest… you wouldn’t leave this room right now for all the Grimm in the Devildom. “I’ll leave after I’m done helping you out a bit,” you assured him, but he didn’t want that answer.

“Get out! Out, out, out!” He clutched another book in his hand and chucked it in your direction with a shout, this time missing you by a mile. You blinked. Was he…having a meltdown?

“Satan, throwing stuff at me isn’t going to make me leave any faster, so cooperate and I’ll be out of here as soon as possible.” You smiled softly at him. Wrath had no retort nor nearby ammo left, so he tucked his face into his knees, letting you get to work. It would take you hours to clean the room, but you did what you could for the moment, tidying up at least the chaos surrounding his bed. How he would’ve slept with that mess on him was beyond your understanding. Or maybe that was one of the reasons why he was being so cranky. Books aren’t exactly great nest material.

You shook off his blankets, puffed up his pillow, and then took a hesitant scan at the medicine you’d put on his nightstand. Lucifer had told you where to get it. Supposedly a powerful medication that tasted as bad as the one taking it felt. It was also administered as a liquid, because for all their power, demons hadn’t made capsules a widespread thing yet. You had no idea how you were going to get Satan to take it.

Maybe being sweet first. “Satan,” you cooed, sitting yourself beside him on the bed while he remained curled up in a tight angry ball. “I have some medicin-“

“No.”

Figures, you were reaching with that one. Maybe begging? “Satan, please, please, please, pleaaaaase take-“

“Bite me.”

You scoffed aloud. He was absolutely, without a doubt, being a brat. On par with Belphie right now. You took a moment to recall how you convinced Lucifer and Mammon. Lucifer was only won over when you stood your ground and told him what to do for a change, challenging his pride. Mammon, you went out of your way to get him things, stoking his greed. With wrath���did you? Time to indulge in a little more sin.

“Satan, I swear to the Father above and Diavolo below, if you don’t quit fighting against me when I’m trying to help you, I’m going to shove this entire freaking thing down your throat till it’s the only thing you can taste for decades!” You raised your voice, shouting at him with a fury in your chest you’d never used before, ever. Especially not against Satan. But, against all odds, you were alive, and instead of smoke coming out of his ears, Satan looked up at you from behind messy bangs. Shocked beyond belief, his mouth slightly ajar, he uncurled himself from his position and sat up slowly, his head looking down.

“Tch.” He puffed air through his teeth, giving in finally. Your attempt, while perhaps mediocre without any demonic snarling and mysterious fog, was successful. You hummed to yourself in glee, taking the cap off the bottle and pouring in the medicine. It smelled God-awful, and you felt sympathy for him, but if it was going to make him feel better, he needed it. You held it up to his lips. He growled in frustration but then parted his mouth to let you pour in the foul mixture.

Already pale skin turned even ashier as the glop slid down past the lump in his throat. He looked like he was going to be sick. He slumped his posture and began to release shuddering coughs that nearly turned to gags. You instinctively put a hand on his back, rubbing up and down along the ridge of his spine. Once he was done with the episode, he sat back up, swaying in his seat back and forth until you held onto him, gently bringing him back down onto his pillow. You moved the hair out of his eyes and sighed in relief. Thanks to whatever magic Devildom medicine had, his redness had already gone drastically down, and he looked fairly calm for now. Mellowed out. Some strong stuff…

His eyelids couldn’t decide if they wanted to be open or shut, struggling to fight sleep. “Rest,” you whispered, getting up off his bed, pulling the covers tighter around him, urging him to go to bed. After you helped him, then you would leave him alone, that’s what you promised… even if you desperately wanted to stay. With a little turn, you picked up the book you had brought with you. He grabbed your wrist before you could even attempt to leave. A tilt of the head, and he sleepily read the cover before letting his hand drop back onto the mattress.

“I bought that…for you,” he mumbled. With a grin, you nodded. He had bought it for you during the adventure to London. It was filled with old fairytales and fables, the authentic gruesome kind, not the kind human kids grew up on. Both had their perks in his mind, but Satan seemed particularly fond of the ones that broke free from the stagnant ‘happily ever after’.

“I brought it here for you to read, but you need sleep. Besides you have plenty of other books here…” Your voice trailed off as you reached for his horn that still had the paper stuck to it. You yanked it free with a light chuckle.

“But…” He wanted to argue, but had no energy left to. “Will you…” Satan started, gripping at his own sheets so tight you thought he would rip holes in them. “Read…to me?” Your heart soared so fast you almost went lightheaded. You sat back down on his bed, fussing over him just a bit more, fixing his messy hair. He groaned as you did but let you do it anyway.

“Of course! I’ll read for you whenever, Satan. Whatever makes you feel better.”

“You…” He almost sounded frustrated, like he couldn’t comprehend how you could be so kind especially after the mood he was just in. Then he settled as you flipped the book open to the first page, recounting terribly sad events with a terribly soft voice. Every so often he’d correct you if you fumbled on a word, or correct the inaccuracies of the story itself, but eventually he went to sleep. His eyeballs moved frantically under his eyelids as he slept. His voice would squeak out some incomprehensible word while he dreamt, his fingers twitching in random increments. You noted that his tail that was draped off the side of the bed was now gently curled against your leg. His demonic appendage was rough, sharp in some places, and yet you could hardly feel it with the way he was holding you now. He was comfortable around you.

You used the stray paper that had been on his head as a bookmark, placing the book back on his nightstand for later. “I guess they all get to live happy ever after this time,” you whispered to him in his unconscious state before you pressed the back of your hand against his cheek. Your knuckles tickled his jawline, making his face twitch closer to your hand. “Sweet dreams, Satan. Feel better.”

Lucifer and Mammon were now considered fully healthy and back on their feet with Satan not too far behind them. For a few days, there was hope that the worst was over. It wouldn’t spread any further. The sound of sniffles and the scent of disinfectant wipes would finally dwindle. But, whenever you hope too hard, things always seem to go in the opposite direction. Hopes were dashed when two people were absent from breakfast one morning, and not too long after Satan had finally returned to the table. The twins had never come down from their shared room. For Belphie, this wasn’t something to stop the presses for. Sleeping in and skipping the morning was his whole shtick. His brothers were usually more concerned when Sloth did show up for breakfast. For Beel, however, to miss any sort of meal? Something had to be wrong.

Putting your fork down, you offered to go check on them. After all, morning breakfast was not the same without the two of them. Lucifer was somehow already out of his chair, gently pushing you back to your seat with a single hand on your shoulder. “Please, let me. If they are sick it’s hard telling how they’ll react. They could just as easily be oversleeping.”

You had wanted to protest, but Lucifer was nothing if not the voice of reason. He was right. You had seen Beel’s hunger-driven rampages before. Demonic destruction wasn’t something to sneeze at- no pun intended. Plus, Lucifer was their brother first-and-foremost whilst you were still just some human that had the luxury of living in their home. That fact and the kinder eyes and soft touch Lucifer had given you had won you over to his words. You could trust him to handle this one… He ambled away from the table, and with a few long steps, exited the room.

Asmo was squirming uncomfortably, audibly whining, clearly disturbed. “I was stupid to think this sickness thing was over! With Beel eating everything down to all your leftovers, it’s no wonder he caught your ugly germs! Then he gave it to Belphie, and next you’ll all give it to me!” He pushed his plate away from him, only having a single bite taken out of his meal.

“You don’t know that they’re sick yet,” Mammon rebutted. “And what do you mean my germs are ugly? Everyone’s are!”

“The likelihood that both of them are ill is high.” Satan sighed, putting down his book he had brought with him. After doing his best to tune them out, it just wasn’t working. He still was weaker than he’d like to be, not to mention drained, but a doctor had confirmed that he was no longer contagious and could continue attending his classes at RAD. “The fridge has been abnormally full and I heard plenty of coughing from Belphie the other day.”

An alarming banging sound came from above their heads, little specks of dust from the ceiling floated down, only just visible in the direct light. As if this proved his theory, Satan gestured towards the noise with a raised hand. He held it up for a moment before his arm dropped into his lap. Another loud crash sounded from above, Satan’s eyelid twitching as Lucifer’s booming voice could be heard throughout the house.

This was enough for Asmo to get up from his spot, shaking his head profusely. “I swear if I catch this thing, all of you are absolutely going to have it, you hear me?!” He choked back a sob and went to leave the room, pulling his sleeve down over his hand as he touched the doorknob.

“Oi, where are you going?” Mammon called after him.

“To take a nice hot sanitizing shower!” The demon of lust slammed the door to the dining hall as you watched more dust sprites dance down from the air. They twirled and pirouetted right over Levi. His nose twitched and he raised his elbow to cover his face as he let out a sneeze.

Levi, the only one who had been quiet this far, finally let out a long groan. He glanced down at his hands fearfully, as if they had been covered with blood. “No… No! No, no, no, I’m sick, I knew it! Of course it would be me! I’m gross and miserable and… do you know how long it takes to fully clean a keyboard?!”

Satan rested his head back in his chair, closing his eyes in annoyance. The ruckus upstairs had gotten worse. It was difficult to tell just from audio alone who Lucifer was wrangling. Maybe both Beel and Belphie at once?… Normally, Satan would work on figuring the little mystery out, but it seemed as if he’d met his limit already. People were fist-fighting, two people were having meltdowns, and it was only breakfast. The intellectual usually had no problem going to classes, enjoyed them more than others actually, and yet the look on his face screamed truancy. “Levi, I doubt you’re sick, you never leave your room,” Satan reasoned.

“I told you all, I think he snuck into my room a little while back! One of my figures was moved! I bet Mammon got his sticky fingers over everything! He gave me the cold!”

Add accusations onto the daily list. They all might end up going though their daily atrocities before lunch today. Now the only three brothers left at the table were verbally sparring, one tense word away from physically— You frowned as your food ended up on the far side of the room along with the table. You thought too soon. Unfortunately, this sort of scenario happened often. So, you excused yourself, knowing none of them were listening, expertly dodging a plate as it whirled past. The dish struck against the wall a few inches from you, luckily not shattering. It clattered to the floor as a waffle slowly slid downwards. While you were still unharmed and food-free, you left the dining room. After wandering the halls trying to find a safe and silent place, you sat yourself on the stone steps of the entryway. You’d just wait for the multiple battles to die down. There was screaming downstairs, crashing upstairs, the whole house in chaos once again.

“Demons…” you sighed. --

Lucifer confirmed it. Beel and Belphie…both of them had caught the cold, and the eldest had spent the past hour or so attempting to force them into taking some medicine. He had succeeded naturally, and you shuddered a bit to think about the sort of tactics he employed, but when all was said and done, he had taken the time to seek you out. It was clear to you that even with all his power and prowess…he was exhausted. With Beel’s physical power and Belphie’s cunning, it seems even Pride had broken a bit of a sweat. There was still plenty of Student Council catchup to be done too… and now he had the twin’s work to start on. He needed a helping hand, and while he didn’t express it bluntly, he did ask for your assistance.

Apparently they were calm now, the medicine lulling and sedating them, so you could see them freely without worry of them tearing you or the house apart. Lucifer still addressed you with a bit of concern. “You’ve been on the brunt of all of this.” On one hand, he appreciated the work you had done. On the other… “I’m concerned for your health. Diavolo was fairly confident you couldn’t get infected, but we still don’t know for certain…” His voice drifted, slightly disappointed in himself, feeling like there was more he should be doing. “Regardless, the last thing we need is for you to fall ill as well.” You persuaded him that if you hadn’t gotten sick yet, you were sure you were immune. You’d been in direct contact with nearly all of them and hadn’t so much as sneezed. Lucifer wasn’t entirely convinced, obviously mentally preparing for the worst of outcomes, but he let you do what you needed to do. And that was taking care of the two youngest.

Homemade soup; the medicine for the soul or so people said. Something comforting and filling yet easy for the stomach. With Satan’s assistance, you concocted the most soothing meal you had ever made. Two steaming bowls were settled on an elegant silver tray and brought it up to the twins room. The door to their bedroom had a golden emblem ingrained in the wood. A moon encircling a sun, resembling the same individual symbols above both their beds. You carefully balanced the tray on your hip for just a moment as you softly tapped your knuckles against the smooth wood. Unlike the other brothers you had cared for so far, someone actually opened the door for you for a change.

Beel looked down at you, eyes heavy and slightly reddened. He was wearing a faded orange t-shirt and some black shorts. Heat radiated off of him in nauseating droves. If you had thought the other brothers had burnt up, nothing compared to Beel’s temperature. Even just standing beside him made you dizzy. As if hellfire was roaring through his veins. His shirt stuck to the skin around his torso, sweat beading down his forehead. His abs and muscles were clearly shown through the fabric, but he didn’t seem to mind. He rubbed one of his eyes with a hand, not even focusing on the soup bowls. “MC, what’re you doing here?”

You lifted up the tray with both hands and presented the meal you made with him. The creamy broth with hearty vegetables and noodles would surely make him feel better. “Soup!” You exclaimed quietly, feeling a mite proud of what you’d created. “You never came down for breakfast so…” You must be hungry, you kept the last part to yourself.

He frowned deeply, being rather dismissive. “I’m not hungry, and Belphie’s asleep.” A simple glance past Beel’s body confirmed that there was indeed a lump in Belphie’s bed. Many lumps in fact. There must’ve been plenty new additions to his pillow collection. “I’m sorry you went through the trouble,” Beel sighed, his arm raised to shut the door. Your attention snapped away from Belphie, back to the demon at hand. Was he shutting you out? Really? He had never done that, ever. All of his other brothers, sure, but him? He always had his door and his arms wide open for you at all times. Your leg served as a quick wedge, feeling your knee temporarily painfully pressed between door and frame. As soon as he realized he was hurting you, the door was thrown back open.

“Beel wait, please, you haven’t eaten all day! How are you going to give your body enough strength to heal if you don’t give it any fuel?” You looked up at him expectantly, trying to convey the care and worry you held for him through your eyes. Beel always advocated for taking care of your body. Those words you shared were the ones he had used on you once before. He was somehow always aware of what you had eaten and when. Same for his brothers. Sure, his sin might take over and he might accidentally eat your food, but he still determined to make sure everyone he cared for was well fed. It was about time you returned the favor.

“But the medicine…” He pressed one hand to his gut, his nose wrinkling up at the mention of food. His normally sturdy legs wobbled as he stumbled a bit, gripping the end of the door-frame for balance. The usual glow in his countenance had gone dull. It broke your heart. Beel seemed to always be strong, always be positive, always have a smile on his face when it came to food and family. Now, he just seemed out of it, eager to head back to bed with both you and proper sustenance on the other side of the door. Curse this tray for occupying both of your hands. You wanted to go wrap him up in your arms and make him feel protected and cared for… even if he was much bigger than you were.

“The medicine might be why you feel sick to your stomach in the first place. You didn’t happen to eat anything before Lucifer gave it to you, did you?” Your words brought his eyes up from staring at the floor and back to you. Orange strands of his hair were freed from the skin on his forehead as he shook his head to your question. An answer wasn’t quite necessary anyway, from the fighting you heard and Lucifer’s brief description, the older brother forced the medicine down both the twins throats before they had a chance to protest. You lifted the tray back up near Beel’s face. The contents of the bowls sloshed enough to almost drip over the edge. “You might feel better if you eat. Even just a little? I… made it for both of you.”

It wasn’t often you attempted to employ the puppy-eyed look. However, it seemed necessary in this instance. All these demons were weak to you, and you knew it. You could only hope it was enough this time… Beel was stuck having an intense internal debate. The door in his hand was creaking open and shut while he decided if he wanted to let you in or not. If he wanted to eat or not… Your heart sank as he seemed to come to the conclusion to prevent you from entering, the door almost clicking back into place to leave you in an empty hallway. If this was what he wanted, could you really change his mind? Just as you were about to leave, the door was pulled back wide open, his eyes a little watery as he made it up in his mind that he could never shut you out like that. Your chest swelled as he let you in, shutting the door quietly behind you.

The room was almost consumed in pitch darkness as soon as the entrance closed. The only light source seemed to be coming from Beel’s side of the room emanating from the screen of his D.D.D. on his nightstand. Crossing the room, you waited until the demon climbed back onto his mattress, sitting up while he pulled the covers over his legs. Not wanting to speak as to disturb Belphie, you extended one finger from the tray handle and pointed at his bed as a question. As he nodded, you settled by his hip, placing the tray on his lap. His blankets were soft, and with a stroke of your hand, you smoothed out some of the wrinkles.

The sight of the soup made Beel grimace at first. He was hesitant, but it was clear he was starving. His sin was tearing him up inside. He was only prolonging the pain. “Is my cooking really that bad?” You frowned, embarrassed, unsure if his reaction was towards your talents in the kitchen or the state of his sickly body.

“No, it’s not that. I just…” Gluttony couldn’t quite find the words to describe what he was feeling. But you understood well enough. You’d been sick before in your life. You knew what it was like to feel the hunger pains alongside the nausea. Eating made you feel worse. Not eating made you feel like hell. He must be miserable. This was probably a rare feeling for him.

“Take it slow,” you whispered, your hand coming up to rub his shoulder.

After taking a minute to mentally prepare, he took your advice to heart, starting with a simple spoonful. He blew away the steam and took the smallest bite- or slurp- you’d ever seen him have. He chewed on some of the softened vegetables before swallowing. There was no need to ask how it was. His head raised back up, small tears making their way down his cheeks. He leaned in towards you, his chin almost resting on your shoulder. “It’s…so delicious. May I…eat it?”

You chuckled, grinning with relief as a little bit of color came back to his face, his expression not looking so pained. Sounded like he was already breathing easier too. “Yes, Beel, I made it for you.”

He sat up away from you, the happy glow returned to his eyes as he went to work not only downing the bowl for him, but the bowl for Belphie as well. You made a mental note to come take care of the other twin later. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up sleeping for days on end like he’d been known to do a few times before… With one of the twins looking already worlds better with some warm food in his stomach, you went to go stand up to leave, but two big arms wrapped around your body to hold you in place. The hot skin on Beel’s cheek pressed against your forehead as he sighed in relief.

“Thank you,” he mumbled.

You rested your head against his chest as he held you even tighter. “You’re welcome, Beel. I’ll be your personal chef till you feel better.”

With a contented sigh, Beel buried his nose in your hair, his hands gripping your shirt. He leaned back against his headboard, bringing you along with him as you almost laid on top of him. It didn’t seem like he was going to let you go anytime soon. He closed his eyes and with one hand he flipped his D.D.D over so there was nothing but blackness in the room. Relaxed lungs brought in deep even breaths. He was still ridiculously hot, but not unbearably so anymore. His words devolved into sleepy mumbles. “You’re so much better than any food in the world…”

The twins were sick, Lucifer was working himself ragged, and the rest of the brothers were avoiding their siblings like…well…like the plague. You never initially intended to become a nurse, but how could you sit by and do nothing while the demons around you that you had come to care for suffered? And, if you were being honest with yourself, you were thankful that there was something you could do to help around for once. It wasn’t often at all where you were put in a situation where you could be the protector, the helper, the one they relied on. However, as much as you liked that feeling, you hoped this spreading sickness would end with Beel and Belphie. The constant care you were dishing out was starting to leave you more exhausted than normal.

Telling anyone about your state though would most likely end in immediate termination of your new career in demon caretaking. So you kept it to yourself. These brothers were now leaning on you harder than ever, including the ones who had already been sick. Just the thought of all their faces, pale and sick in bed, lighting up at the sight of you entering the room as you pet their heads sent tingles down your spine. You wanted to take care of them…all of them, forever.

You violently shook your own head as you gripped the handle to your bedroom. What am I thinking? Is the Florence Nightingale trope really true? The door gently creaked open as you stepped inside.

Eternal moonlight had it perks, but being able to tell time was never one of them. What hour was it now? Your day had been occupied fulfilling several requests from the many members of the household. The typically hungry demon would now only eat food you made for him, and while you did promise to be his personal chef, it was beginning to overwhelm you. Not only chef, but you’d been hired in several other new ‘departments’. You’d become the new mailman, bringing packages from the front door to the otaku with severe hypochondriac tendencies. The librarian and storyteller for the bookworm who was milking his symptoms for as long as he could, partially because he truly enjoyed your company, but also because he enjoyed his brother’s complaints as he kept you to himself. The beauty product tester and fashion assistant for Asmo who refused to let any of his brothers touch him with a ten foot pole. The lawyer for Mammon who was apparently determined to get himself into trouble more so than not lately. And also Lucifer’s new temp secretary. You had so many reminders set on your phone for things he needed to get done. But the eldest was determined not to let things fall apart just because a few of his brothers were ill.

Should you be getting paid for this?…

Tired feet were dragged across the floor of your bedroom as you made your way towards your bed. It called to you; a sleepy siren’s song. The blankets reminiscent of a sweet melody, the pillows the alluring notes. With the last of your energy, you swiftly kicked off your shoes, letting them roll and settle crookedly on the hardwood floor. You let yourself fall face first onto your bed, the springs bouncing you up and down gently from the sudden impact. A moan escaped your lips, one you never had the intention for, but your body betrayed you. Laying down felt nice… Rain and wind outside started to kick up, the sound brushing and pouring against your window. It was like the night was comforting you, the weather speaking to you softly. It’s okay to get some rest.

Without bothering to change into pajamas, you crawled under your covers, pulling the blanket tightly near your face. Muscles and joints in your body started to ache, and you furrowed your brows as you shut your eyes. Had you really worked all that much? What exactly did you do that forced your body to feel this sore? You let out a sigh and brushed your cheek against your pillow. Already, the back of your mind was buzzing with sleep, and even if you tried to come up with some specific answer explaining why your body hurt in places you didn’t even know existed, you wouldn’t be able to. This would probably been the fastest you fell asleep in a long time, conking out without a second thought. —-

Fire haunted your dreams that night, the heat making you lightheaded. Your subconscious body struggled to navigate the obstacles of this place. The House of Lamentation was on fire, by reasons unknown, as dreams often do. You were frantically looking for the brothers, your mind thoroughly convinced they all still resided inside. Lips moved as you could’ve sworn you were screaming their names, but the roaring sounds of the flames muffled your voice. No matter how hard you squeezed your lungs, no sound came out. You felt yourself collapse to the ground, unable to move. You were hot. Too hot. You-

A low scraping noise shocked your body awake. It took you a moment to reel in reality, to settle yourself back into your senses, the dream drifting far behind you now. A squeak sounded. A harsh squealing grind of two hard surfaces rubbing against each other. It left a strange feeling in your teeth and pumped your mind with adrenaline. You sat up in bed immediately, the alarm for danger blaring on high alert.

It was hard to see through all the darkness. Clouds had covered the moonlight, leaving little to no light to guide your way. The only thing you could see with your adjusting vision was a shadow creeping around your room. It staggered. Drifting around as if searching for something, a deep inhuman growl rumbling through it’s disfigured body. Your fingers trembled as the sound echoed in your mind. How had it gotten in the house? There were no distinct features you could make out, the creature didn’t have any limbs. It was one giant blob, dragging itself across the floor, moving and knocking over the chairs in your room as it did so. That must’ve been the cause of the sound that woke you up. Was it hunting for something?…

A few options for survival bubbled up in your mind. Screaming for help wasn’t a smart decision. One loud noise, and the creature would more than likely beeline it straight for you. Besides, with the demon brother’s sporadic schedules, you weren’t sure anyone would hear you anyway. Your room was all the way down near the kitchen…your roommates blissfully asleep upstairs. You had half a mind to text someone to save you, but if you got caught in the light from your screen, that might also cause an instant game over. However, that did remind you to lean over to put your device on silent. You would not be that stupid survivor in the horror trope that got killed due to a notification. Oh, if only you had given in to Lucifer’s odd request to install some sort of security system. You had denied it. Said it sounded more like a baby monitor than anything else. Now look where it got you.

The intruder seemed distracted and confused, just as blinded as you were in the darkness. Maybe you could make a run for it… it seemed rather sluggish. But assuming things could get you killed. But what other options did you have?… Right now, the thing was finally drifting away from the table and towards the middle of the room, inching ever closer to your bed. The luxury of time was not something you had. It was settled. You’d book it out of here and run to someone else’s room… Just look for an opportunity… The wailing mass was getting closer. Just a few more seconds. Your heart was rattling harder than the wind against your windows. Just a little bit farther! Heat was waving off the creature and onto you, reminding you of your dream. It moaned unnaturally, shuffling slowly, wandering without a purpose. You quietly swung your legs over the end of the bed so you could finally make your dash to freedom. The blood pumping through your head was deafening.

A thud reverberated throughout the room, making you jump, freezing your body in place. The creature had collapsed on your floor. It slowly squirmed, writhing, it’s shape melting away before a humanoid hand poked out of it’s frame.

“O…w…”

The familiar voice washed over you in a refreshing shower of familiarity. You pressed a hand to your chest as you took in a deep relaxing breath. Although you didn’t waste too much time before rushing to the floor, kneeling beside the shape. The shell it had shed felt soft. You grabbed the surface with both of your hands, peeling it back to reveal a confused disoriented demon.

“Belphie…” You nearly went off on him, ready to spend the rest of the night giving him a Lucifer-style lecture. But, too tired to do something like that, you simply wrapped your arms around the seventh brother. Eyes rolled in your head, embarrassed and annoyed by your own paranoia and stupidity. Although that sort of paranoia had let you live in the Devildom thus far. That and a ridiculous amount of luck… Though if the other brothers found out you mistook Belphie and a puffy duvet for some sort of lumbering undead slug-monster, they would never let you live it down. Speaking of which…you suddenly remembered that he’d taken quite a tumble. “Are you okay?” He never answered, but you quickly found the source of his fall. The shoes you had left haphazardly on the floor. You bit your lip in a bit of shame. Before they could claim another victim, you snagged your shoes and tucked them away in a not so trippable place. Then you returned your focus near the lump. “Belphie? What’re you doing here?” You placed a soft hand on his shoulder, although as you did, you nearly reeled back. Sloth was burning up.

“…anna…o…ome…” He mumbled, not focused on you at all, his eyes were even still closed. Chipped nails clawed at your rugs, pushing himself on his arms just to collapse again. Your chest squeezed as you grabbed his arms. Convinced he was still asleep, you tried shaking him, feeling the palms of your hands tingle against his unhealthy and infernal temperature.

“Belphie!”

None of your attempts to wake him up were working, so you turned your attention to the only thing you could do. Bringing his heat down. The blanket you had tried tugging off of him was somehow twisted around his limbs. After turning him on his back, you worked on unraveling him, feeling his hands paw at your body. He was deep in some fever dream, one bad scene away from thrashing… Frantically, you plucked a pillow from off your own bed and tucked it under his head. You brushed sticky strands of hair off his forehead, watching him mumble some more.

“..illith…Beel…”

Might as well have heard your own heart crack right then, but you couldn’t let it get to you. Feeling against the walls, you moved around your room till you found the light switch. Once you could see, you went right to work. Thankfully, due to your efforts before, you now kept extra medicine and supplies in your room. It was actually Satan who suggested it, and while you thought it had been a silly idea, now you were grateful.

When you returned to Belphie’s side with all your items, you almost regretted turning the light on. Panting, his mouth open to try and breathe, lips so dry they were nearly bloody. His skin was covered in splotches of color, sweat dripping from his forehead, yet he couldn’t stop shivering. You placed a bowl of water, rags, medicine, bottles of water, and a glass of only ice beside you on the floor. As soon as you returned to his vicinity, his limbs moved to get up again. You settled a rag in the water then gently pushed him back to the floor with a single hand. He contorted and attempted to roll as you quickly wrung out the rag, pressing it against his forehead, keeping him against the ground using your own body. In only a few seconds, the cloth was completely warm. You dipped it back in, feeling a bit of panic rise in your lungs as Belphie continued to pant.

“Breathe…Belphie, breathe.” You rubbed his chest as you held him down, cooling off his face and neck with the damp cloth. You didn’t know how long you kept up this motion. Comfort, dip, cool. Soothe, wipe, cool. Over and over as the fire in him refused to leave. He needed to wake up to take the medicine, you weren’t sure you could get it down his throat in this condition. You let your hand drift from his chest for just a second to check your D.D.D. It was now four in the morning. A full hour of this, by your estimations. Should you text someone? Were you doing the right thing? Were you just making things worse? You fought with yourself and your emotions for a few more minutes, but then felt your worry assuage. It seemed as if he broke though the worst all in a second. Belphie’s breathing wasn’t as ragged as he no longer gasped for breath. He was still moving a bit though, wearily and weakly.

“Ahh…haah…” He wheezed, and for what felt like the hundredth time, you rubbed his cheeks with the wet fabric, brushing your hand back and forth across his chest. He raised his arms and grabbed your shirt and sleeve, trying to pull you close in his sleep.

“Shh, it’s alright.” His hands were trembling against you, but finally, he seemed to hear your words. The smallest slit of his eyes was visible as he did his best to open them.

“M…C…”

Overjoyed tears stung your eyes. The rag in your hand dropped to the floor as you caressed his face with your hands. He still wasn’t quite awake or aware, but he was attentive enough to try to pull himself up, still clutching tightly onto your clothes. The first thing on your mind was medicine. You filled up the measured cap and brought it to him, tilting his head back with the brace of one of your hands. Thankfully--or perhaps worriedly--he took it without questioning it. He grimaced a little, but the bitter and awful taste of the medicine brought him more into reality.

“Where?” He released your sleeve as he rubbed his eyes.

“That’s not important right now, can you stand? We should get you to bed.” You stroked his head, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He just nodded, and with your assistance, he almost managed to fully stand. To keep from falling over, he leaned his body against you. It was all you could do to keep from collapsing yourself. Fortunately, your bed was right here, and you let him plop into your space. A sigh left his shallow lungs.

With what little energy he had left, he practically clawed himself towards the far side of the bed turning in several agonizing increments to face you. He held out his hands and squeaked out your name. “MC…”

Your emotions hitched in your chest as you watched him beg for you. There was still a mess on the floor… but you left it where it was as long as the universe was done sending demons tumbling through your room. You rushed over to the light switch and turned the brightness off. You slid into the extra space Belphie left for you, taking him into your arms and feeling him immediately get comfortable. At least he was no longer boiling. He was a little too warm, but nothing life threatening.

He curled up by your side, as you pulled up the covers over both of you. With a few sleepy nudges, he had his head tucked under your chin. You could hear air rattle around in his chest, so you reached around his body and rubbed his back, and in return, he squeezed you like one of his many pillows. All at once, the adrenaline and panic left your body, leaving you winded and exhausted. You were unsure if it was Belphie’s Sin or simply your body at it’s breaking point, but you couldn’t keep yourself awake any longer. Before you could make sure he fell asleep first, your eyelids crashed closed as you passed out next to him.

Normalcy slowly began to trickle back into the House of Lamentation. The twins were feeling better, most everyone was returning to classes, routines were falling back into place. Everyone was finally convinced this was all over. Even Lucifer, who liked to account for the worst, was acting rather optimistic lately. Although you yourself, who had loved soaking up every sickly cuddle and embarrassing (and rather blackmailable) favors, was secretly a bit disappointed. It was great that they were all doing better! But…perhaps part of you liked feeling needed.

Lucifer, Mammon, and Satan, were all well past this illness, and with Levi and Asmo doing everything they could to avoid their siblings, it was assumed that this misadventure had burnt itself out with the twins. Although, one person in the household was determined not to let this go. Levi was doing his best to convince everyone that he was extremely ill.

“I searched my symptoms on SpiderWeb MD! If I’m not sick I’ve been cursed and I only have a few days left to live!” he would complain. His siblings were all convinced that Envy had caught nothing but a terrible case of hypochondria. At one point, he’d even sent his last will through the group chat should he perish an untimely demise. A lot of his stuff went to you, which was deeply touching considering he had a hard enough time letting you look at his stuff much less touch it. Music records would go to Lucifer, manga to Satan, cosplay outfits to Asmo, his special snacks to Beel, and his body pillows to Belphie. Nothing was left for Mammon, which caused a small riot in itself.

It had been several days since anyone had seen or heard any trace of Levi. Everything he needed could be ordered on Akuzon, and he’d been taking classes exclusively online. It got to the point where everyone had been certain he’d never leave his room again. Of course, the eldest had checked on his little brother regardless, but he’d been written off with a clean bill of health. After that, Lucifer had been convinced he was just craving attention. Levi would hole himself away over the vaguest sign of symptoms and not come out till he was ready. No one believed him. For a while, they had you convinced as well, assuring you that he hadn’t been sick for centuries. There was nothing to be worried about. However, you still carried that worry with you, that infuriating kind of angelic trust that drove the brothers crazy. But ‘what if’, you wondered, what if he’s sitting in his room right now with no one to help him?

The only semblance of interaction you’d had with Levi in the past week was dropping off his Akuzon packages to the front of his door. You’d knock, be forced to ramble off an impossibly confusing password, and then leave for him to drag his packages inside. The first time you’d done it, you’d waited, only to watch him pop his head meekly out the door. Upon seeing you, he squeaked and promptly slammed the door shut. Now he would wait for you to fully depart before grabbing his loot. But today, you were determined to see him. Sure he was a demon, sure everyone had promised he was fine, but something left you uneasy. You needed to see with your own eyes that he was okay.

Making your way down the hall, continuously shifting your arms to keep things balanced, you approached Levi’s room with several packages in hand. The number of items he purchased was getting larger and more concerning with each delivery. Seeing as your hands were occupied, you gently kicked his door three times with the tip of your shoe. You crouched down low near the floor, placing his items neatly in a pile. Stiffly, you uttered the strange password Levi encouraged you to memorize to confirm the drop-off and assure him there was no one else in sight.

“The water dragon, caretaker of the mystic lakes, looks up to the heavens…” You paused, waiting for his response. A few seconds. Then a minute. You couldn’t help but raise a brow as a little jolt went through your chest with worry. Typically by now, Levi would be in the middle of his segment of the password. This all was routine. Taking a few steps forward, you pressed your ears to the cold wood of his door. All was silent. From the top? You walked a few steps away just to round the door again, making your footsteps heavier, louder. Then you attempted the entire process again. Using your fist this time, you knocked loudly against the entrance to his fortress of solitude. Uttering the incantation once more, you found yourself almost shouting the code phrase. There was still no response.

Throwing caution to the wind, you gave yourself access into his room. You winced once the light from inside hit your face, expecting some sort of curse or hex to flood your body. Air soothed your lungs when you discovered you were relatively unharmed. It didn’t require any amount of searching to locate the demon. Curled up, in demon form…at the bottom of his fish tank. Of course, you knew these people were not quite people, but that didn’t stop your stomach from flipping and your human brain to somersault over itself in panic. That wasn’t normal! You stammered over your words, dashing forward to press your palms against the glass.

“Levi! What the-” You cut yourself off as you looked around for anything that could assist you with this…emergency. Underwater! He was underwater!

How many times have you been scolded for acting before thinking? Too many to count, especially down here where the wrong misstep could kill you easily. Did you still end up jumping into the fish tank? Yes. Yes, you did. Using Levi’s desk and shelves, you climbed up, throwing your body into the water. It wasn’t as cold as you expected it to be based on how chilly Levi kept his room. It was a bit nippy, but nothing terrible. You sunk down, grabbing the horns sticking from Levi’s head. God, how were you going to pull him out of here? This tank was the size of his wall! As soon as you began to tug on the horns, Levi’s eyes snapped open. His tail wrapped around your waist once he recognized your face. You ended up getting flung out of the tank, dangling in the air a few inches above the ground as the chill of the oxygen on your wet skin formed goosebumps all over your body. Levi gripped the edge of the glass.

“What?! I-I- that was totally- MC! I can’t believe-” He settled you to the ground as he climbed his way out of the water, almost slipping and falling from the tank. A large pool formed on the floor beneath your feet. As he tried to find his words, gasping in shock at finding you in Henry 2.0’s tank, he started coughing. He bowled over, his arm covering his mouth as his lungs squeaked and wheezed as he seemed to cough uncontrollably. Levi’s chest began convulsing so painfully, tears started speckling from his eyes, only to get swept up into the moisture already streaming down his face. His tail, still around your body, clutched to you tighter, like an involuntary form of comfort for him.

“Levi…” You approached the demon of Envy, both of you dripping wet, and you pressed your forehead to his. Despite having soaked in water for however long he had been in there, he was burning. His little gasp at your form of contact drove him further into his coughing fit. You apologetically rubbed his back, helping him catch his breath while you scrambled around to get dry clothes, nearly losing your footing on the wet tile.

“Don’t!” He pleaded with you as you pulled open his drawers.

“You need dry clothes, you’ll get even sicker if you’re soaking!” His face started to flush as some color came to his cheeks. He had yet to relinquish his tail from around your person, wrapping around you tightly like the firm squeeze of a hug, following you around like a drenched puppy. “Why in the world were you in the fish tank anyway?!” A proper scolding was in order. After all, how ridiculous had that been? “I was worried you’d drowned…” You muttered that last part to yourself as you plucked out a t-shirt with the decal on the front from some anime you couldn’t recall. A random pair of shorts was added to the mix, throwing the dry outfit to him alongside a much needed towel. Clutching the articles of clothing to his chest, he blushed even harder. The muscles of his tail forced you to turn with your face to the wall as you felt the soft scales finally slink away. You could hear him stumble around as he struggled to get himself dressed. He wasn’t acting like normal.

At that moment, all the guilt that had been building up these past few days washed over you. He really had been sick after all. How long had he been here alone, taking care of himself because no one would believe him enough to take care of him? But Lucifer had said he’d been checked… Did he get sick after that? Or was there something someone missed? Although, the when didn’t quite matter now. No chance fretting too much over something you couldn’t change. You had the chance to help him now.

“I was hot…” Levi answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Then next time hop in the bath! Don’t go scuba diving in a fish tank! A fish tank, Levi!”

It was as if you could feel him wincing at your firm words. It wasn’t often you raised your voice at them. Envy wasn’t taking the tone too well, shuddering as he inhaled broken quivering breaths. He didn’t have an answer for you on why he made the decision he did. Rationalization probably went out of his mind once the fever set in. Had he really been that hell-bent on not leaving his room? “You can…look now.” Turning away from the wall, you found yourself tutting. Levi had put the clothes over his wet form, the towel simply lying on top of his head, the horns holding it comically up away from his body.

“…I should’ve been here to help you.” You placed your hands over the dry cloth, getting it away from his branching horns, gently rubbing into his skin. Too weak to shoo you away or say anything about it, he simply covered his face with his hands as you used the towel to dry him off. “But I’m here now…and you don’t have to worry as long as I’m here. I’ll take care of you.” You started with his hair, working your way down to his arms. Your gentle motions, your soft tone, your overall comfort, it was enough to weaken his walls of anxiety. A few steps and he was right next to you. He slumped, letting his head fall into the crook of your neck. Your skin was still cool from the water, and he sighed as his forehead came into contact with it. His tail ended up curling around you once more, clutching your torso tightly as he gripped onto your clothes. “Come on,” you urged him, leading him over to his bedding. It was better than the fish tank only by a small margin, containing a ton of pillows and several plush blankets to act as a cushion inside. At least it was dry…

“Sorry…” Levi gasped, as he lifted himself into his nest. The tickle of his word turned into more harsh coughs. You leaned over the porcelain walls of the tub to pet his head. He nearly melted into your hands. He curled up, nestling further into the cushions as you pulled a blanket partially over him.

“Don’t be sorry. I should be sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you, I should’ve been by your side by square one. That’s what people who care about you do…” You gave him a sweet smile as he teared up a little, pulling a body pillow close to his chest as he covered his face. He simply gave you a hum in response. “I’ll go get some medicine and bring in those packages for you, and then I’ll be right back.” Taking a step back, you felt the tail wrapped around your body gripping you tighter. “Levi,” you cooed, petting the smooth scales with your hand. “I’ll be right back, let me go.” He reluctantly complied, silently pulling his tail into the tub with him, curling around his own body for support. Running your fingers through your still wet hair, you went back out to the hall, dragging Levi’s packages into his room before setting off to grab some medicine. A quick sneeze shuttered your body, leaving you lightheaded as you leaned against the wall to keep yourself upright. A chill ran through your spine. Shaking your head, you picked up the pace to your bedroom to change into warm and dry clothes.

As soon as you were no longer dripping, you grabbed the medicine bottle from off the table in your room. Collectively, the household had almost gone through the entire container, leaving only a few servings left. You bit your lip and then briskly headed back to Levi. In the short amount of time you’d been gone, it seemed as if he already drifted off to sleep. You shut the door behind you as softly as you could manage, then came over to the sleeping otaku. All these demons, you recalled, claimed to be so scary and intimidating, yet all of them managed to look something like this. Levi was clutching his tail, his forehead pressed against the coolness of the side of the tub. It felt like a crime to wake him, but you brushed your hand against his cheek anyway.

“Levi… Levi?” You called, watching his eyelids flitter as they slowly opened. “Here, take this, it’ll help you feel better.” You held a capful of the remedy to his lips. A flicker of stubbornness and defiance flashed in his eyes, but he knew he couldn’t say no to you, especially with how nicely you were treating him. He’d take it with a smile if you had asked him too. Placing the medicine aside, you turned down the lights in his room, watching the reflection of the water dance across the ceiling. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Levi?”

You heard him squeak before he spoke. “You cuddled with each of my brothers…”

Stifling a chuckle, you merely blinked at him. “You want me to cuddle with you?”

He used his arm to cover his eyes. “Y-you said it, not me!”

“Move over then,” you grinned, lifting your leg over the lid of the tub to make your way in. It was a bit awkward, being a bathtub and all. There wasn’t as much space as you expected. The sloped sides guided you into Levi’s body, where you could feel every muscle inside him tense. “Alright, here we go, sleep will make you feel better.” You rested your head right next to his, noses almost touching. His lip twitched in embarrassment, but once more he pressed his forehead against your neck, exhaling deeply as he allowed his body to relax. “There you go…” You rubbed his back as he got in close. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Time as Levi’s nurse passed fairly quickly. Apparently regular doses of constant attention was the best kind of medicine for a touch-starved demon. He was still weaker than anyone would enjoy, but he was back in front of his screens in no time. Although, every so often he’d give you a side glance and rattle his body with a loud cough. Sometimes he would do this and cause the other previous afflicted to do the same. You’d even caught Lucifer clearing his throat in your vicinity once. They were all milking this to the last drop. Aside from the pseudo-symptoms, at last, it was all over. Surely, tonight you’d finally let your sore exhausted body get some rest with the relief in knowing that whatever demon illness had been plaguing the brothers was finally gone… Even cases in the Devildom were dropping. The whispers at RAD were returning to normal discussions. The worst was over.

That was… until everyone in the House of Lamentation was awoken one night to a blood-curdling scream. You awoke in a sweat, hair on your arms standing up on end. Before you could comprehend anything, you dashed out to the hallway, apparently the last to join the stunned members of the household. Mammon was still attempting to find balance on his feet, cursing about one of his legs being asleep. Levi rubbed his eyes, and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was supposed to be regaining his strength. Satan looked more intrigued than anything. Beel was ready for action, but, surprisingly enough, Belphie looked more awake than anyone before you. These were his hours, you supposed. Lucifer was a strange combination of furious due to having his rest be interrupted--he barely gets enough as it is--and concerned.

“MC…” The eldest instinctively took a step towards you. “Oh, thank Diavolo,” he sighed, pressing his hand to his forehead, quelling the stress headache, thankful you weren’t the cause of the haunting wail. “We’ve got…” He began the head check, ushering his brothers closer to him much like a teacher making sure the whole class was there for the field trip. The realization hit you at the same moment it hit him. “Asmo.” No one hesitated in dashing to his room, the adrenaline pumping in you more as the sound of shattering glass and splintering wood reached your ears. Worry clamped your throat shut, forgetting how to properly breathe as the group sprinted down the halls.

Mammon was the first to reach the door, throwing all caution to the wind as he immediately kicked the wood in. The entrance hit the floor with a loud bang, coming clean off it’s hinges, and you attempted to peer in. A firm hand grabbed you by the back of the collar and yanked you back. Lucifer pulled you behind his body. Just in time too, for just at that moment, an entire dresser launched itself from the bedroom, smacking against Mammon, pinning him against the back wall of the hallway. Every square inch of you was desperate to scream, to run to Greed, but the demon of pride had you held tightly against his body. Mammon got up off the floor, shaking his head. There were no visible injuries, in fact, he was barely even bothered, just frustrated.

“For the love of... Asmo!” The second brother growled, and another shriek echoed through the halls, shaking the windows. You brought your hands up to cover your ears, and Lucifer quickly handed you off to Levi.

“What’s happening?” The strength of your legs began to waver, and, for a split second, the eldest’s eyes grew wide at your distress. Of course you wouldn’t know, how could you? Sometimes he forgets you’re only a human.

Placing a gentle hand on your head, he let out another sleep-deprived groan, pinching the bridge of his nose whilst his siblings dashed into the chaos. “It’s what we all feared. Asmo has fallen ill. It happens once every few centuries, and every time it happens, it gets—“ Something else broke to pieces, shrapnel embedding itself in the door-frame. A mess. “Stay with Levi. We’ll work on calming him down.” With that, he turned and swiftly joined the fray. A swirl of blue magic surrounded the door, lifting it from it’s position, settling back against the frame to shield you out while shouts and bangs rattled the ground. All you could do was blink in frightful awe and flinch at every awful sound.

“C-come on, it’s best if we go…N-now. Like, right now,” Levi breathed, his voice shaking with terror. You raised an eyebrow, trying to piece together why he sounded as if he was in danger.

You didn’t have the time to question why. The wall separating the room from the hallway nearly crumbled, bricks and rubble coating the floor. Peachy eyes glowed harshly against the dark of night. “Levi…” The figure growled maliciously as the dust settled. “You did this to me…you all did this to me!” Ah, right. Of course the blame would lie with the most recently infected. And now you were standing right next to the target.

“Oi!”

In a swirl of motion, demons rushed to tackle him down, but not before the person behind the destruction began to lunge in yours and Levi’s direction. The third-born twisted his body, beginning to pull you behind him to shield you, but your body moved almost on its own. Tugging yourself out of Levi’s grip, you moved forward with an outstretched arm. “Asmo!” The palm of your hand came into contact with his chest. You felt the frantic beating of his heart. Everything seemed to stop all at once. The rampage put itself at pause as Asmo looked at you with wide eyes, his hands still raised, razor sharp claws atoms away from brushing against your skin. With your hand on his chest, you could tell that he’d stopped breathing. You took this moment to observe his face. Nose red, eyes puffy from angry tears, overall looking drained, missing vibrancy. The glimmer you so often associated with Asmo was gone.

The demon of lust took one last moment to recollect his thoughts, gathering back his composure before giving a loud horrified gasp of a breath before his knees gave out, his body collapsing to the floor.

--

“Absolutely, positively, one of the worst decisions you’ve ever made!” You’d beg to differ, there was a list of misadventures you could bring to the table, but now was definitely not the time for that. “Did you even think?!” You tried to open your mouth but were cut short. “Don’t answer that.” Good call. Lucifer looked beyond frazzled, and as you watched him pace back and forth in front of you, you wondered if those were new grey strands in the fringes of his hair or if it was simply your imagination. He’d been stepping back and forth for so long, you’d almost gotten dizzy from the motion. Perfectly on beat. A living pendulum.

But Lucifer wasn’t the only one here to…critique your…survival response--or questionable lack thereof. “What do you do when you see an angry demon? Hm?” Real rich coming from Wrath. Satan’s eyebrow was twitching, but he was doing his utmost best to stay calm unlike his older brothers.

You lowered your head. “You run.”

“What do we not do?”

“…Confront them.” The blonde nodded, leaving it at that for the time being. With a quick scan around the room, he tilted his head and sat in a chair, biting back one of his usual retorts. Typically, he wouldn’t hesitate to be snippy, especially considering his sibling’s current behaviors, but he didn’t have the heart for it. Not right now when he was focusing hard on suppressing the bubbling rage of what he’d just observed. Levi was a dazed mess, sulking at his failed job as a bodyguard, slung over Beel’s shoulder, muttering endlessly. The demon of gluttony himself had yet to peel his sight from you since you’d been dragged back to your room. Had he even blinked? It was as if he was wary that, should he look away, even for a moment, you’d do something reckless again. To be fair, logically, what you’d done had been a rather idiotic move. In your defense, it was also dipping well past the early hours of the morning. It all still felt like a dream. They couldn’t hold it against you for not being at your peak… But, they were right. Had Asmo not been able to stop himself, who knows what the outcome would’ve been. You still weren’t quite sure of everything that had happened, but something had moved you, convinced you that if you just…reached out to him…

Turning your head to the side, you brushed your hand over the bump in the blankets where his arm was. As soon as he’d collapsed, both you and Asmo were briskly brought to your room. You’d been able to assist in tucking him under your covers for only a moment before being scolded six different ways. Belphie placed a fresh cold rag over Asmo’s forehead, meeting your eyes for just a second before snapping his head to look away from you with the slightest hint of a disappointed pout in his lips. Even the bratty youngest sibling was chastising you. And Mammon…Mammon was…dead silent, still as a stone, back turned to you as he pressed his face against the wall. If anything, that upset you the most.

Speaking loudly as to regain their attention, you apologized. “I’m sorry! I know it was dumb of me, but…” Asmo’s eyebrows scrunched, a painful moan rumbling in his throat. You adjusted your seated spot on the bed, sitting closer to his body, settled by his thigh. Placing your hand over the comforter covering his chest, you stroked up and down in a slow soothing rhythm. His head moved to find a cooler, more comfortable spot on the pillow, and with the comforting motion against his body, he went still with rest again. “He sounded heartbroken.”

The room fell silent, Lucifer stopped his pacing. Everyone’s shoulders slumped, and then finally Mammon spoke up. “Heartbroken?! That scream meant nothin’! He’s just being dramatic over his dumb face! Losing control like that…almost hurting you because he doesn’t look photo-ready… Nothing’s worth getting yourself killed over! Nothing!” Mammon’s words… sunk in the deepest. Or his tone did at least. He was truly upset with you. Lucifer raised his arm a bit towards Mammon, signaling to settle down. Mammon scoffed and turned again, letting it go.

“Okay… I get it… but enough worrying about me, you should be worried for your brother.” The fire of conflict was quickly snuffed out by your shining eyes and Asmo’s little whimpers.

Lucifer rolled his head around his shoulders and then rubbed away the little pang behind his temples. “I’ll go let Diavolo know of the situation. I’m sure after the last few weeks he won’t be surprised…” He grumbled something under his breath one last time before he left the room, D.D.D. in hand.

“I suppose I can do my best to help clean Asmo’s room. He might recover quicker in a familiar environment.” Satan got to his feet, stretching, cracking an eye open to look at Mammon before grabbing him by the back of his shirt. “And you’re going to help me.”

“O-oi! Why me?! Hold on! I haven’t said everything I needed to yet!” But his cries were ignored as the demon of wrath dragged him down the hallway.

Now you were left with the afflicted, the twins, and a still sorrowful Levi. They might not listen to you at the moment, but you had to try. “Beel, can you please take Levi to his room? And Belphie can you please make sure he goes to sleep?” The fiery-haired sibling nodded, shifting his older brother to his other shoulder. Belphie still had his head turned away from you. Your heart fell a bit. “Pretty please?”

He made the mistake of getting a quick peek of your pleading face. “You have to come with us.”

“But, we can’t just leave him.” You brushed the back of your hand against Asmo’s cheek, reeling back as the heat from him almost burnt you. Demonic bodies could reach some serious temperatures.

This only convinced Belphie to squint harder. “He’s dangerous.”

“You’re all dangerous and yet apparently it doesn’t seem to phase me anymore.” At times like these, you found standing your ground and just being stubborn was enough to win you plenty of debates with these eternal beings. Although you didn’t want to push your luck too much. They could physically remove you from the room if they so desired. Luckily, Belphie was much too tired to continue bickering.

“Fine, but you owe me.”

You beamed, coaxing a touch of pink in his cheeks. “Thank you!” He slinked away, his twin following after him with Levi in tow.

A frown stretched over your face. With the added noise gone, Asmo’s shallow wheezing breaths were all too apparent. You got to your feet, flipping the rag draped across his head to the other side, then padded over to the cupboard settled against the far side of the room. It opened with a slight squeak, causing you to wince as you glanced back over your shoulder to make sure your patient was still sleeping. Luckily, he didn’t stir, although for this to work, he might have to. You gripped the medicine bottle in your hand, giving it a slight shake. There was enough for perhaps one or two more administrations. Before you dealt with that issue, you quickly went to turn off the overhead light in your room, simply turning on a side lamp, a soft glow illuminating what you needed it to. Your eyes thanked you for the lessened strain. As you turned on the pads of your feet, you noticed Asmo was now on his side, facing away from you. With a few quiet steps, you were back at the bedside. “Asmo?”

Your fingers outstretched, reaching for his shoulder, but he would not let you near him. “Don’t look at me!” The voice was strong enough to push you back, falling back onto the floor. A high pitched noise caught your attention. The glass in your hand as well as your mirror on the other side of the room had a new thin crack in it.

The heart in your chest was pounding, but you tried to shake out of it. “Asmo, fighting me is taking up your strength.” Cradling the medicine bottle against your chest, you got back to your feet.

Asmo pulled the covers up over his head. “Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, don’t look at me!” You’d shifted your stance beforehand to keep your balance, the wave of magic wobbling you, but not knocking you over. The lights flickered, and with it, you caught an idea.

“What if I turn the lights off? I won’t look at you, okay? I just want to help you feel better.” Keeping your sight on him, you walked backwards. As your hip met the furniture, you swiveled to turn the lamp off. It just so happened to be cloudy tonight, the dark clouds coating the moon, again, much like the night Belphie had sleepwalked into your room, only now you were the one stumbling towards the figure in the bed. You walked forward slowly until your knees came into contact with the mattress. Even here you could feel the rolling waves of heat come off of him. “I can’t see a single thing, I swear. Not even my own hand in front of my face,” you whispered to him, your arm waving in the air till you found his body. He was letting you touch him, that was a good sign. It took a moment before you found his shoulder, gently guiding him to lay on his back. You trailed your touch up to his neck before coming up to lightly touch his face. Hot moisture coated your fingertips. For a second, you thought it was sweat, but then you heard the demon take a shaky inhale as his body hitched. Panic struck your body all the sudden, your thumb brushing just under his eyes. “Are you crying? Asmo, no… No, no, no, it’s okay.”

He whimpered, leaning into your touch. “I- I- I- I’m sick and- and unsightly--”

“Hey, hey,” you cooed. “Take a deep breath.” He followed your advice, his chest shuddering. “I’m sorry you’re sick…but we can’t change that now. We just have to focus on getting you well again.” Reaching around to support the back of his head, you helped him up into a slouched position. Although, you struggled to find his hand. When you did, his fingers instinctively went to curl around yours. You hated to disappoint him by replacing your grasp with the medicine bottle. “This should help. I’d, uh, take about half of it.” He took it away from you, and you assumed that he’d brought it to his lips. It was a few seconds before the smooth glass touched your skin again. Taking it back in your possession, you discovered it was a lot lighter than you expected. Moving it around in your hand, you felt no liquid slosh inside. “I said half, Asmo!”

“There was hardly anything in there and I need what I can to go back to my beautiful self!”

“That’s not how--” You sighed, letting the empty bottle settle on the floor. “No one is pretty when they’re sick, but that’s okay. It’s alright to be unsightly sometimes.” The mattress bobbed as Asmo laid back down, getting as close as he could against your body. “But even so, you’re pretty all the same.”

His hand smacked against your knee as he tried to find you, his touch searching for yours. “I can’t be both…am I beautiful or ugly?” He really couldn’t understand what you were trying to say. Maybe one day you’d be able to convey your thoughts properly.

As soon as you touched his wrist, he slid his fingers up to weave through yours. “You’re always beautiful, Asmo. Always. A little sickness won't stop you. But for now, your beautiful body needs some beauty sleep.” You squeezed his hand. “I’ll be right by your side.” The medicine seemed to already be working. Double the dose meant double the drowsiness, and you pinned it in the back of your mind to tell Lucifer about his mishap later. He curled into a tighter ball, snuggling up against your legs.

“It’s not…fair,” he whined, voice almost slurring with sleep. “I don’t…deserve this…I wish I was…as beautiful…as you.” Your chest tightened, but you kept your mouth closed. His grip had already slackened, and you could hear the deeper slower breaths as you came to the conclusion that he had fallen back asleep.

Feel better, Asmo. I’ll be here till you do.

“I tried warning them fallen angels or not, they were still in the demographic to get sick.” Solomon sighed wistfully, but the whole time he never lost his smile. As you recounted your encounters over the last few weeks, the sorcerer giggled. “What I wouldn’t give to see some of those scenes.”

The angel across the little table from you had to agree, although he looked a lot more sympathetic to the brother’s plight than the human did. “I’m really glad they’re all feeling better though. I bet you’re enjoying your newfound freedom, aren’t you, MC?”

You settled down the mug against the tabletop, sitting back in your chair, basking in the ambiance of Purgatory Hall. The House of Lamentation really had been come to feel like your home, but a change of pace was so refreshing at times. The angel’s dorm was so much brighter, quieter. No shouting, no nagging, no chaos. You could sip on a warm beverage in peace. “It’s nice knowing they all feel better,” you stated, having to admit to yourself that your termination of demon-nurse was doing you some good. Retirement life was nice. “No more worries.”

Both men agreed, Simeon pleasantly humming to himself. “Still, you could’ve asked us to help out. I bet it was difficult looking after all of them.”

“Can’t be much different than usual, can it?” Solomon interjected, laughing to himself.

They both were right. But, it’s not like you had hated it. You all felt…closer now. They had allowed you to see a part of themselves no one else got to see. That made you feel special. But being able to kick your feet up and get some much needed sleep was what your doctor ordered. You picked your mug back up and finished the last of your drink. The warmth of it spread throughout your body, seeping down to your toes and fingertips.

When Simeon noticed your cup was empty, he stood, holding his hand out. “Here I can take that for you.” You didn’t really want to impose, but you were the guest, and it did feel nice being taken care of today. They’d pampered you nicely. Taking your jacket at the door, leading you to the living room where you were given sweets and treats handmade by Luke and Simeon. You got more comfortable on the couch and gave the angel a thankful nod. Simeon turned away from you and Solomon, his steps halted as a high-pitched squeak filled the room. “Oh, sorry.”

Your head tilted a bit. “Sorry for what?” Had he stepped on a loose floorboard?

Solomon held himself back a bit before clapping in a bit of glee. He seemed endlessly entertained. “Doesn’t Simeon have the most petite sneeze? Bless you.”

Simeon looked back over his shoulder, actually looking a bit embarrassed over it. “It’s quite a normal sneeze thank you…” He shot his roommate a little look before leaving the room. You watched him go, a sensation of familiarity bubbling up to your mind. This felt… no, it couldn’t be. You were over-thinking things. There was absolutely no way it was happening again. Nope. You would refuse fate itself. Simeon took good care of himself. You couldn’t assume every sneeze was a sign of illness.

There was no one left to get sick. The story was over! The series had come to an end! All wrapped up in a pretty bow and everything!

No one else needed a taste of medicine.

Or did they?…

[localemofreak]

Honeymoon In Vegas.

(Rockstar!Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader)

(A/n: there’s no music to this, just a little blurb I thought of because- idk, it sounded rad and dumb and sexy in my head.. anywayyyysss- enjoy. Also I’m sorry if it’s super short- I wasn’t really trying to think of anything for this- 😭)

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Story: it’s just a little- I mean very tiny dorky blurb of a part of your little honeymoon with Eddie in the city of Viva Las Vegas, Nevada.

‼️WARNINGS‼️: use of y/n, heavy mention of smut, sexual references, some fluff, reader and Eddie are in their honeymoon phase, mentions of nudity, Eddie acting like a horny dork, it’s giving black cat reader and golden retriever Eddie, not that much going on since I’m lazy but thought of this, etc. (if I forgot something, please tell me!!)

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It had been about three days since you and Eddie decided to officially tie the knot in Vegas while on a little break during his tour..

And it had also been about three days of you and him being trapped in the fancy hotel suite- that was now completely trashed, that you had been spending your little honeymoon weekend in.

All you two have been doing for the past three days has just been having sex, not even really taking a break to try and go out and do things.

You have been just completely cooped up with Eddie- who’s little horny lovemaking machine didn’t seem to be breaking down anytime soon.

It’s not like you had a true problem against him wanting to fuck nonstop- it’s not like he was bad at all, in fact he was quite the opposite.

It’s just after a few days of nonstop love making, you needed a moment to just take a break- do something else besides lay in that bed with your legs feeling completely numb.

Currently, you had decided to get up from the bed where Eddie was laying down next to you slightly sprawled out, his breathing heavy and his chest heaving up and down after round- whatever you guys were on, you honestly stop keeping track at this point.

You were starting to feel hungry, so you decided to get up finally to grab some breakfast.

Your legs honestly just felt like complete jelly at that moment, and you looked like a complete mess- runny makeup, hair everywhere, hickies that littered the skin of your neck.

You honestly looked completely spent- and at that moment, you felt like it to be honest.

As Eddie laid there collecting himself, you had decided to slowly and carefully try to bring yourself to stand up.

Your legs wobbled a little bit but you managed to keep yourself from falling- and the room spun a little as you tried to get the blood to rush through your legs a little since it had been a second since you actually stood up.

As you glanced around, you noticed how trashed the bedroom of the suite was.

There was empty bottles of alcohol and condom wrappers everywhere- also don’t forget the clothes and just overall trash scattered all over.

You could hear Eddie mumbling a little bit as he laid on the messy looking mattress- which you decided to ignore as you grabbed a robe to wrap around your naked body.

As soon as you got yourself somewhat covered, you decided to slowly shuffle out of the little room and into the living room of the suite- that was also connected to the kitchen.

As you slowly shuffled your way into the living room- you noticed how even more trashy it looked.

It was a complete mess- just beer bottles, wine bottles, vodka bottles, all empty and scattered around the place.

Things were thrown around, couch cushions were on the ground and there was trash everywhere.

You knew before you two had left you both would have a big job on picking this shit up so that you wouldn’t get in trouble for basically destroying the room.

After standing there for a moment, assessing the damage with what your tired eyes could see- you soon shuffled your way over to the kitchen to sit down.

A tired sigh escaped from your lips as you sat down, your hands moving to run over your face as you leaned against your elbows on the table- just trying to get yourself all together.

After sitting there for a moment, just trying to collect your thoughts and relax- you soon heard the sound of feet shuffling against the floor mixed with a tired groan.

Eddie had gotten up obviously, seeing you had gotten up- that automatically meant he had to follow you.

You picked your head up from your hands as you glanced over with tired eyes, seeing Eddie wrapped in nothing but a robe.

His hair was messy and slightly all over the place, and his bangs were slightly stuck to his forehead as he scratched at his head while a yawn escaped from his mouth.

“I see you’re up-” you mumbled out, causing Eddie to nod his head and give a little tired but cheeky smirk while he made his way over to you.

“How’s my sexy little wifeee~” he hummed out with a slight chuckle, his body leaning forward to press his head into the crook of your neck.

As you felt his lips kissing at your neck, you just let out a tired sigh and shook your head, your hands pushing at his half covered tattooed chest since he didn’t really tie the robe around his body fully- it kind of just hung to his body.

“Eddie- please, let’s just take a break for a moment.. I want breakfast-” you got out while Eddie pulled his head out of the crook of your neck, a slight chuckle falling from his lips as he just hummed in response.

“Alright, alright- fine, what do you want?” He said, his hands moving to fix the robe he was wearing a little bit but it still wasn’t covering much.

“I just want food- I don’t care what it is..” you muttered out, obviously just hungry as you gave him a little pout- which he couldn’t help but find adorable.

“Hm, I think sausage sounds nice don’t yah sweetie?” He hummed out, the smirk on his face getting wider as he just decided to be an ass and place his semi hard dick down on the table in front of you.

You could hear the small snicker fall from his lips which caused you to roll your eyes as you tried your best to hide the grin trying to appear on your face.

“Eddie- come onnn..” you whined out, which caused him to quickly put his dick back into his robe as he put his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, okay- fine, seriously- nowwww what to do you want??” He questioned, this time actually being genuine as he crossed his arms lightly over his chest while leaning back against the counter of the kitchen.

You just sat there for a moment, your eyes glancing to look up at him as he stood there.

You couldn’t help but admire him- even though he looked like a mess right now, he still looked absolutely beautiful.

“…sausage actually does sound nice- the actual thing though..” you mumbled out, which caused Eddie to crack a dumb little smirk.

“Whatever you want my love~” he hummed out while standing up from leaning back against the counter, which caused you to crack a wide grin up at him as he placed a kiss on the top of your head.

“I love you Eddie-” you said, looking up at him as he smirked down at you before making his way towards the stove to make you breakfast.

“I love you more y/n, my beautiful wife..” he hummed out while your eyes stayed on him- the wide grin on your face as you just admired him.

—————————————

(A/n: I’m so sorry if this is short- I just felt like making the tiniest little shit blurb and I made it- also sorry if it’s kinda bad, I’m just very lazy and kinda out of it, but I also hope you liked it 😭)

[lovetei]

hey , i saw ur profile and can i please ask for a favor , yesterday was the worst day on my life, i had a bad grade on my last exam for college and now i can't do what i want with my friends leaving me alone i feel like i can end my life anytime, so please if u can do the obey me boys comforting me or smth please and thanks

Omg hey, please don't say those, there are just times where everything and everyone are against you but who knows, maybe tomorrow or the next day will be the best day? Please be happy :( 🖤

--------------------------------------------------

The characters comforting you after you experienced an extremely frustrating day

Versions: Demon brothers, Side Characters

Warnings: Hyperventilating, burn out, MC feeling sad in different ways, nose bleeding, unhealthy studying behavior

Links: Masterlist

--------------------------------------------------

LUCIFER

Lucifers day is the same as usual

Wake up, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat

But the sleep part was immediately erased from his schedule when he saw you

It was already dark outside

And everyone else has already gone on their way home

And he expected you to have done the same as he already memorized your schedule

But when he saw you, sitting on a bench, alone, inside the garden of RAD

Crying and almost hyperventilating

His none existant soul almost flew away from his body

He ran up to you and sat beside you

Just what the hell happened?

He checked around you for any visible injuries or wounds but there's none

MC why don't you answer him?! He'll help you with literally anything just talk to him!

And then that's when you shakily handed him a piece of paper

He must say that the score is low

But definetly not something to worry about considering the amount of other works you excelled at

"Is it because your score at this test..?" He asked oh so softly, his voice so low and comforting as if any sudden surprise will shatter you

You just nodded innocently

To be honest with himself, this is unlike any other exam for him where he knows or at least he got the idea of what's the answer or what to do

He's completely lost

He never saw you cry this hard before

He can't say "It's okay..." As he pat your back because its obviously not for you

So he just turned into his demon form and hugged your currently vulnerable form with his large, black wings

Hoping that the temporary comfort of keeping you,

Hiding you from the world can help you.

Don't worry, MC.

He's right here...

MAMMON

Mammon's day is as usual too

He just went out to gamble for a few games and won large prizes

He's actually on his way to your room to treat you into something nice until he heard sobs,

Sobs from inside your room

And you're there on the floor with almost everything around you in places where they should not be

Just what happened to your day to make you feel this much...

After a few second of standing there shocked

He finally regained his composure and hugged you from behind

Preventing you from furthering any damage that may hurt you too

"MC CALM DOWN!" is all he can say because it felt like he'll start to cry too if he says more

He's glad that the moment he grasped you,

You just fell into him, cometely exhausted and still a crying mess

He asked what happened and...

It's because every went wrong..?

You got kicked out of your job...

You failed a exam...

Oh...

He doesn't know what to do except to hug you and pat your back as he whispered praises and comforting words in your ears

Saying your enough

You did much more than those exams

That you mean more

And that there will always be a tomorrow

Where he'll be there

Everyone will be there to assist and support your every decision

So just take a break and let him do the rest.

LEVIATHAN

He doesn't know how to react,

He doesn't know how to react when he saw you in his tub

Buried in his blankets and pillows

Trying to quite down your cries

Without even noticing that he's there

Standing beside you

"M-MC..." He stuttered out as his hand reached out to touch your cheeks

You're crying so much...

What do he do?!

He doesn't know what to do...

So without he thought he joined you in the tub and hugged you.

His tail slithering it's way around your waist

Pulling you even closer as if just wanting to merge with you

He then hide his face on your neck and said

"I... I l-love..." He wants to assure you that he's right there and that whatever happens he will stay at the same place

And wait for you

"You... I love MC... So p-please stop c-crying..." You don't even know who's having more trouble right now

You who literally have the worst day

Or Leviathan that is about to burst trying to comfort you

But you must say...

His breathing on your neck

And his warm body totally comforts you

The blue light of the room and the sound of water from the large aquarium adds up too

When you finally respond to him saying a small "Thank you, Levi."

He'll almost tear up.

Thank you for everything too, MC.

SATAN

He knows something was up with you

The pact mark, he felt it slightly burning up

He must admit

He likes the feeling of you being connected to him

But he knows you don't feel the same way.

Wrath isn't for humans at all

So he went around the house looking for you

And luckily he saw you enter the library

Fists clutched

Darkened eyes

And gritted teeth

He's surprised

The amount of burning he felt in the pact mark is definetly dangerous

And yet you managed to keep your calm demeanor...

He didn't dare enter the library until the mark warmed up a little

He also prevented everyone from entering it too

He waited patiently outside the library

Leaning on the wall doing nothing

And even though there is nothing to do for him, the burning sensation is enough to keep him busy

But the burning fire didn't warm up

It dissappeared

And that's not normal

Could you have fainted..?

He immediately stood up from the ground and opened the door

And there he saw you on the table

Books littered on the table until there's now space

And you sitting there with a bloody nose, crying, as you try to push yourself to study

The sight is enough to break his heart into pieces

He closed the door and locked it as he slowly walked to you

And even though he makes his prescense known, and you noticed him

You refuse to even look at his direction saying "Go away... I need this."

You don't.

Punishing yourself will not cause you any good.

He pulled out his handkerchief and gently moved your face to make you look at him.

He cleaned your nose and poured you a glass of water from the pitcher he filled up earlier and left inside the library

He just kept his handkerchief in your nose and tilted your head a bit until the bleeding stopped

He then carried you to the sofa, away from all those books

Before he sat on the ground and rested his head on your lap

Kittens do these to him and it always keep him calm

He hope he does the same to you...

ASMODEUS

He knows how to comfort people he knows

But he doesn't know how to comfort people he loves...

Do you want a glass of wine?

Skin care?

Should he brush your hair?

He'll do anything for you, just tell him.

He can't help but have his heart sink when you opened up to him about how witty your day got.

But now...

All he can do is take care of you.

Put you in the tub and take care of you like a royalty

Before putting you into the bed and laying beside you

His arms and legs entangled with yours as if he never wants to let go of you

He will tap your leg and pat your back until you fell asleep in his arms

And when you finally did

He can't help but cry himself too because

"How come I don't even know what they want to do when they're sad..?"

He loves you dearly, MC

Please know it and hang a little more there...

He'll make sure this life will be worth living for you tomorrow.

BEELZEBUB

What should he do..?

He doesn't know what to do...

He felt so bad that he doesn't know who to comfort you...

So without thinking he bent down a little and lifted you up before running away.

You kept on asking him where you two will be going but he just said "Trust me."

And here he take you to a roof top of a tall building

Him and his brothers seems to own this place as the staffs address him respectfully

You and him sat on top of that place and watched as the run set and as the stars become more visible

He loves these stars and he wants to show it to you

Hoping that the stars will magically make you feel better

He doesn't like seeing you like this, it makes him feel useless.

You know how to tame care of them when they're upset, mad and hungry

But he doesn't even know what to do for you when you feel those things

But if catching these stars will make you happy, he'll gladly do so just for you

But for now

Lay your head on his shoulder and say all of things you can't

And he'll be there to listen to your every word

And if you feel tired

Rest

Because tomorrow he'll be taking you to the sixth ring and show you all the things that might make you feel happy.

BELPHEGOR

He was asleep

But he woke up immediately when you threw yourself on top of his sleeping for sobbing

He can't help but panic when you started to sob the phrase "I failed my last test..!"

And no, he's not panicking because you might fail

He's panicking because he doesn't know how to make you stop crying too

Gosh, these brothers are hopeless

He'll sat you up on his lap and let you straddle him as he run his hand through your hair

He'll then lay you beside him and use a few tricks to make you have wonderful dreams

Things that makes you happy

Things that makes you calm

For short, him.

Once you're already asleep he'll enter a part of your memory and find why you're upset.

...

He's so sorry MC.

You need him all throughout the day and he's not even there...

When he saw the teacher who gave you a low score on this project

He'll give that guy a very secret gift

One that he'll remember for the rest of his life

One that will reassure him that the guy will never bother you

Ever again.

For now, sleep tight

And let him solve this issue his way.

[lou-struck]

A Bout of Bad Luck... Part 1

Featuring: Lucifer, Mammon, and Leviathan

Part 2 Coming Soon...

~Human superstitions may not be believed in the Devildom. But you know bad luck when you see it.

a/n: I hope you guys like this one. It was a lot of fun to research these superstitions and figure out which character would be the one to break it.

Lucifer~

Lucifer is exhausted…

With Diavolo and Barbatos away on business, he has taken up the brunt of all of the paperwork from RAD. He has locked himself away in his office so he can diligently do his work without any distractions. 

And that he does. 

The only time anyone in the House of Lamination has seen the Avatar of Pride is when, at your insistence, he leaves his office to eat, shower, or take an unfulfilling rest. 

It's not enough, but he is thankful that you take the time to pester him to do something good for himself when he slips into this workaholic mindset. 

But behind his office door, he is struggling. His face is so low to the desk that he wonders if he is actually awake at all.

Is he actually doing his work or just dreaming of it?

The thought sends an ice-cold shiver through his spine. His shoulders jolting him upwards in a panic. His weary, blood-red gems zero in on the sheets before him, and he is relieved to see that he, indeed, was not dreaming of work. 

A gentle but determined rapping on his heavy wooden door pulls him from his thoughts. 

He clears his throat and watches the entryway eagerly. He knows that little knock anywhere. "Come in, Mc." With a flick of his wrist, the door is magically whisked open so you can step in, wheeling in a little tea cart. The little cups clink chipperly as you scold him for not taking a break earlier. 

He stands to greet you and finally takes a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. His hair is ruffled, and his face looks unusually pale. But the most shocking thing to him is that his dress shirt is on inside out.

When you see it, you let out a little snort in amusement. The blush doesn't come to his cheeks, but the fact that he is looking so unkept in front of you causes him to panic. 

"I think you should keep it like that, Luci," you smile, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I heard that somewhere in the human world, it's bad luck to turn your clothes around when they're inside out." 

He pauses briefly, processing your words, but to his knowledge, human superstitions of misfortune carry little weight in the devildom. Anything that may happen to a human once a black cat crosses their path or walks under a ladder is purely coincidental. But your worry warms his heart. 

"It's just a superstition, My Dear. But thank you for caring about me," he smirks, giving you that little pet name that never fails to make your knees go weak. 

Giving you a full show, he swiftly removes his shirt and places it on correctly. If anyone else saw him like this, it would be quite humiliating, but with you, it's a silly little memory that will bring him comfort for years to come.

With the shirt on correctly, he moves out a little wrinkle and looks up at you, raising his brow as if to say, 'See? No harm done.'

But in that same instant, a strong gust of wind miraculously blows open the previously locked windows.

His brilliantly organized paperwork scatters about the room in a whirlwind of ink and parchment as he curses under his breath. 

"I told you it was bad luck." you cry out, rushing over to shut the windows, shutting them quickly before any more damage is done. 

"This may not have anything to do with my clothes." he sighs crouching down, beginning to sort out the papers. Some of them are definitely damaged beyond repair, but thankfully, not all of his hard work is lost. 

"Whatever you say, Luci," you tease, joining him on the floor to help him out. 

Your assistance is invaluable to the Demon, and soon, the floor will be clear of paper debris. Lucifer secures the last incomplete pile in a folder and extends his hand to help you off of the floor where you had sat cross-legged, inspecting each little page. 

"Thank you for your help today, Mc; without you here, this little cleanup would've taken me far too long."

There is a mischievous little light in your eyes as you take his hand. "I know how you can thank me properly."

"Oh, you do?" he teases, thinking up something sinfully sweet. "Please enlighten me."

You bring over the tea cart from earlier, the enchanted teapot still releasing a gentle tendril of perfumed steam as if it had just been poured. 

"Take a proper break, Lucifer." Your voice is stern and leaves no room for argument. "You've been working way too hard, and we both know it."

He laughs and goes to sit down in his office chair in defeat. He knows you're right. "Fine, you win. But I expect your company to be a part of this little deal of ours~."

His beloved office chair creaks, and he feels himself falling backward. You reach out a hand to keep him from falling with his now-broken seat but get taken to the floor with him. 

His back hits the carpet first as you land comfortably on top of him unharmed. You burst out laughing, and he cannot escape its infectious nature. "See?" you gasp between giggles. "This is what I meant about bad luck."

He may not be the biggest believer in bad luck, but if the two of you ending up like this is a part of it, the Demon may not mind a bit of human superstition. 

Mammon~

If he had lost a bet to anyone else, Mammon would be holed up in his room sulking. But seeing the expression of pure joy on your face as you walk down the cobbled streets of Majolish towards the ice cream parlor makes him feel a bit better about his loss.

There is a spring in your step that makes the Demon's chest seem a bit lighter as he follows slightly behind you. Something shiny catches his eye on the path ahead. He loves shiny things. 

"Oi, Mc." he calls happily, rushing towards the unclaimed treasure on the ground just outside of the parlor. "check this out."

It's just a piece of grim on the ground, but Mammon's greed gets the better of him.

Just as he crouches down to take the sweet, sweet Grimm for himself, you place a gentle yet firm hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think you should take that," you say worriedly. 

Mammon looks at you like you just told him Beel went on a juice cleanse. 

With pure disbelief.

"What are ya talkin about?" He laughs. "It's free, Grimm. How can I be the Great Mammon if I don't take it?"

Shake your head and point down at the still-untouched coin. "Look, it's tails side up." Your voice is so serious, but the Demon still has no idea what you're going on about.

"Yeah, so?"

"In the human world, there's a belief that if you find a coin with a tail side up, it is bad luck if you take it for yourself. You should flip it and leave it for someone else to find." Your lips curve outward in a smile at your explanation as if talking about this silly human belief fulfills some sense of longing you have.

The white-haired Demon tosses his head back in good-natured laughter. "Silly human, that kind of superstitious stuff isn't real. I'll take the Grimm And put it towards somethin' special." 

You let go of his shoulder wearily and roll your eyes. "All right, whatever you say Mammon." You start to walk towards the ice cream parlor with a happy smile on your face.

His own is bright and victorious as he picks up the coin and slips it into his pocket. "Wait for me Mc," he calls, springing to his feelings and rushing after you. 

He watches as the glass door shut magically behind you, and he steps into the glass pane, ready to push it open, only to walk right into the door face first. "Owww."

His nose is throbbing as he stumbles back. Seeing his face print marking the clear surface would be a lot funnier if he wasn't so embarrassed. 

You open the door and gently guide him inside. "Mammon! Are you okay?" you ask, sitting him down in one of the parlor's leather booths."

"M' fine," he mumbles. Low-key loving the attention that you are giving him. He pulls out his wallet and hands Goldie to you. "Let's jus get some ice cream."

You take the card promising to get something that he will like. As you walk away, the pain in his face starts to subside. But this sensation is quickly replaced with another unpleasant one. Cold water droplets begin to land on the crown of his head. It's small, harmless, but extremely annoying. 

He shifts to the left, it lands on him, sending a strange shiver down his spine. 

To the right. The droplets still land on his head. 

You come back once the Demon is balancing on the very edge of the booth, two glorious-looking ice cream cones in your hands. Mammon's gaze zeroes in on the ice cream cone topped with edible gold flakes. "Is that one for me?" he grins, reaching towards the sparkling treat. It barely reaches his lips before the scoop topples off of the cone and onto the Avatar of Greed's pants. 

You say nothing as you try to hide your laughter and Mammon has to wonder if this bad luck stuff humans are worried about may be the real deal after all. 

"Mammon?" you say kindly, sliding a pile of napkins across the table for him. "Do you want me to get you another one?"

"Yea," he mutters embarrassedly. "I-in a cup this time, please, Mc."

Leviathan~

Nights like these are some of Levi's favorites. It's just you, him, and Henry. Although the latter is just swimming circles around his fishbowl, not paying the two of you any mind. 

The Avatar of Envy is struggling greatly, trying to divide his attention equally between the game and your pretty face illuminated underneath the blue light of the screen.

Thankfully, your opponents are not that good, so he can do both. And when you get the final kill to secure your win, he watches in puppy love admiration as you throw your hands up in the air victoriously and sink back into the dark beanbag chair he set up next to his gaming chair. 

"We did it!" you sigh, wiggling out of your chair. "I'm gonna grab a drink from the kitchen before the next round. Do you want anything.?"

"Sure, thank you." he hums, trying to think what drinks are in the fridge. "Could I get one of the Blushberry Spritz?"

"you bet," the smile you give him is blinding. Although he may be a shut-in, just spending a few minutes with you is like being outside, feeling the gentle rays of the mortal sun on his face.

With you gone, he doesn't enter another game. Instead, he decides to pull up a different tab on his computer to check some of his emails.

He entered a giveaway for some merch the other day and keeps poking into his inbox to find out if he has won anything. 

The first few emails are just promos and order updates for his Akuzon packages. But he notices that one of his online friends send him some kind of attachment. Just as he clicks it open, you come back into the room, placing a chilled can of Spritz on his Rui and Friends coaster.

"What's that?" you ask, leaning over his shoulder. You're so close to him. Levi can feel his skin heating up, his thoughts fizzling out of his head like the bubbles in his drink.

What if he just turned and kissed you? 

Wouldn't that just be so crazy?

"Levi?" Your sweet voice brings the now-flustered Otaku back to reality and he tries to remember what it was that the two of you were talking about before. His amber gaze darts to the screen for a hint and then he remembers the ominous message on the screen before him.

This Message is Crazy Powerful!!!

Send this thread to 10 friends and ur CRUSH!!! will ask you out 2morrow <3 <3 <3

Ignore And Be CURSED With Bad Luck 4 Eva!!!

You sigh and sit down in your seat, "Ugh, you guys get this kind of stuff in the Devildom too? I hate those things."

Levi sorts and clicks away from the email. "Yea this stuff's for normies."

"So you're not gonna send it at all?" you ask, a bit of worry in your tone that makes Levi's heart beat faster. You're worried about him, and it makes him feel so, so good. Like he just got the grand prize out of a claw machine on his first Grimm kind of good.

"Nah, like I said, it's just a silly message." he beams, deleting the message and going back to the game lobby.

You laugh it off and pick up your controller, your separate screens buffering as the countdown begins. 

10…

9…

8…

7…

6…

5…

4…

Your screen continues to count down, but Levi's stays frozen halfway between four and three. 

"Wait, what is happening?" he whines as his screen stays unmoving. "Mc, is your screen acting like this too?"

He turns to look at your screen and realizes that you are already on the map. The other online members of your team rush past his unmoving character without care.

"Oh shoot, Levi." you exclaim "I'll stay with you until your screen catches up." He watches as your little character rushes back to the frozen Leviathan just in time to see his avatar explode into a pile of little purple pixels. 

Levi bites back a curse as his screen finally catches up, but now all it's saying is 'GAME OVER'

You try to hold your ground, but your rescue attempt leaves your character right out in the open.

Your avatar meets a similar fate a few minutes later. 

You laugh it off with that sweet human optimism he loves, and he tries to keep his cool. After all, the last thing he wants to do is embarrass himself in front of you.

But the same thing happens again.

And again…

And again…

Even after he reboots the Wifi he still dies in-game due to some weird glitch or system error. 

After the 7th or so glitched match, he begins to wonder if you were right about that bad luck stuff after all. 

'GAME OVER' fills his screen again as he lets out a cry in defeat. At least this round, he was able to make it a few steps before getting hunted down, but it's still so annoying. 

Levi looks over at you and sees you chewing the inside of your cheek in thought. But then the strangest thing happens.

You quit the game and place your controller on the table. "Well that was rough," your smile just as bright as ever. Even after the last half hour of his helpless, probably cursed, playthrough attempts. "How about we watch a movie instead?"

The thought of a cozy movie night with you makes the blood rush to his face, and he nods dumbly, wondering if he will get the chance to hold your hand as it plays.

@enchantedforest-network

[pb-dot]

This latest Adventuring Party really drove home my favorite aspect of Brennan's DMing style. He genuinely loves seeing his players succeed, even against odds he considered to be nigh insurmountable.

Let's take the Last Stand as an example. Now, Brennan made no secret out of the Last Stand encounter being very hard, and for people who do not play D&D it may even seem like he overhyped it, but from a mechanics standpoint, the CR, functionally the difficulty rating of this battle royale was sky-high. Yeah, none of the Bad Kids went down, but that is entirely thanks to a combination of excellent strategic play from the Intrepid Heroes and some choice luck.

To mention some of the game changer moves, the Scatter spell really re-defined the battlefield more favorably for the Bad Kids, the disguise self was a value proposition because it split the flying monsters, which was the greatest threat to the proctor by far, in two, functionally halving the threat to the squishy normie, not to mention dealing with the mega-mosquitos in combo with Spirit Guardians. Those little flying bastards would have been such a pain in the ass if Fig didn't bug zapper them to kingdom come. And the bless. Dear god, the Bless saved so many asses in this encounter.

This isn't to say magic was the only thing that defined the battlefield. The single-target damage dealers did some truly astounding numbers and managed their attention and abilities shockingly well. Yeah, Gorgug crit like a madman, but he also tanked like three or four non-barb PCs worth of effective HP damage without going down even once. If he had failed his saves and gotten eaten by the Purple Worm things would have gotten nasty for him, but again, the touch of luck (and bless) saw him through.

So, this is all to say that this was an encounter meant to kick the players' ass. Not an unwinnable one, evidently, but this was supposed to be a considerably worse experience even without getting into the non dice-roll exam questions. And how does Brennan react when the Intrepid Heroes put their game face all the way on, get really smart with their level 1 spell slots, and dismantle the whole thing? He's overjoyed, he's cheering for his strange adventure children, and we're cheering with him because frankly it's rad as hell.

This illustrates one nuance I feel sometimes gets glossed over about the DM-player relationship. A lot of people have talked about how Junior Year is the "Revenge of Brennan" or what have you, and I feel that kind of misses the central appeal of DMing and Brennan's style in D20 in particular. Yes, Mr Mulligan enjoys playing the heel on occasion. It's good fun to play the personification of everything going wrong and the inherent shittiness of the world, but like the wrestler heels, all that wicked charisma is meant to do one thing, and that is build up the faces, or the players in this case.

Now, the ghost of Gary Gygax may come after me for this, but I firmly believe it's not the DMs job to kill the player characters, or even to inconvenience or torment them. A good DM's job is to make it seem like they're going to kill the player characters, as to provide an environment for the players to succeed, a challenge for them to overcome. It's all one big improv exercise (or kink scene if you prefer to view it that way), where the DM derives their (near)absolute authority over the world the PCs inhabit from the shared understanding that they're going to show the players a spectacular, if not on occasion harrowing, time.

This is Brennan's biggest strength as a DM I think. He genuinely wants to make a spectacular time for his friends, and he understands that to do that he must on occasion be the monster they oppose, and on occasion he must be their breathless cheerleader. On occasion, one imagines, he must also be both.

[brucewaynehater101]

In regards to one of my previous asks (the one that involved a daycare center, the GLC, and sentient robots), the backstory behind the robots is that they gained sentience slowly and started asking their shift supervisors questions like "What is a soul and do I have one?", leading to fears about AI uprisings, and the moment Tim heard about this he immediately gave the robots full civil rights, because having a stake in society means they won't rise up. The robots are people, same as you or I, both legally and in terms of sapience.

The GLC didn't know any of this, and they thought these were just weirdly themed attack bots and the daycare staff were minions and the only one of the two groups who were sapient. And when Mr. Cracker tried to bonk Hal Jordan over the head with his wooden prop sword Hal immediately reacted as if he were a nonsapient attack bot, i.e., no mercy, punch them through 3 walls without regard for keeping them alive.

Mr. Cracker is the lucky one in that he didn't hit anything more solid than a few interior walls with pipes in them, and the pulverized space-drywall staunched his oil leaks/wounds. He could have bled out otherwise. Other robots who were punched at full force by various Lanterns didn't make it. It's been several weeks now, and the severed head of the wet nurse bot from the pediatric ward has only just been found. Apparently it flew straight out a window and got wedged between two ledges on an adjacent building.

Did I mention Mr. Cracker's lower jaw is missing now, and one of his hands? Nobody could find them after the GLC left :(

(I think that's the hand he tried to shield himself from Jordan's punch with. That would explain the finger joint someone found embedded in the ceiling when the damage to the childcare center was being repaired.)

So yeah, the Imperial Association for the Advancement of Synthetic People is starting up a lawsuit for use of excessive force to go with the existing racial discrimination lawsuit the Silken Emperor himself is leveling at the GLC.

Oof! Thank you for the background on the robots!!! Storyline that explore sentience and technology are super rad!

I'm curious if other technology-based organisms flee to Tim's empire for legal protection and rights. There was a Tumblr post that chatted about how we need cyborg rights in rl (cause companies can legally reclaim your prosthetics if you go broke. They can legally take a part of you). It would be cool to see how Tim handles these issues, the discrimination against AI, and discrimination against himself

[coelii]

let’s talk Castlevania lore~

so it occurred to me that, within the game material (I haven’t watched the TV show or anything like that so that’s not personally interesting to me for this discussion, sry sry), we don’t have all THAT clear an idea of why Dracula is A Bad Guy Who Must Be Stopped At All Costs, do we? I kinda feel like it’s mostly just treated as “c’mon, it’s Dracula, let’s go vampire killin’”

I mean we’ve got the accusation that he “steals men’s souls and makes them [his] slaves,” and, okay, if true (do we ever, like, see that?) I guess that’s pretty not great. And I’m willing to accept just a priori that he is A Vampire and therefore, okay, presumably there’s some drinking of innocent blood or something, not ideal. (Again, not sure that ever occurs on-screen?) I guess he also cursed Simon to have some pretty horrible nights? That’s not rad, i guess.

But like, fundamentally, do we ever have actual word in the games/game material of what exactly Dracula’s menace really IS? Just what kind of fate is the Belmont clan (et al.*) supposedly protecting us from? I guess I probably don’t want to live next door to an Active Vampire, but honestly it’s pretty amusing to me that I can’t actually think of what Dracula supposedly, like, wants.

(*from the Latin “et Alucard”)

So if we’re strictly looking at game material (and specifically main game and not the Lords of Shadow reboot) in my opinion there’s two origin games that have made a case for Dracula’s desires.

Castlevania Lament of Innocence

As covered in another recent ask, this is the official first game in the timeline

Here you play as Leon Belmont whose betrothed Sara is kidnapped by an ancient vampire named Walter Bernhard. Leon’s close friend Mathias Cronqvist, an alchemist who is grief stricken over the loss of his wife Elisabetha (who died of an illness while he was away), informs Leon that Walter was the one who kidnapped Sara and Leon goes to save her. Over the course of the game you learn that there are two powerful vampire relics and Walter is in possession of one: the Ebony Stone that produces darkness and makes Walter effectively invulnerable (as he is strongest in the darkness the stone produces).

You also create the Vampire Killer whip during the game which has the power to break the Ebony Stone and make Walter susceptible to damage. At the game’s climax, when Walter is close to Death (both metaphorically and physically) it’s revealed that Leon’s buddy Mathias had the other vampire relic, the Crimson Stone, the whole time. This relic absorbs the souls and power of other vampires (kind of a Ghostbuster situation).

Walter’s soul is captured in the stone, but Mathias uses it for his own dark purposes - to become a vampire himself and take revenge against God (whom he curses for taking his wife from him). Mathias eventually gives up his name and adopts the name Dracula instead and is canonically the Dracula in all Castlevania Games.

This origin story unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired in Dracula’s motivations because it basically amounts to Dracula being a man who’s just mad that God took his wife from him and uses another Vampire’s power (Walter) as his own. He isn’t noble or powerful without the stone (which is this red thing he wears in much of the official artwork apparently)

But I guess “stick it to the man” is technically a motivation…

Castlevania Legends

Now I’m a Lament of Innocence denier personally and would prefer to use the older games as the source to answer this question.

According to the Legend’s instruction book the story is:

IT WAS THE MIDDLE AGES IN TRANSYLVANIA. ONE MAN CAME INTO POSSESSION OF AN EVIL POWER, AND THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS WAS BORN. BEFORE LONG, THIS BEING HAD USED HIS NEW-FOUND SUPERNATURAL POWERS AND THE MAGIC POWERS OF HIS FOLLOWERS TO SPREAD HIS PLAGUE OF DARKNESS AND DESPAIR THROUGHOUT THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT, HE WAS COUNT DRACULA. EVEN TO MENTION THE NAME OF THIS PRINCE OF DARKNESS WAS TO CAST FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE IN THE LAND, WHO WERE POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING SAVE VOICE THEIR CONCERN. HOWEVER, AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME A BABY GIRL POSSESSING SPECIAL POWERS WAS BORN TO A FAMILY LIVING IN A REMOTE AREA OF THE COUNTRY. "YOUR POWERS ARE MEANT FOR A HIGHER PURPOSE AND NOT ONLY FOR YOURSELF” SHE WAS OFTEN REMINDED AS SHE WAS GROWING UP. THE PLOT OF THIS GIRL'S FATE BEGAN TO DEVELOP ONE NIGHT IN HER SEVENTEENTH YEAR WHEN SHE MET UP WITH THE YOUNG ENIGMATIC ALUCARD, WHO WAS ON A JOURNEY TO SEARCH FOR THE FATHER THAT HAD DESERTED HIM. THE YOUNG GIRL'S NAME WAS SONIA BELMONT, AND SHE WAS THE FIRST OF THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS IN THE BELMONT FAMILY TO BECOME LEGENDARY.

Now unfortunately this doesn’t tell us too much. In this origin Dracula exists already, obtained his power by coming “into possession” of it, and his motivation is simply “spread his plague of darkness and despair throughout the European continent” (Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia are all safe apparently).

Now I don’t want to theorycraft too far off the actual game material here, but I do know that Vampire Hunter D was heavily inspirational to the development of Castlevania. Many people know the anime films, but Vampire Hunter is a series of novels first published in 1983 (three years before the first CV game was released) and in these novels the being known as the “Sacred Ancestor” is the progenitor of all the other vampires and the oldest among them. He is known as the Vampire King or God and D is the Sacred Ancestor’s son (so to speak). This was the inspiration for Alucard, who we know in Castlevania lore to be Dracula’s direct descendant.

The VH novels present vampires as a race unto themselves, not the traditional mythos of humans given vampiric power (although they can still create vampires from humans).

Novel #17: White Devil Mountain (published 2014) is more explicit in this stating that vampires predate humans by possibly millions of years. The Sacred Ancestor, as the oldest among them, felt it was his duty to watch over his people and did many experiments over the years to try and save his race from eventual extermination (not necessarily by the hands of Hunters, but through a variety of circumstances). Some experiments included inventions that could block out the sun and give eternal darkness (a common theme in vampire lore).

The Dracula of Castlevania seems as much inspired by Bram Stoker’s creation and the historical Vlad Tepes as he was by Vampire Hunter’s Sacred Ancestor.

If the Sacred Ancestor’s motivation was as ward and protector of his race, acting in various ways to save them and ensure their continued reign and existence then I would say Dracula’s motivation is similar: “spread his plague of darkness” by ensuring that the curse of night spreads and his people can remain powerful and eternal.

In Short

Both games present Dracula as a man who obtained power through unholy means. Walter Bernhard’s origins aren’t necessarily explained in the game and it’s possible that like Vampire Hunter D he is of a race of vampires older than humanity and Dracula simply is just a man using his power as his own. However I feel Dracula’s motivation may still be similar to that of the Sacred Ancestor from VH: with great power comes great responsibility (thanks Ben!) and his duty is to protect and allow his people to thrive in a world hellbent on destroying them.

[owlphibiaisthebest15]

Hi guys! I want to talk about a minor problem I have with Amphibia and how they could've been done better. I will not be talking about any of the big problems that people have already complained about, like Sasha and Marcy's lack of screentime, their character arcs, parents, nobody talking about Marcy after "True Colors", yada yada yada, because we don't need another post like that, and I want to keep this overdue rant as short as possible. This is based on my personal opinions along with a few others, but feel free to disagree with me if you want. But with further, let us begin...

Anne almost always gets way too easily forgiven for f*cking up.

Okay! This one may be a hot take because I have never seen another person complain about this. But this has been eating me away for MONTHS, and if no one else is going to say it, then I will. While this occasionally extends to some other characters depending on the episode. The one I want to talk about most is Anne. Now, at the start of the series, Anne was pretty much a jerk with a heart of gold. She was selfish, bratty, lazy, and irresponsible, but she did learn from the mistakes that she made and became a true hero by the end of the series. While some of these flaws and mistakes are not worth talking about, there are still others that are actually worse than what the show's narrative portrays them to be.

They may not be as bad as leading a toad army to invade the capital city, burying the only thing that could get Anne home, or sending your friends to another world on purpose. Anne has still made some pretty questionable decisions, even to the point where they often cross the line.

Here's a list of some of the worst things Anne Boonchuy has ever done from Season 1 and 2:

Breaking Hop Pop's favorite cane that also happens to be a keepsake of his father and grandfather all while making fun of him.

Manipulating Sprig into taking Bessie the family Snail on a Joyride without reading. Which is like someone taking a car out for a spin without a driver's permit.

Forcing Sprig to marry Maddie despite his obvious discomfort for Pizza Dough and later forces him to date Ivy while he's still engaged to Maddie.

Faking being sick to get out of farm duty, which led the Plantars getting sick themselves and even thought they were all going to die from red leg.

Slacking off while she was supposed to be protecting the frozen townsfolk, while aware of what happens to one of them while they're frozen. Which, of course, led to Polly almost getting eaten by a giant weasel.

Causes massive property damage with Polly while on the streets of Newtopia, and later breaks into Newtopia University in hopes of finding a rad college party. The second one was Polly's idea, but Anne had no problem going along with it.

A team effort along with her frog family. Sending a giant chicken to attack Wartwood. Which BTW can create tornadoes, breathe fire, and even turned their loved ones into stone, all because they forgot to buy everyone gifts. Sure, Anne was against the idea, but she still went along with it.

What do characters usually respond with when Anne admits her mess ups?! "It's okay! You're good! What you did was serious, but it doesn't matter that we almost died, as long as you learned your lesson."

Though Anne still at least got a lot better, as the worst things she's done in Season 3 were covering up some major plot points from her parents, robbing a museum to get a clue on how to find a way back to Amphibia, and tricking Blair the Balloonist into flying a hot air balloon. Though, the first one is still a little f*cked up, but she did have selfless reasons for doing these, and she came clean for 2/3 of these.

But still, 90% of this show is just a lighthearted slice of life cartoon, but when it shifts to its dark story driven and plot twisting side, this is where the narrative (and by some extent Anne herself) gets pretty hypocritical. It's pretty much when Anne messes up and lies to other characters. It's a simple error in judgment. But when other main characters such as Sasha, Marcy, and even Hop Pop do the same to her, first they gotta face hell for it, and then they get their redemption arc.

Yes! They did do some serious sh*t, and Anne had a right to be mad at them. But it seems that other characters are just not allowed to even stay mad at Anne when she does pretty similar sh*t. I mean, yes, she does try to make up for it, and yes, she admits what she's done most of the time, and eventually, she does become a better person from them. But so have Hop Pop, Sasha, and Marcy. But again, they didn't get the protagonists treatment. They got hurt and thrown around like ragdolls because of one or two big mistakes, and even that wasn't enough.

While Anne sometimes faces some consequences for her actions, like breaking Hop Pop's heirloom cane with HP giving her dish duty for a month (Cmon man! You should've given her way more than that!), gets banned from an arcade because she threatened to eat newt kids for cutting in line (which is not important), and most importantly, gets stranded in Amphibia after being peer pressured by her friends to shoplift it, all on her 13th birthday. Which I guess was enough for karma itself to feel so bad for her that she will hardly ever worry about facing any lasting consequences for her misdeeds ever again. While karma beats the cr*p out of others who would dare lie and betray our precious protagonists, even when they have sympathetic reasons for doing so.

Speaking of, this leads to me to clarify something that some fans have misinterpreted since the beginning of the series. The flashback scene in the second episode, "Best Fronds," was intended to show where Anne's distorted views on friendship and some of her toxic traits come from. Not to justify every single bad decision Anne has ever made, like what some fans think.

While I'm not gonna say that Anne was just as bad as Sasha before Amphibia, as it does show that Anne had her own personal flaws that she had to get through without depending on her friends. Who were more enabling her flaws than causing them.

However, while the show does try to show that Anne wasn't exactly much better in their friend dynamic than they were. For the reasons I mentioned earlier, it instead paints Anne as the least toxic one or not being toxic at all. With them only making a handful of moments that show that even after their betrayals, Anne still isn't much better than them. But the usual wacky slice of life narrative in her character development episodes downplays the severity of her actions, with Anne only just getting an emotional lesson after nearly getting everyone killed, and some of the said lessons being brought up in a few episodes to test her character or as examples to show others how much she has grown.

Now, I'm going to do some comparisons between Amphibia and The Owl House. While there are several things that Amphibia did better than TOH and about an equal amount of things TOH did better than Amphibia. One of those things that The Owl House did better than Amphibia was the writers treating each and every character fairly. The characters make mistakes and learn from them without the narrative downplaying the seriousness of their mistakes, and it isn't always "Okay! You're forgiven! What you did was serious, but it doesn't matter that we almost died. You learned your lesson, and that's what matters." While it doesn't give other characters the short end of the forgiveness stick for doing similar sh*t. With that, it also makes the character arcs a little bit better, in my opinion.

However, I'm not saying that Anne's character development was bad or that Matt Braly is treating Anne like how some see Alex Hirsch did with Mabel. The show did alright with changing a bratty teenager with flawed views of friendship into a true and selfless hero. All of what I described seems to what TV Tropes would call "Protagonist Centered Morality," and if I'm being honest, but because of that reason, I don't find Anne to be the most appealing character to me. I'm sorry! I know that a lot of you love her, and she's the second most popular character in the show; with the first being Marcy (my favorite), but I don't even dislike her either. I just feel that the narrative could've done better in treating the characters more fairly, like how TOH did with their characters. I really want to like Anne more than I do now, but for what I described, it makes it kinda hard for me to.

That's it for my opinions on this. This was longer than I thought, so if you read it this far or read it at all. You either think that I have a point and should do more of this or my analysis stinks, and I should never speak my dumb mind again. I'll probably see how this goes either way. If anybody else here still cares about this show.

[another-lost-mc]

Fairy Tales and Paw Prints

You're selected for the Devildom exchange program, but you're not alone.

SATAN x gn!Reader 3.5k Words | SFW | Fluff, Developing Relationship, Misunderstandings/Jealousy A/N: MC's cat isn't named but referred to as he/him. Obey Me! Masterlist

Satan is irritated when Lucifer calls all of his brothers to the library for a family meeting a couple days after your arrival in the Devildom. He feigns disinterest when Lucifer announces your feline pet from the human world has been brought to the House of Lamentation as well.

He watches Lucifer’s exasperated expression with amusement when Asmo complains loudly about cat fur getting all over his expensive clothes, and Levi pipes up that the animal might damage some of his rare collectibles. Mammon makes the mistake of wondering out loud whether human pets are worth anything to Devildom collectors, and Beel has the decency to look the slightest bit ashamed when he clarifies the cat is not for eating.

Lucifer silences them all with a frosty glare, and he emphasizes with a tone that will hear no argument that you’ve accepted responsibility for the animal and any upkeep it requires. He stomps from the room, clearly fed up with the discussion, and Satan and the rest of his brothers leave too - some of them still grumbling about the hassle of having a new pet around.

For all the fuss your pet created at first, Satan notices that your cat hardly makes an appearance in the days since. He doesn’t see the cat when you pass by the kitchen to grab a snack on the way to RAD, and you keep your door closed when you join the brothers for dinner. He thinks he can hear you talking to your pet in the evenings, and he knows he’s heard little chirps and meows that verify the animal’s existence.

Satan doesn’t care. And he’s definitely not disappointed.

He’s reading in the library one night after dinner when you slip in quietly and walk past him, oblivious to his presence, and stop in front of a bookcase nearby. You don't realize you’re looking in the section written exclusively in ancient demonic tongues - you slide books off the shelves, flip through the first couple pages, and then put them back just as quickly. 

He’s never going to finish this chapter with that sort of distraction. “It’s hard to read when you’re making a mess of my shelving system,” he says when you reject the sixth book you pick up. He sets his book aside and stands up from the sofa he was reclining on. The surprised little noise you make is not cute in the slightest.

“I’m having trouble finding something that’s not - whatever this language is,” you explain bashfully. You seem to wither under his gaze, and you look away. “I wasn’t able to bring any books with me.” 

Satan takes pity on you, but he’s not prepared to console crying humans today. “Come with me,” he says a bit more firmly than he intends to. He doesn’t look back but he doesn’t have to; you hesitate only for a moment before following him dutifully from the library towards his room.

He stops in front of his door and you look at him curiously when he meets your gaze over his shoulder. “Everything in my room is carefully organized. Do not touch anything. Do you understand?” When you gulp and nod your acceptance of his terms, he finally opens the door, walking inside.

You stop in the doorway and stare with blatant shock at the state of his room. Carefully organized? Your eyes scan the wobbly towers of books that fill the space and make it feel uncomfortably cramped. You can barely see a clear path on the floor to walk on. You take a tentative step forward, nearly tripping over a stack of books just inside the door. You flail around trying to find balance, resisting the very real urge to turn around and run for your life.

This room is a death trap.

“What kind of books do you like?” comes his slightly muffled voice. You think you can see a blonde tuft of hair peeking out from behind one of the many bookcases scattered around the room but you can’t be certain. The curtains are drawn and the room is poorly lit.

“I’m not picky,” you say hurriedly. “Anything is fine.” Anything that will get me out of here sooner.

When he appears a minute or two later, he’s holding a leather bound book. He offers it to you, but he doesn’t let go when you try to pull it from his grasp. “Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I hope you remember that no matter what you read in its pages, I promise the Devildom can be far more dangerous to humans like yourself.” He releases the book and you pull it to your chest protectively. “Do not mark the pages or fold the corners. When you’re finished, I expect you to return it. That’s a rare edition.”

You nod quickly, thanking him with one last fleeting glance before you spin around and leave before you accidentally knock anything over. When you make it back to your bedroom door, you open it carefully and slip inside, closing it tightly behind you. You look down when you hear a small rumbling purr at your feet.

“Well, I got something to read,” you say to your feline friend when you crouch down and scratch under his chin. He tilts his head back in bliss, completely unaware how close he came to becoming orphaned because of an avalanche of books.

When you lay in bed that night, the borrowed book in your lap and a cat sleeping peacefully on your legs, you allow yourself to finally relax. You’ve had trouble sleeping since your arrival in the Devildom and you hope that reading will help tire you out. You skim through the stories that don’t interest you but find yourself growing drowsy with each fairy tale you complete. When you don’t think you can stay awake any longer, you turn off your bedside lamp and roll over. Your cat makes a disgruntled noise but makes his way up the bed to you, curling against your chest. You fall asleep with his warm fur tickling your chin.

The next evening after dinner, you plan to return Satan’s book. If you can stay in the safety of the library, or the hallway, anywhere that isn’t the book-laden minefield of his bedroom, you figure you’ll ask him for more recommendations. Maybe you overlooked the bookshelves in the library with things you can understand, or maybe he has some more human world books hidden in one of his book piles. It’s worth a shot! 

He doesn’t make you wait long when you knock quietly on his door. He peers at you through a gap before swinging it wide open. You think he’s almost impressed you’ve returned so soon, but you blink and the look is gone.

You hold the book out to him, and he spares it a cursory once-over for damage before he nods with satisfaction. It feels like you’ve passed some sort of test and you exhale the breath you didn’t realize you were holding. “Thank you, this isn’t normally my type of book but it was still interesting…”

You trail off when you notice his gaze flickering away from you and towards something down the hall. You hear an excited chirp and see a blur of fluff zoom past you even as you bend down to try and catch your escaped cat. Satan doesn’t fare much better, his fingers barely grazing the animal who darts between his legs and into his bedroom.

“I am so sorry, I guess I didn’t close my door properly,” you explain, feeling more panicked now than that moment you first arrived in the Devildom. You hear soft meows growing quieter as your cat seems to explore deeper into Satan’s room. You’re clicking your tongue to try and draw him back to you, but it’s a lost cause.

Satan pulls something out of his pocket and starts shaking it. You hear a faint, interested chirp deep within the room.

“Why do you have cat treats?” you blurt out curiously, noticing the slight pink blush creeping across his cheeks to the tips of his ears.

“There are strays that come to the gardens sometimes,” he explains like it’s absolutely normal. “I give them treats when they visit.” He nearly mentions that he’s been hoping to meet your cat one day too but decides against it.

You nearly sag against the doorframe with relief when your cat comes prancing towards you, eyes focused on the bag dangling from Satan’s fingers. You both watch your cat pounce on the treats he shakes out onto the floor. You lean down and stroke his fur, glad to see he hasn’t gotten himself hurt somehow - you don’t know if books are the only things Satan hoards in his room.

“You can pet him if you like,” you offer, noticing the way Satan’s watching you and your pet like he’s not sure what to do next. He crouches beside you, and you both take turns running your fingers through the cat’s soft fur.

“He’s bigger than I thought he would be,” Satan says quietly. “Siamese?”

“Tonkinese,” you correct him. “He’s friendly and likes to talk, but I didn’t want him to bother anyone else. I’ve been trying to keep him in my room.” You’re surprised with how gentle Satan is being, petting him softly and keeping his voice low to avoid spooking him. You tell Satan your cat’s name, and he repeats it with a small smile.

The spell between you is broken when Satan stands up. You pick up your cat to keep him from darting back into Satan’s room, but he seems content to accept the small head scritches Satan offers before he backs away.

“I’ll text you later to see if I have anything in my library that might suit your reading preferences,” Satan says. He looks at you, then at your cat, and he looks away. “I don’t mind if you want to bring him again. It might be easier than trying to keep him locked up.”

You bid him goodnight and head back to your room, quietly scolding your cat who's certainly going to be on the hunt for more treats now that he’s had a taste of freedom. You don’t notice that Satan watches you until you turn the corner and disappear from view.

Over the next couple weeks, you and Satan fall into a sort of pattern. You visit him in his room - to borrow a book, or to read, or to enjoy his quiet company - with your cat in tow. He gives your cat treats and cuddles while you learn to navigate the tall stacks of books in his room, asking questions about the different Devildom authors he seems to like and offering human world recommendations of your own.

You find a part-time job near RAD to help cover the expenses of bringing your pet to the Devildom. Lucifer already provides you with a monthly stipend, but you want to make sure you can afford both your necessities on your own if necessary. You’re trying not to be a burden, and Lucifer has no issues with you choosing to work; he secretly admires your determination to be self-sufficient. He hopes your good behaviour makes an impression on his troublesome siblings.

You and Satan still find time to spend together despite your busy schedule. He offers to meet you when your shift is over so you don’t have to walk home alone. Sometimes he goes to your room and plays with your cat, sneaking him treats to tide him over until you can give him his dinner upon your return. Satan helps you make purchases using Levi’s Akuzon account which gives you a nice discount, and he helps carry any of the packages that arrive for you that are too bulky or heavy for you to carry on your own.

It surprises everyone else in the House of Lamentation that you and Satan are becoming fast friends. They assumed his unpredictable anger and no-nonsense attitude would scare you off. You’ve seen his temper flare since you arrived, but it’s normally directed towards one of his brothers which makes you feel a bit relieved. Even in his temperamental moods, he makes an effort not to shut you out or turn you away. It’s not a conscious realization, and he wouldn’t admit it to a soul if it were, but your presence relaxes him. Your quiet brand of kindness and consideration for his feelings is a rarity in the Devildom, and he seeks you out when he feels himself slipping back into bouts of fury and violence.

When you grow closer to his siblings, Satan watches from the sidelines like an outsider. His brothers are chaos and trouble, prone to dragging you into their messes. He tells himself that it makes sense you’re getting closer with them too, since you all live together - they should look out for your well-being as much as he does. That sort of connection is bound to lead to friendships, and while your pacts with Mammon and Levi are a surprise to him at first, he understands in theory why they’re beneficial to you.

If he seems a bit harsher with his older brothers after, it’s just a coincidence.

The obvious drawback to your growing collection of demon friends is that his brothers seek you out more often. They’ve forgotten their previous complaints about your cat as they coo over him when he follows you in the hallways. They’ve even said they don’t mind if you feed him in the dining room like he’s part of the family. Sometimes one of the brothers will show up at your door with a surprise for you: some new feather toy for the cat to play with, or a container of dried Devildom herbs that is similar to catnip you buy in the human world.

When you knock on Satan’s door in the evenings, he knows you’re avoiding your room for a reason. His brothers can be selfish at times, and it can be difficult to relax when they’re hovering in your room or the nearby kitchen, constantly seeking your attention and using your cat as an excuse to intrude on your privacy. Sometimes you grab a random book and plunk down in his armchair to read. Other times you join him on his bed, your cat laying across both your laps while you lean lightly against him. 

The pacts with you have changed his brothers. Sometimes he thinks about being in a pact with you too - but he dismisses the notion as nothing more than jealousy, something his brother Levi might sulk about. He is absolutely not sulking. He pretends this tug-of-war with his brothers for your friendship doesn’t bother him and for a time, he convinces himself that’s true.

Bottling up his emotions never worked well for Satan in the past, so it shouldn’t surprise him when the annoyance simmering within him boils to a rage.

While you’re at work after school one evening, he browses Akuzon for some new books and some imported human world movies to buy. Eventually he ends up browsing the pet section, because of course he does. He adds a bag of cat food to the cart and decides he’ll forget to ask you to repay him later.

He checks the new arrivals page and a cat tree catches his attention. Your cat’s on his way to being a senior, and Satan’s noticed the way he struggles with jumping on and off some of the furniture in the house. The cat tree has steps he can climb, and wide, tall perches so he can stretch out easily. Satan sees a pet ramp that he adds to the cart too - that might help your cat get on and off your bed more easily. He adds an extra ramp to the cart for his own room - just in case.

Satan approaches your door with his tablet in hand. He would’ve already purchased the cat tree for you (like he intends to), but he wants to make sure there’s enough space for it in your room. He knows you should be home by now; Lucifer was staying late at RAD and offered to walk you home tonight.

Satan pauses outside your room but the excitement drains from him when he hears familiar voices within. He knocks on the door before letting himself inside. You’re sitting at your desk with your homework spread out in front of you. Mammon is teasing your cat with a laser pointer while Asmo films on his DDD and giggles at the way your cat sprints around the room, pouncing on the red dot to no avail. 

For someone who complained so much about not wanting a cat before, Asmo doesn’t seem to care that his black leggings are covered in fur.

Mammon laughs and runs the laser across the floor and up Satan’s leg. Your cat pauses at his feet and when he recognizes who the leg belongs to, he chirps and rubs against his leg instead. 

The cat’s affection isn’t enough to soften the bitter anger swirling in the pit of his stomach. He spins on his heel and marches away, slamming your door behind him. He hears you call to him, but he keeps walking until he’s back in his room, surrounded by his favourite books and comfortable silence.

He doesn’t know why, but in that moment he despises all of it.

He throws his tablet aside, hearing it hit the wall before it drops to the floor. He slouches on the edge of his bed, grabbing his hair in fistfuls and trying to calm himself down before he destroys everything in arm’s reach.

He’s not sure how much time has passed, but eventually he hears your footsteps pause outside his door. You knock quietly and he hopes you’ll just go away. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. He doesn’t want you to see him like this. But you persist, and then a soft mew trills outside the door too, and he realizes you’re not going to leave until he gives you what you want.

He opens the door and blinks at the steaming cup in your hands, your worried eyes gazing at him hopefully. Your cat is walking between both your legs, oblivious to the tension.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” you say. You’re not even sure what you’re apologizing for, but something in his pained expression as he stormed from your room earlier has bothered you since.

Satan tells you he doesn’t want to talk about it. He doesn’t even know what it is. All he knows is that he’s not prepared to try and untangle the complicated feelings that make him feel like he’s walking a very thin line over a dark chasm. The tiniest push could set him off, make him fall - and he’s scared about what that might mean for him. And for you.

“It’s okay,” you reassure him. “I thought you might like something warm to help you feel better.” You hold the cup out for him to take, and he recognizes the familiar scent of coffee. He’s never seen you drink coffee in the Devildom, usually preferring tea that Barbatos or the angels offer you at RAD or Purgatory Hall.

He accepts the gesture for what it is - a peace offering, a temporary truce while he sorts out whatever’s going on in his head - and he takes a sip. Your pleased smile falls from your face when he chokes on the drink, and he coughs into the sleeve of his shirt.

Your eyes are panicked and you try to take the cup back from him. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. Is it too hot?”

He shakes his head, clearing his throat. “No, it’s fine. It’s just awfully –” he stops himself, his surprise turning into realization. “You used hell coffee beans to make this?”

You shrug, turning away. You still seem embarrassed by his reaction, assuming you made the drink wrong. “You like to drink it when we’re reading together,” you explain, biting your lip nervously. “If you don’t want it, I can take it back and get you something else.”

He gives you the most reassuring smile he can manage despite his turbulent mood. “No, you’re right. It is my favourite. And you made it well. Thank you.”

You take a few steps back. “Well, I should probably finish my homework. I kicked the others out of my room for the night. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” You start to walk away, cat at your heel, but turn over your shoulder to look at him one more time. “I don’t have to work tomorrow night. We can hang out after dinner if you want?”

You beam at him happily when he nods, and Satan watches you walk away with a bit more bounce to your step. He shuts the door and chuckles quietly while he stares into the cup you gave him. He’s certain you’re not aware of hell coffee’s other properties, the reason why the cup you made specially for him is more bitter than anything he’s ever tasted.

He sits in his chair, sipping from his cup with a smile on his face, and lets the warmth of your brewed affection soothe him.

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.

[musings-of-a-rose]

I Don't Want to See Tomorrow (Unless I See It With You) - Chapter 5

Pairing: Benny Miller x wife!reader nicknamed “Juni”

Word Count: 3000+

Rating: Mature - 18+ ONLY!

Warnings: Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story. 

Notes: HUGE shoutout to @laurfilijames for listening to me babble about this fic. I hope you enjoy your husband Will! This is not beta’d - we yeet and post.

**If you want to be added to the taglist, join here or let me know!

❤If you enjoy the fic, please consider giving me a warm beverage! (It is not required in any way!)

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**Reader is not described

Main Masterlist

Benny Miller Masterlist

I Don’t Want to See Tomorrow (Unless I See It With You) series masterlist

Sunlight streams through the cracks in the wooden boards on the wall, casting light on my face. I yawn, stretching when my hand bumps against something. No, someone. In my bed. Before I can react, the body beside me shifts, rolling to face me so the light hits his face.

Benny. So it wasn’t a dream.

I reach out, gently tracing my finger across his cheek. He’s always been so beautiful. A hand shoots out, gripping my wrist as he rolls on top of me, pinning my arms to the sides of my head. His bright blue eyes roam over my face before leaning down to press his lips gently to mine.

“This is still real?” He whispers. 

I nod. “Real.”

After spending some time between my thighs to make sure I was really real, we managed to get dressed and head into the kitchen area. We crack open a box of Sugar Bombs cereal and grab some leftover Brahmin jerky, sipping on our purified water as we idly chat. 

“Did…did anyone else..” I hesitantly ask.

Benny nods, swallowing a bite of jerky. “Yeah! Frankie and Santi joined the Brotherhood. They don’t always agree with what they stand for, but Frankie has a ton of knowledge about the vertibirds. Plus it gets him flying. And you know Santi can’t ever sit still.”

I chuckle, remembering how Santi would flit from place to place, even on leave. Usually from bed to bed too. “What about Will and Tom?”

Benny takes another sip of water. “Tom owns the bar in Diamond City. Will is living there too with his wife.”

My jaw drops. “Wife?? Why didn’t you tell me this first? What’s her name?”

“Lauren. Nice, but keeps him in line too. Honestly, they’re perfect for each other.”

“Was she in a vault too?”

Benny shakes his head. “No. She was living on a farm that got overtaken by Raiders. She just managed to escape. Will found her half dead but full of fight. They hit it off right away and not just because he had clean water.”

“Well I’m glad he found someone.” 

“Yeah me too. He was getting annoying.”

I remember something I’d seen him do the day before. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“Yesterday, when I came home and you were just magically there. How did you just disappear? In the darkness?”

Benny takes his time finishing his bite of food, washing it down with the last of his water. “A couple years after I woke up, I heard about another group trying to establish themselves here. The Enclave. I’d had the thought about being a merc so I figured out where they were as they were a science-y type group. They were able to, uh, mod me out. Make it so I can see in the dark, I can jump a little higher than normal, take some more damage and rads (radiation) than others. I also have better aim.”

My jaw drops. “How?”

He rubs the back of his neck, not quite meeting my eyes and it makes me nervous. “I uh…it’s an implant of sorts.”

“YOU LET THEM CUT INTO YOU??”

He finally looks at me but to my surprise, his eyes are sad. “You were gone. I figured I had nothing to lose.”

I cup his face and turn him to me. “Oh Benny.” I give him a soft kiss. “I’m so sorry.”

“ ‘s not your fault….anyway, they implanted me, asked me to do some tests and runs. Then one day they got into it with the Brotherhood or some other vault dweller. They were just gone. But the mods still work so..” he shrugs, then turns his head, pointing to a line behind his ear. “This is where they went.”

I trace the scar with my finger. “Did it hurt?”

He lets out a hard scoff. “Like a mother fucker. But they’ve kept me alive more than once.”

I turn his face back to me. “Well now I’m back, please don’t let anyone else cut open your skull to put shit in it, ok?”

He smiles at me. “Deal.” 

He closes the distance between us, pressing his lips to mine, his large hand cupping the back of my head to hold me closer. I moan into him, my fingers twisting in his shirt as he lays me back, pressing me into the couch. I wrap my legs around him, gasping when he pushes himself against me..but then the sound of a gun cocking into place makes us both freeze.

“What the fuck is going on?”

I glance up into the eyes of Preston, who has his gun aimed directly at Benny. 

“Preston-”

“Get off of her! You don’t get to come in here and take-”

“Preston! It’s Benny.”

“-take whatever what??” Preston’s mouth falls open in disbelief. “Benny is the Nightshade?!”

“Apparently so.”

Preston continues to stare, not moving his gun. Benny clears his throat. “I’d uh, shake your hand but you’re sort of aiming at me.”

“I’m not sure I shouldn’t shoot.”

I sigh. “Don’t, Preston. Because if you shoot him, I’ll have to shoot you and I really don’t want to clean up all that blood.”

His eyes shift from Benny’s to mine. “You vouch for him?”

“Of course.”

After a few moments, Preston lowers his gun but doesn’t holster it, his eyes never leaving Benny. “I think I need an explanation.”

Benny looks to me for confirmation and I nod. “Like I told you, Preston’s a good guy. He’s trying to do good with the Minutemen. I think he deserves to know the truth.”

Benny nods, trusting in me fully. He shifts his attention to Preston and tells him everything, ending with meeting me at Red Rocket.

“Well I’ll be. I never would’ve considered that the Nightshade was your Benny.”

“Who would have?”

Preston turns back to Benny. “I didn’t realize all of what you are doing for the Commonwealth. Many people have their lives because of you doing the work you do. I’m sorry that you don’t get the recognition you deserve.”

Benny shrugs. “Probably best I don’t. I have a feeling the Raiders wouldn’t work with me if they knew the full extent of everything.”

“Do you mind if I tell my people? A condensed version.”

Benny nods. “Maybe leave out the part about the mods? I keep that pretty quiet.”

“Agreed.” Preston stands and holds his hand out to Benny. He takes it and they shake. “Why don’t you come meet the family, officially?”

They were weary of Benny at first and I can’t blame them. His reputation as the Nightshade preceded him and it’s a big one. The only person who didn’t seem phased was Mama Murphy, who simply gave him a knowing smile, glancing between us. Like she knew exactly who he was the entire time. 

As the weeks went by, and Benny helped everyone out from the gardening to helping refortify not only our defenses but our homes too, people started to warm up to him. Group meal times were no longer silent and tense, people starting to chat and even sing once Benny presented his makeshift guitar he’d been secretly making. A couple months after we were reunited, he comes home after helping a new family of settlers fix the last spot on their roof. I give him a kiss and motion towards the counter where I had set a bowl of corn soup for him. 

“Thanks, Juni. That new family is all settled. Their little girl is so cute. She was following me around and asking me all kinds of questions.”

“She is adorable. She came over to play with Dogmeat yesterday. He ate that shit up.”

Benny laughs as he takes a slurp of his soup. “I bet he did. But I was thinking…I think I need to make a trip back to Diamond City. I gotta see Will. Let him know about, well. You.”

I nod. “I’m going with you.”

“You’d be ok with leaving for a bit? It’ll be dangerous.”

I scoff. “It’s the Commonwealth, Benny. Everything is dangerous.”

“Fair point.”

We leave for Diamond City a couple of days later just before the sun comes up. I command Dogmeat to stay behind, as much as it kills me. It’ll be better for him and the new little girl just adores him. Still, I’m going to miss the hell out of him.

It takes us longer than it normally would for us to get to Diamond City, which they built inside Fenway Park. Pretty cool idea if you ask me. But with all of the debris and general rubble from not only the bombs but the past 200 years, we have to take a longer route. Fortunately for me, Benny is familiar with the nearly hidden paths through the city. We only encounter a random pack of feral ghouls, which Benny spots from a distance and takes them all out before they even know we’re around. 

We turn a corner and I nearly collide with a man dressed in umpire gear, a rifle held in his hands. Benny waves and calls the man by name and they chat for a few minutes. Apparently, Diamond City has enough people to put out patrols a few miles from the city. It helps to keep out things and people that they don’t want infiltrating their protected city.

We make it easily through their security, Benny having his reputation seems to open doors a little bit quicker than the rest of us. Once the heavy doors slide closed behind us, Benny takes my hand and we walk forward, looking down on what was once Fenway Park and my jaw drops.

I’d heard the Minutemen talk about Diamond City, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what I’m seeing. The dirt is still there, buried under sidewalks made from old pallets and wood slabs. All around in what I’m sure is an actual street-like layout, are buildings of different sizes and shapes, all made from some sort of sheet metal slabs or old cars, some are even old buses! The middle of Fenway, or the middle of town, is what looks like a giant smoke stack, people below it sitting at counters and eating whatever is on the menu for the day. It seems to stretch on and all I can do is stare.

“Told you it was pretty impressive,” Benny whispers in my ear, squeezing my hand gently. “Come on. Will and Lauren live higher up.”

We take a few sets of stairs, some there from before the bombs and some makeshift more recently, to what would’ve been the fancy seat boxes back in its hayday. Benny explains that some of the box's walls were knocked down to make them bigger and people could live in them - if you had enough caps (money) for it. Will is head of security here so he definitely has the pull. We stop outside one of them and Benny knocks, waiting for a moment before the door flies open and Will’s smiling face greets us.

“Hey Be- JUNI??”

Will stares at me like he doesn’t believe his eyes. I smile and give him a small wave. “It’s me.”

“What the fuck?” Will grips my wrist and yanks me to him, nearly suffocating me in his embrace. Will had been the brother I never had and it wasn’t until this exact moment that I realized how much I missed him. I squeeze him a bit harder and he kisses the side of my head before pulling back to look at me.

“Where the fuck have you been? How-”

“Can we talk inside, man?” Benny asks.

Will shakes his head. “Right. Yeah, of course. Come on in.” Will doesn’t let go of my wrist, pulling me inside and closing the door behind Benny, sliding a very heavy lock into place. Benny pulls off his long coat and hangs it up on a hook near the door. Will looks down at me, disbelief still etched in his features. 

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. But I don’t want to put you out.” 

He gives me The Look. “You just came back from the dead. The least I can do is give you some soup. Right this way.” 

We head through another door and through a living area into a small kitchen. At the stove is a woman with chocolate brown hair and freckles on the exposed skin on her arms. She turns to face us, smiling at Will, her green eyes flitting between all of us, a slight pull between her brows as she takes me in.

“Hey darlin’.” Will walks up to her and gives her a quick kiss, releasing my hand for the first time. 

“Hey baby. Who is this?”

“Lauren, this is Juni. Juni, my wife Lauren.”

Her eyes go wide as she looks from Benny to me. “Juni? As in your Juni?”

Benny’s smile is wide. “Yup!”

She drops the spoon she was holding on the counter, clapping her hands together. “This is wonderful! But how? Why?” Will nods in agreement with her. 

“Ladle us some of that soup and we’ll tell you,” Benny nods towards the pot behind Lauren and I elbow him in his side.

“You don’t have to be so rude.”

Bowls of soup in hand, we sit around a small table in various chairs, Benny and I taking a few sips of soup before starting in. We tell them everything, what happened on the day the bombs fell, all the way up to us walking into Diamond City. 

“Sounds like you were lucky to have met when you did,” Will says, putting his bowl in the sink. “You been to see Tom?”

Benny shakes his head. “We came here first.”

“Well I think a celebratory drink is in order! Let’s go to Tom’s bar,” Lauren suggests. She turns to me as we pull on our boots. “They also have non alcoholic drinks if that’s more your style.”

“I’m sure I’ll find something. Thanks.”

Tom’s bar is loud with people, crowding around small tables and huddled at the bar. A jukebox sits in the corner, quietly playing tunes from before the bombs fell. The crowd parts and I can just make out Tom behind the bar, barking orders at what I’m presuming is a regular customer, who is now several sheets to the wind (drunk). He spots Benny first and points at him, beckoning him closer. It’s only when we’re right in front of him does he see me, his eyes going wide.

“Juni? I thought you were dead!”

“Likewise!”

“I’ll want the story later- sit DOWN Jeff!” Tom glares at a customer who was about to stand on the bar. “Come to the back for a sec, Benny?” He nods and follows Tom, taking my hand and pulling me along into a back room. When the door closes, the volume lowers by at least half. Tom looks at me and Benny nods.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Ben. I’m happy to see you, and especially happy to see you, Juni. But what the fuck are you doing Ben?”

Benny’s eyebrows pull together. “What do you mean?”

Tom crosses his arms. “You stopped doing your runs.”

Benny shifts his weight. “Yeah. I mean I found Juni. I figured they’d assume I’d died-”

Tom holds up a hand. “Well they didn’t. Rumor has it the different Raider factions are teaming up to try and find you.”

“Fuck. You think it’s true?”

Tom nods his head to the side. “My sources have never lied before. What are you doing, Ben?”

Benny sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. “I’m done, Tom. I can’t do this anymore. I was strugglin’ before Juni but now? I’m not gonna leave her to go traipsing around the Commonwealth.”

“Did you think it would be that easy?”

Benny shrugs. “Yeah, actually. They knew I’d probably die eventually.”

“I think you’re gonna need to talk to them, Ben. Tell them you’ll do one last run, a big one, and then you’re out. Tell them you’re injured or whatever. But you have to do something before it gets bad.”

Benny nods again. “You’re right. I’ll think of somethin’. Thanks Tom.”

Tom nods at him but then shocks me as he pulls me in for a hug. “Now you I really missed. Give me the cliff notes version?”

We end up staying in Diamond City for a few weeks, Benny renting a room above Tom’s bar for us to stay in. Both Tom and Will offered to let us crash with them, but Benny didn’t want to impose, especially when he didn’t know when we’d be going back to Sanctuary Hills. I liked Diamond City, I did. There was a barber and many shops, an eatery and a place to get your weapons or armor inspected and repaired. There was even a garden and a mini stage where the kids from the school would put on plays. A school! But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the peace that comes with Sanctuary Hills. Plus, I miss my dog.

Benny was with Will tonight, helping him with patrol while they discussed what Benny could do to get the Raiders off his back. They were pretty close to a solid plan. I wave bye to Lauren as I leave their home, heading back downstairs and winding my way through the streets back towards Tom’s bar. 

Something smacks against the back of my head, the last thing I see is the logo from Tom’s, glowing neon bright as my vision fades to black just before I hit the ground, a voice saying “And they said Raiders can’t be sneaky!”

General Taglist:

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[misc-obeyme]

Solomon's Kindness

I'm back with another scene, this time it's what I imagine happened after the Solomon's Kindness daily chat. I had to do a scene with my favorite sorcerer. I really love him, so this was fun to write. As with the others, I'm including the chat for context.

Solomon x GN!MC

Warnings: Minor injury, bruising, cuts, some blood. MC tripped. Otherwise, it's all fluff as usual.

SOLOMON: MC, is your leg all right? You took a fall near RAD’s entrance, didn’t you? I happened to see it from the classroom window. It looked quite painful.

MC: It still stings a little.

SOLOMON: I thought as much. I’ll prepare a magic ointment and bring it to you. One application should take away the pain. A second should heal it without leaving a scar. I’ll prepare it immediately, so just wait a bit.

It wasn't a major injury, honestly. You had managed to catch yourself a bit before falling, so at least you hadn't broken anything. The most wounded thing was your pride. But you were bleeding. You had scratched up the side of your leg pretty bad, as well as your palm where you had landed.

You were already in your room at the House of Lamentation when you got Solomon's text. Although you admitted that you had indeed hurt yourself, the embarrassment you felt at the fact that he'd seen it was truly the most painful of all. You almost denied it - that it happened or that it still hurt or just about anything to save some face. But you couldn't bring yourself to be dishonest with Solomon, since you knew his concern was genuine.

Instead, you tried to distract yourself while you waited for him. You had changed into something more casual, sitting on your bed and inspecting the damage on your leg. A large dark bruise was already forming near where you had scratched yourself. The bleeding had already stopped, but the small cuts were a little deeper than you had anticipated.

You sighed. It was bad enough that all those other students had been around to see you eating dirt, but Solomon had seen you, too. You tried not to think about how ridiculous you must have looked and who else might have been witness.

There was a soft knock at your door. "MC? It's Solomon. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, come in!" you called.

Solomon opened your door and came inside. He was still in his RAD uniform and he was carrying a box in both hands. He came over to sit next to you on your bed. He looked at your leg and frowned.

"It looks painful," he said.

"It's not so bad," you said, trying to play it off as no big deal.

Solomon met your eyes and smiled. "You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt. I can see how bad it is."

You shrugged. "It looks worse than it is."

Solomon laughed softly and shook his head. He didn't say anything else, just put the box down on your bed and opened it. He pulled out a little clay pot full of something that smelled like lavender.

"I thought you said this was a magic ointment," you said.

He glanced at you. "It is."

You folded your arms. "It smells like one of Asmo's lotions."

"Ah," Solomon said. "That's because the last time I made this ointment it was for Asmodeus, but when I gave it to him, he refused to use it because he thought it smelled terrible. So I made a new batch that smelled like lavender. Now that's just how I make it every time."

You laughed as you imagined Asmo refusing healing ointment because of the smell. "Typical," you said.

Solomon carefully held the open pot as he stood up from your bed to kneel before you. He placed the pot beside him.

You blushed. What was he doing? Was he going to apply it himself? "Um," you said.

Solomon looked up at you, his hand held out toward your injured leg. "May I?"

You thought about arguing with him. After all, it's not like you couldn't apply it yourself. But the way he was looking up at you, waiting patiently, ready to take care of you, made you nod instead.

Solomon gently took hold of your foot, placing it in his lap so that he could reach the injury on your lower leg. He held your ankle with one hand and used the other to carefully apply the ointment. His movements were soft, but methodical. His expression fell into one of concentration as he made sure to cover the large bruise as well as the many small cuts.

Your stomach fluttered as you felt Solomon's fingertips moving across your skin. The ointment itself was surprisingly warm.

When he was finished, Solomon looked up at you. "How does it feel?"

"Tingly," you said. "But the pain is gone."

"You'll need one more application to heal it," he said. He put your foot aside and then rose up, still on his knees, and took your hand. He turned it over to reveal the scratches across your palm. "Let me take care of this as well."

Your heart was racing. He was so close to you, his body between your knees.

But Solomon didn't seem to notice. He was focused on applying the ointment to your cuts. His hand held yours as though it was the most precious thing in the three worlds. He was even more careful about spreading the ointment across your palm.

"That should do it," he said. He looked up at you and smiled.

You met his gaze. Solomon seemed reluctant to let go of your hand, but eventually he slowly pulled his hands away, then sat back on his heels.

The ointment he had put on your leg was already absorbed. The scent of lavender filled the room.

"It needs two applications," he said. "One more and you'll be all healed."

Solomon applied the ointment the exact same way he did the first time, holding onto your ankle. This time he used more pressure, massaging the spot, as you could no longer feel any pain. It felt so good, your eyes drifted closed.

When he was done, Solomon rose up on his knees again, taking your hand and applying more ointment. You opened your eyes the second you felt him move. You watched his face as he massaged your palm with his thumbs, rubbing the ointment into the scratches that you could no longer feel.

Solomon's eyes were on your hand, but as though he sensed your gaze on him, he looked up at you through his lashes. He smiled when he saw you watching him.

"You know you can ask me for help any time, MC," he said.

"I don't want to bother you," you said.

Solomon chuckled. "You're my adorable apprentice. You're never a bother. You can come to me for anything at all. If you get injured again, please let me take care of you."

You reached out with your free hand and placed your fingertips on Solomon's cheek. He looked up at you in surprise.

"Okay," you said. "But only if you promise to let me take care of you, too."

You watched as a light blush rose up beneath your fingers on Solomon's skin. He smiled, his expression going soft and unfocused as he looked at you. "It's a promise."

others in this series:

Mammon | Barbatos | Lucifer | Leviathan | Simeon

Asmodeus | Diavolo | Beelzebub | Belphegor | Satan

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[badperson-8]

Hello, you can write that Thirteen turns M!MC into a Tiger because MC was very mischievous and provocative and bully.

You guys are really getting creative with these ones, huh. All right then, can't say I don't like your energy. MC here is not exactly mischievous or provocative, but kind of a bully.

This is it. This is the day Thirteen will finally catch Solomon in her trap. The reaper giggles excitedly, setting up the snare. She was too concentrated on improving her creations, instead of focusing on what's really important: time and place. Being the genius she is, it wasn't hard to notice changes in Solomon's behavior after he spent time with MC. All those dreamy smiles and barely visible blushes. The sorcerer let his guard down around MC.

So what does that mean? That's right! That Thirteen needs to intrude into the House of Lamentation, pretending to want to work on the homework together, and set up a trap right in MC's room! She carefully chose the day when she knew the sorcerer would be visiting MC later that evening. And since she's setting up the snares right in MC's room, there are not many chances for the demons to accidentally stumble upon them and ruin everything. MC could get caught instead of Solomon, though... Whatever, Thirteen doesn't mind a bit of collateral damage. She just needs to set up two snares instead of one!

The first part of the plan went smoothly; she successfully infiltrated MC's bedroom. But it all went downhill when MC entered the room at the exact time Thirteen was setting up the trap.

"What the...?" MC stops in his tracks, witnessing the reaper crouching on the floor of his bedroom. It takes him two seconds to realize what's happening. "No! Nuh-uh! No traps in my bedroom, Thirteen! Get this shit out of here!"

"No-no-no, wait!" Thirteen quickly stands up, feeling surprisingly embarrassed about being caught. "Don't you get it? We can finally catch this slippery sorcerer! This is the perfect place and..."

"I don't want to hear any of it! Your traps are too destructive! I just fixed my bedroom after Levi flooded it with his damn Lotan, and now you want to ruin it again? I don't think so, get out!" MC gets angrier the longer Thirteen refuses to leave his room. He remembers too well how her last creation blew up the wall of RAD. His private space gets destroyed by the Demon Brothers too often, so he'll be damned if he lets it happen again. MC impulsively grabs Thirteen's arm, dragging her out.

The reaper is too shocked by the fact that someone dared to use force against HER. She lets MC shove her out of his room at first, but then she comes to her senses.

"You..." Thirteen's face twists in rage; she can still feel the heat from MC's grip on her arm, even after he let her go. "How dare you!... You think I'll let you treat me like this?!" She takes something out of her pocket and raises her arm, prepared to strike. "Eat this: Animalistic Bomb 3000!"

"Bomb?!" MC has no time to react before the explosive object flies right into his face. The whole space gets filled with steam, but Thirteen doesn't stay to witness the result of her attack. She runs away, trying to hold back unexpected tears. MC was usually supportive when it came to her creations, so such sudden rejection really hurts. Thirteen is quite confused by her own reaction, but she'll think about it later, when she gets to her cave.

If she had stayed for a while, she could've heard a rather interesting discussion inside the house.

"What the hell was that?! Guys! There's a tiger in MC's room!" Mammon yells, gathering the rest of the inhabitants.

"Tiger?!" Satan arrives first, sounding a little too excited.

"Hm, it kind of looks like MC..." Levi murmurs, keeping his distance.

"Did someone leave some cursed object in his room again?" Lucifer asks, sounding incredibly tired.

Asmo tilts his head, observing the graceful beast. "Is that just me, or does the tiger look... restless?"

"Oh, I think I know that look." Beel joins the conversation.

"Yeah?" Levi asks with hesitation as he watches Satan's attempt to sneak up on the tiger and pat its huge head.

"Yeah, I'm sure. He's hungry."

"What?!" Mammon exclaims, but it's already too late: tiger has already jumped on Satan, pinning him to the floor. "Ya idiot! Get away from this thing!"

"No, no, it's alright." Satan sounds way too calm for a person who is seconds away from getting mauled by a tiger. "If that's how I'm going to die, I'll accept it. Guys, you really should touch this fur, it's so soft!"

"Satan, I swear, you're even scarier than this tiger!" Asmo shouts at him in panic.

"I'll go check the fridge, maybe we have some meat..." Belphie sighs heavily, waddling away from this shitshow.