Tumgik
#they had signs saying: ‘no need to take a picture; just buy it here!’ i’ve never been so called out…
celestefem · 8 months
Text
oh, also this cute bookstore i went to had a copy of the scum manifesto
3 notes · View notes
adreamemporium · 14 days
Note
Hi! Since you saw Ewan at CCXF and outside of it, I wanna ask if you think Ewan loves fan saying hi to him or he only did it to be polite? Also is there anything else you can share about your meeting with Ewan?
I’ve also seen some people on here saying that they think Ewan looked uncomfortable at times at CCXF. Whats your thoughts on that?
Hi, nonnie!
About your last question, I couldn’t see anything because I was behind them so all I could see was their back lol. Also the audio wasn’t great and with all the screaming I couldn’t hear anything. I thought everything was going well because all their managers and their team were behind them and they were smiling. I already saw the interview on YouTube and I think the whole thing was messy and cringe, the questions weren’t that interesting, that guy saying Mexican women would love to keep him in their homes… So as a whole, that was a mess. Minutes later I saw him in the thunder stage and he was relaxed, so I don’t think there was a problem after that. What I think is that he is way more calm when you are talking alone with him and that’s the real Ewan. He does an incredible job on stage, but we shouldn’t get fool, he has a reserved personality.
About the rest of your ask, have in mind that I’m again talking based on what I experienced, I would say he truly loves saying hi to the fans. We have to consider that we are talking about the same guy that takes the time to send little messages to his fans when he receives fan mail.
The first time I saw him I was working and he was doing press, so the two times I talked with him were brief and it was just a kinda random talk lol it was when he told me he needed a hat for the sun. That day I mostly saw him work while I was doing my own.
The second time I met him he recognized me and smiled to me, so I said hi and it was when he made room for me to sit down at his side. We talked for a few minutes (although I felt it was for hours lol) about how different book!Aemond is to the show version and I told him I loved what he and Leo did with the character and they were the reason Aemond was my favorite character cuz when I read the book he wasn’t my fav. He simply smiled and thanked me for what I was saying. I told him I had a fanart and that it would mean the world to me if he could signed it and he took the time to admired it before doing it and see the details.
But I think what I will treasure the most (apart from having one of my Aemond designs autographed) will be when I gave him the dragon egg I made for him. I explained to him that I’m a dragon fan since I was little and that back during got s1 I couldn’t find the dragon eggs to buy them, so I made them. While I was saying all of that he was attentively looking at me and listening, so when I started to taking the egg out of my purse he started to realize what I was gonna give him and had a huge smile when he saw the little green egg and simply excitedly exclaimed “Vhagar!”. I swear he looked like a little kid with a toy, he took it and started to see all the details, asked me how long it took me and then he told me “You’re a legend!” and hugged me. I swear to god I wasn’t expecting it and almost died in that moment. His manager asked me if I wanted a picture and he quickly said yes because he wanted to show the egg, so she kindly took it, we talked for a few more minutes and then he asked me if I was going to be at ccxp, I said yes and he told me he hoped to see me there and then we said goodbye. And that was it. 🥹
I swear to god he is everything the rest of the cast have said he is: the loveliest person ever, a complete angel, super gentle, incredible thoughtful, kind, a fantastic human being… and I have just quoted Elliot Grihault, Harry Collet, Tom Glynn Carney and Fabien Frankel only.
So tl;dr, if you ask me, no, he didn’t do it just to be polite, he truly cares and enjoys saying hi to his fans. He truly listen to what we say and takes him time with us. What it is import here is to ALWAYS respect him, his privacy, his boundaries and not be invasive. He is open to meet us, make sure we aren’t nervous, listen to what we wanna say, tell us that everything’s ok… but let’s not forget that at the end, he is also a human being as any of us and he does has a reserved personality.
PS. BTW, I just wanna add something else. When I was literally admiring my design with his autograph and saying it would have a pretty frame, both, his manager and him, said “aaw” lol 🥹
Here is my design:
Tumblr media
82 notes · View notes
sentientcave · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
Part 1 - Part 2
Contains: Gals being pals, homoerotic speculation, brief mentions of alcohol and kink (conversationally)
SFW - Word Count: ~2.8k
You only had a few days to get used to living with Soap before she was gone again, but now, without her exuberant presence, the apartment feels emptier than it did when it was just you living there. You fall into a familiar pattern, running the occasional errand, but mostly just getting up, getting coffee, going to work and going home. It’s… lonelier than you expected.
You’re not sure when to expect her back. When you’d asked, she’d just laughed. “As long as it takes, kitty. Dinnae worry. I’ll have Katie send ye the rent if I’m no’ back before month end.” She didn’t explain who Katie was, and you were a bit afraid to ask. She’d probably just tell you that it’s a classified matter anyway.
The idea that she could be gone that long, or even longer, makes your stomach clench with worry. Perhaps you’ve only known Jamie for a week or so, really, but she’s already gotten under your skin and made a home for herself. There’s signs of her all over your apartment too— The big green couch, her 3 in 1 soap in the shower (That you’re pretty sure she didn’t use once during the days she’d been there, electing instead to use your products), her winter jacket in the closet, her ‘going out’ boots in the hall. A picture of her and her cousins stuck to the fridge with a Rangers Football Club magnet. It’s the only picture you have of her, and it’s many years old, featuring a gangly, teenaged Jamie that hadn’t filled out into the powerhouse of a woman that you’d met.
You’re wiling away the hours at work, when your favourite barista, Alex, comes in after her shift and chats with you while she browses the romance section. She only ever buys the ones with horny oil paintings on the cover. For the aesthetic, she says, but you're pretty sure she's just a harlequin fan. You can’t blame her. You love a good romance too.
"You ever go to those workshops?" she asks while you’re cashing her out. She gestures at the board behind you. "I've been thinking about going to the ropes one, but haven't worked up the courage to go alone."
"No! I probably should sometime. I think my landlord runs one of them. I'm not sure which though." You slide her books into a paper bag and hand her the receipt.
"Here. I'll give you my number in case you ever want someone to go with. I think it could be fun." She scribbles down her number on the back of her receipt and slides it back across the counter to you with a smile. “I’ve been thinking about—”
The door jangles. “Heya, kitty!” It’s Jamie, grinning ear to ear, a freshly healed scar on her chin and a bandage on her arm, covering half of her SAS tattoo. She sidles past Alex and comes around the counter to hug you tightly. She smells like sweat and gunpowder. She must have come straight to you after getting home. “Missed ya. Been a right slog the last few weeks. Ghost got hisself shot and ugh, he’s all fine out in the field, carryin’ on no problem, but as soon as we’re back at the safe house he’s cryin’ about how much he needs me tae take care of him. Just an absolute wet biscuit of a man.” She glances over at Alex, like she hadn’t even noticed her standing there. “Oh, hello, cutie. Sorry, didnae mean to interrupt.” Her eyes zero in on the reciept with the phone number scrawled across it.
“Oh, it’s, um, it’s fine,” Alex says nervously. “Are you— Um—”
“Alex, this is Jamie. She’s my new roommate. Jamie, Alex. She works at the coffee shop down the way.”
Jamie sticks a hand out, but leaves her other arm wrapped around you. “Nice ta meet you. Been in there a couple times but ye must work the mornin’ shift, aye? I’m always due on base early mornin’.”
“So, you’re, um, military?” Alex asks. She winces slightly when Soap shakes her hand.
“Sure am. Sorry, hen, didnae mean to squeeze so hard. Ye get used to it bein’ a bloody cock measuring contest with the lads on base. Gotta adjust for civvies.” She smiles apologetically. “What were you girlies goin’ on about before I came in? Don’t want to leave your conversation unfinished before I get to monopolizin’ our girl’s time, aye?”
“We were just talking about the workshops. On the board. Alex mentioned that she was thinking about going to the ropes one.”
“Is that the one yer handsome landlord runs?” Soap asked. “And is it like, knots for boats and whatnot, or the fun kind? Wouldnae mind tyin’ ye up, kitty.”
“I’m… Not sure. It’s kind of unclear, but there’s an email listed. I’ll get some clarification.” You give Soap a side-long glance. She looks a bit more excited than you’re sure what to do with. “And besides that, there’s no way I’m letting you tie me up.”
The light in her eyes only gets more intense. “You gonna tie me up, kitty? Have yer way with me?”
Alex clears her throat, looking a bit nervous. “Well, um. I’ll see you around. Text me and let me know about the course. Or if you just want to hang out. I’m free after one like every day.”
“I can also keep you apprised of when we get a truck-load of harlequins in, give you the first go through,” you say. “I’ll see you Wednesday, eh?”
“Yeah. Bright and early.” She smiles at you. “And, um, nice to meet you, Jamie the roommate.”
“See ye around, Alex the coffee girl.” Soap waited for the door to close behind Alex before she spoke again. “Looks like she’s got a little crush on ye, kitty. Didnae know I had so much competition.”
You roll your eyes. “She doesn’t. She’s just being friendly.”
“Oh sure, kitty. Me too.” Soap withdrew a step and leaned against the counter. “Ye want to come out for a pint tonight? It’s a tradition, with me and the lads. We go out, get blootered, captain goes home early, Gaz flirts with someone’s girlfriend, and then we have a scrap outside an’ Ghost breaks it up. Ye can help him, it’ll be good ta have another voice’f reason to balance us out.”
“I think a pint is a far cry from, er, getting blootered,” you say, laughing. “But sure. I don’t start work till eleven tomorrow. I can stand to get a little silly. So long as you’re sure the lads don’t mind. I don’t want to overstep.”
“No’ possible. They like you a lot. Maybe a little too much, if ye ask me. I’m goan to head home and get cleaned up, aye? Do ye mind if I eat the leftovers in the fridge? I’m starvin’.”
“You already ate them, didn’t you?” you ask. There was really no other reason why she would know that there were leftovers to eat.
“Weal. Yes. But yer a kind soul, kitty. I knew ye’d say yes. I’ll buy all yer drinks tonight tae make up for it.”
“Oh fine,” you say. It’s hard to even imagine being mad at her. You suspect that it’s a waste of energy, when she’s just a big puppy dog of a person. Scolding her for anything isn’t likely to change her behaviour, it’s just going to make her feel terrible during the scolding. And you don’t quite have the heart to scold Soap, with her big blue eyes. “I was going to go round to the shops tonight, so maybe you can go tomorrow? I have a list, and I can give you money for it. I just work till five and I won’t have a chance.”
“I can do tha’, kitty. When d’ye get off work today? Three?”
“Five. A couple more hours. Shouldn’t be long.”
“Hours! Aw, c’mon, kitty.” She pouted, as though that were going to get you out of work any faster. “Can’t ye close up early? There’s no one here.”
“Jamie, it’s my job. If I closed up early every time I felt like it I wouldn’t have a job for very long, and then you’d be the one looking for a new roommate.”
Jamie grumbled about how she wouldn’t let that happen, as if she had any control over the state of your finances, but headed home to shower without too much more complaining, although she rather disconcertingly mentioned offhand, as she was heading out the door, that she would go through your closet and find you something cute to wear. You really hoped that didn’t mean pull everything out of your dresser drawers and make a mess.
Things pick up at the shop enough to keep you from dwelling on what Jamie was up to— And she was uncharacteristically quiet on her end as well, only texting you once with a blurry picture of Red Herring scampering down the hallway captioned with CREATURE SIGHTING, and a second one of her and Red cuddled up on the couch, faces smushed together. You take a sneaky picture of a customer with a yellow coat and bright orange boots with Big Bird: Confirmed written across it. You’re careful to leave their face out of frame, but you do feel a bit bad about it, and elect to ‘accidentally’ not ring through one of the books, giving it to them for free instead. The return text makes your transgression against public decency almost worth it.
LMFAOOO<
Finally, it’s time to lock up the store and walk home. It gets dark early now, and the sun is already setting over your street, the shadows growing long, the gold light of dusk painting the edges of the clouds, and the buildings with a little gilt paint. It feels good to know that Jamie’s home. You feel like you can breathe properly again, like you’d been holding your breath for weeks and weeks, not knowing if she was alright. You’d been sleepwalking through your days, and you’re finally awake again, able to appreciate the colour of the sky and the half-familiar and familiar faces you walk by. You know you must be smiling, because you get plenty of smiles in return.
Happiness is an infectious thing.
You check the mailbox for the usual pile of flyers and bills, and sort through them on the way up the stairs. Mostly just junk, and your internet and credit card bills. And an envelope with so many stamps on it that your address is written off to the side in cramped letters. There’s no return address on it.
You unlock the door and drop your bag to the side, in it’s usual spot. Soap’s work boots are neatly placed beside the nearly identical ‘going out’ boots, dusty and worn in from the weeks away. Jamie is sitting at the table, scribbling in a notebook, Red Herring sitting on the table beside her, bapping at the end of her pen every time it approaches his side of the notebook.
"Hm-- Oh! Hi, kitty!" Jamie closes the notebook, tucking her pen inside, and gets up from her seat at the table. Her hair is wet, down around her shoulders to air dry, and she's wearing a tank top and a pair of black boxer shorts with a skull pelvis on them. You suspect that they belong to Ghost. The idea that he wears skulls all the way down to his skivvies makes you like him even more.
Are they dating? You're not sure what the rules are for military relationships, but you suspect that a lieutenant dating a sergeant is not allowed under usual circumstances. Not that you could blame them. Ghost is huge and actually pretty sweet, under the growly voice and mask. He was covered in cat hair by the time he'd gone home, all those weeks ago, because Red liked him so much. And Jamie was a tall, beautiful, muscled-up amazon woman. And they had their whole warriors bond thing going on. It wouldn't be a surprise for them to be interested in each other. The flirting she’s been doing with you is likely no more than just playful fun. You don’t really mind, you just have to keep yourself from reading into it too much.
“Welcome home, by the way,” you say as Soap grabs you into an even tighter hug than before. “I missed you. And I was starting to get worried.”
“You didnae get my letter?” she asked.
“Letter?” you ask. You hold up the envelope with all the stamps. “This?”
“Oh! Guess it didnae make it back before I did. No time to read it right now, kitty. Ye’ve got ta get ready.” She pulls the stack of mail from your hand and tosses it down on the counter before dragging you down the hallway towards your room.
“Do I have time to shower?” you ask mildly.
“Do ye need to?” Soap leans in and sniffs you audibly, trying not to laugh. “Smell fine to me, kitty.”
You giggle and swat her away. “I could smell better. But mostly it’s just so I can wash out the ponytail crease in my hair. It’d take ages to get rid of it otherwise.”
“Bah. Fine. I’ll wait in yer room, I found a few cute outfits for ye.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll be a few, if you want to get ready yourself.”
“Psshh, it only takes me a minute. Want ye to help me with my eyeliner too, if you don’t mind. Ye do that little swooptie thing? Whenever I try tha’ I cannae get them even.”
“Of course.”
You shower and towel dry your hair, and wrap your towel around yourself. It's one of those nice extra big ones that actually covers everything. You bought it after making a mad dash across the hall when Fern's boyfriend was staying over, trying not to flash him, and made the decision immediately after to not go through that kind of stress again. He had become a too-regular presence in your home to ignore in the months before Fern moved in with him.
Jamie makes you try on five different outfits before letting you settle on a skirt that hits around the knee and a flowy yellow tank top, and she finally goes to get dressed herself while you dab on makeup and style your hair. After weeks apart, having Soap back is refreshing, even if she does have a low tolerance for personal space. Out in the field, that closeness is probably necessary, it probably keeps her and her teammates alive, but here it only serves to fluster you and set your off balance. Jamie doesn’t seem at all aware what effect she has on you, and her flippant, flirty comments don’t help matters either.
Helping her do her makeup is the trickiest part, really. She’s twitchy and fidgety, and you end up pinning her flat to the flat to your bed, one hand holding her jaw and the other holding your eyeliner pen, a knee on either side of her rib cage. The angle is awkward when you do the other eye, and you have to lean in closer, steadying your wrist against her forehead. You don’t remove your hand from her jaw until you’ve finished either, well aware that she’ll start talking the moment you release her and make it impossible to finish up neatly.
“There!” you say, sitting back to admire your handiwork. She blinks up at you for a long moment, her blue eyes made all the more bright by the contrasting band of black on her upper lid. “Actually—” You twist and grab your makeup bag, and grab her face again, adding a swipe of peachy pink lip-gloss to her mouth.
Uncharacteristically, she just lays there for a moment, still quiet, looking dazed and flushed. For a moment, you feel a rush of… Well, you would hesitate to call it euphoria, but there’s a certain satisfaction in rendering Soap speechless and pink, when she’s an amazon, and you’re just a round little woman who’s idea of a workout is stocking shelves and crating books around.
But then again, you are sitting directly on her diaphragm, and you know you aren’t light. “Oh, goodness, I’m squishing you, aren’t I?” you scramble to get off of her, and offer her a helping hand up. “We should get going.”
“Right. Yeah. O’course, kitty. Let’s go.” She pulls in a deep breath, shaking off the daze, her familiar devastating grin sliding back into place. “Wouldnae want to keep the lads waiting, aye?”
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but you think, just maybe, she does want to keep them waiting. You snag a cardigan from your closet and stop to to give Redd Herring a scritch behind the ears before you follow her out into the hallway and lock up the apartment.
She offers you her arm, like she’s some kind of gentleman (which she would not be, even if she was a man), and you take it, looking forward to the night out.
***
Image Credits:
Top Row: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Bottom Row: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Background
Any other graphics used are canva elements
34 notes · View notes
robntunney · 11 months
Text
I’ve been home for almost 24 hours now and I still can’t believe everything that happened this weekend....
In February, I had promised myself for my 30th birthday this year, I would do one thing just for me. No questions asked. No wondering if it was too expensive. No second guessing myself. No fear holding me back.
Flash forward to about a month ago, Robin was confirmed as a guest at the June Spookala convention in Ocala, Florida. I knew that this was the thing I was gonna do. As soon as I saw it, I knew. Like a light switch was instantly flipped in my brain.
Tumblr media
I’m going to put all of the details under the cut because I don’t want to fill up your dash with a super long post BUT I will say she is even more sweet than you would think. The time she takes with every group, talking to them, listening to them, making them feel comfortable is just so heart warming. I saw it at the auto table and in the pro picture booth. It was just genuine care.
To say that my heart is full after this weekend would be an understatement.
OK so these are all the details, that even to me have a major plot twist ending (I mean I’m still not sure it actually happened)
FRIDAY: I had made a poster myself to get signed because you guys know I can be a lil extra :) Plus I just felt like for me it would be more special. It is a watercolor collage of a good portion of her works. This was a horror con so most people are here to see her because of the craft (great movie) but I think as soon as she saw the poster, she might of realized I was here as a fan of her/her work over all as opposed to a fan of her in that specific movie. She loved it and asked if she could take a picture of it, which was fine with me. As she was signing, I was going back in forth in my head whether or not to show her my tattoo. But I quickly realized that I would be going against the true meaning behind it if I didn’t say anything. So I explained it to her (tattoo here & inspo here) and she told me she loved it and that it was so sweet and asked if she could take a picture of that too, which again, no problem here. I also did my pro photo on Friday which comes with a long story of it’s own but I’m gonna keep that one private (if we’re moots and you wanna know just message me!)
SATURDAY: This was a very busy day so I was just wondering looking at all the amazing vendors the show had (I bought so many stickers and a few pins). I did this a bit all days but couldn’t do it for long because all I wanted to do was buy all the things!!! I also did a little local exploring.
SUNDAY: I decided to hold off and get the jersey dress replica signed (partly because I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to do it) but I decided that I wanted to do it. My plan from the beginning was that I would get it signed and framed to auction off for charity. It is not beyond me that me even having the opportunity to do this is a privilege that not everyone has, so this was the best way I knew how to honor that and give back. When I got there, she remembered me (ngl that threw me) and we just started talking again and we started talking about edits, since now she had signed 2 things that I made. I told her about tumblr and @tmsource​ and how there are still a lot of the mentalist fans out there that are active now on many platforms. She said how talented we all are, everyone who makes edits, because she does see them. And she does like them! I told her my plans for the jersey dress and if she just wanted to shout out a charity on insta, I would see it at some point and make sure all proceeds of the jersey go to that charity. There was some more talking that I’m gonna keep for me but at the end she got up and said I have to give you a hug, which was so sweet :)
Tumblr media
Here comes the twist..... Sunday night after I got myself all packed up since I was hitting Magic Kingdom in the morning before my flight and needed to get on the road early, I decided to do the insta post. You know to mark the end of the weekend. I tagged her in it because of course I thought she might see it, and see that I was very grateful for her time this weekend. I’ve had a not so great relationship with instagram in the past so after a full year of not having it on my phone except for a few times where I literally downloaded it, made a post and deleted it again, I hadn’t been using it. Just a few months ago had I decided to leave it on my phone, but I kept notifications off. After a few min, I get a text from a friend that just said omg britt. Of course I was confused, and was just like ??? They said look at instagram. She had liked and commented on my post. Of course I was shocked because even though when you tag someone you hope they see it, you know that it’s not a high probability of it actually happening. I replied and thanked her again for her time this weekend, and dropped a lil reminder about the charity recommendation for the jersey. (bonus fact, I almost deleted the comment when I tried to pin it, not a good time for me) I just kept thinking about how sweet it was that she was interacting with people who had been at the con after giving 3 whole days to everyone. Got on twitter, freaked out it a lil, then went back to insta to close the app out and I had more notifications. AND THIS IS WHAT I SAW......
Tumblr media
I still don’t have words if I’m being honest. (context for the comment is in the last video on the post) I’m just still so grateful for this whole weekend. I’m grateful for my friends that helped me through it even if they were miles and miles away. I’m grateful for the privilege to even be able to do something like this. I’m grateful for Robin’s generosity. Just so grateful. 
If you’ve made it this far, I love you. You’re a real one :)
46 notes · View notes
siconetribal · 1 year
Text
Put It On My Tab: Chapter 3
Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!reader
Tag: @vbecker10
Warning: Cursing
Summary:
Everyone deserves time off, and the vigilantes of Gotham are no exception to the rule. The boys decide to take a weekend to let loose. Who knew a few drinks would lead to a stranger in bed?
Author Note (updated 12/15/22):
I don't know how or why this got deleted, so I'm posting it again. Here are the links to the other parts for new readers:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 4
PLEASE READ WARNING ALWAYS.
Tumblr media
Aside from the occasional whirring of the computer fan trying to cool down the tower and the creak of the computer chair every time Jason moved, the room was silent. Leaning back again, he let his head hang back and let out a loud groan, swiveling to one side until his monitor was just in sight. Still not on yet. He fussed with his hair, the pop of white in the front mixing with the black before falling back into its usual place. He was disgruntled and now growing impatient. “Another fifteen minutes, the hell is going on?” He muttered at the lack of message from “IAmBatman”.
Though he was not an avid gamer, he did dabble in the periodic pastime. When his brothers insisted he try online gaming, he did what any moody loner sibling did and ignored them. However, after enough pestering, he caved and gave it a shot. He lingered in the town/lobby area of the game, buying or creating items, until he felt prepared enough to look at the request board that he usually ignored. There were a bunch of different requests floating around, but he had no intention of randomly selecting one. He needed a good quest where he could contribute. He was not going to ride a bus, nor did he want to be the bus. It was a simple enough restriction…or so he thought.
Very quickly it became clear that at this hour only those who were very skilled or not skilled enough were around. A middle ranger like him was too good or not good enough. Not wanting to be a quitter, Jason stuck to his restrictions and scrolled through the board. He would exit the list and reread again, hoping a refresh would populate new ones. After the fourth refresh and seconds from him rage-quitting out of frustration, an interesting username caught his eye. There, in black ink, was “IAmBatman” requesting help. He could not help the loud snort that came from him as he accepted the task. He needed to see this avatar for himself. It had to be some buff male avatar all black or modded to look as close as possible to the black cowl wearing vigilante. What greeted him was an avatar that was outfitted to look like his vigilante alter: Red Hood.
Jason nearly choked on his water when he saw it. The player had a username calling himself Batman and was dressed up as Red Hood? This had to be some sort of prank. Grabbing his phone, he opened the group chat with the other bat-boys and demanded who was behind this. Anyone available was utterly confused and insisted they had no idea what he was asking about. Snapping a picture, he sent it and asked again. The response? Damian demanded to know what buffoon would mix the two, Dick was sending laughing GIFs, and Tim wanted to meet the genius who was trolling him. It was obvious none of them has a clue on whom this player was, but they all wanted to meet him now.
<You know you’re dressed as Red Hood, right?> He sent into the chat.
<Yeah, so?> IAmBatman responded.
<Your username…it’s Batman.>
<Who says I’m not?> He stared at his screen and rolled his eyes. <Have you ever seen me and Batman in the same room?>
<I’ve never met you.>
<Which means you haven’t, so you can’t say I’m not.> He let out a small chuckle at the silliness of the argument.
<OK, “Batman”, what’s the plan?> And that was how he made friends with “IAmBatman”. Now, here he was sitting and waiting for the fake crusader to sign in.
I know I’m not the most punctual thanks to my line of work, but IAmBatman is never this late without giving some kind of heads up. Did something happen? They did say they’re living in Gotham, troubles everywhere here. He frowned, tapping his fingers on the table. Another eternity passed by (five minutes). “Forget, I’m logging out. I’m just gonna read, I waited long enough.” He fixed his posture in his chair and wheeled it closer to the table, grabbing his controller. With a few presses and pushes, he was staring at the dialogue box that asked him if he was ready to sign out. His thumb was primed and ready to confirm it, but he could not. Frustrated with himself, he exited the screen and went back to idle. I don’t need  to log out, I’ll just grab a book and read. “If they come on, and I miss it, I miss it. So what? They can wait, just like I’ve been.” He pushed his chair back and hopped off the seat, making his way over to his filled bookshelf. Searching through the titles, he grabbed the one he was currently working on and made his way back to the desk. 
“Now, I’m just going to sit here and enjoy my book. If they log on, and I miss it, oh well. They can wait as long as I did.” Kicking his feet up on the table, he leaned back and slouched a little into the perfect slight curl before opening to his bookmark. Now his night would not be a waste. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he jumped into the world within the pages.
What felt like the tenth eternity of the night rolled by as he heavily dropped his feet to the floor and sat up. How many times have I read that stupid line? If anyone asked me, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the fuck I even read! He audibly groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands. Did he dare look at the clock? He widened the gab between his index and middle finger to peek at the clock on his wall. “For fuck’s sake, only three minutes?!” He nearly chucked the book in hand at the offending time piece on the wall. “I’m going to go insane, this is it! This is how I, Jason Todd, actually die. Insanity from waiting online for some stranger to come play games with me.” He slouched further in his chair, letting it swivel side to side. Maybe if I do this long enough, I’ll melt into the floorboards. He scrunched his nose and furrowed his brows. This is really pathetic. A ping from the speakers made him jump, the chair sliding backwards as he fell forwards, narrowly saving his nose from smashing into the edge of the desk as he scrambled to get up.
<Hey, sorry I’m late. My shift ended late. Are you still there?> All the anger and frustration he had built up instantly flew away as he blindly reached back until he grabbed the arm of his chair, pulling it back under him as he typed back.
<Yeah, I’m here. Took ya long enough. What’s with all these late night shifts, I might think you’re actually Batman 🤣> he replied.
<Crime stops for no man!> He snorted.
<Ok, caped weirdo, what’s with all the late night shifts?>
<Let’s just say I had an expensive date one night, and now I’m stuck paying off some debt 🙄>
“Expensive date, paying off debt? The hell kind of date is that?” He muttered to himself. <I think you owe me a little more detail than that after making me wait here all night.?
<Can’t we just go kill some dragons instead? 🥺>
<After you tell me how a date got you into so much debt.>
<Ugh, fine, rude!>
<Good girl>
<Who said I’m a girl? I could be some sweaty, hairy old guy living in the apartment building basement.>
<Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England 🙄>
<Well, Your Majesty, it’s rude of you to assume my gender when we’ve never met.>
<I can tell by the way you type. Trust me, I know a lot of sketchy guys, you’re not a sketchy old dude.>
<Oh yeah, what if I’m a super skilled sketchy old dude that’s pretending to be a girl?>
<Wow…so sexy…you really know how to get a guy going. Quit trying to distract me and tell me what happened already!>
<Alright, alright! Jeez, so pushy!> She replied and Jason smirked.
I knew it! He thought with a smug smirk, watching the three dots appear and disappear a few times on the screen as she typed. He watched this repetitive animation run for a good handful of minutes, his curiosity rising with each passing second, until a small paragraph of text appeared on his screen. Leaning on to his right arm, he leaned in closer to the screen as he read. “Couple months ago, spent the night with some dude during her high school reunion dinner, they spent the night at a hotel, he trashed the room, and she’s stuck paying the bill.” He muttered aloud to himself as he summarized the details. “Damn, that sucks!” <What kind of asshole does that?! Can’t you fight the hotel and tell them he’s the real culprit?>
<I wish! I don’t know a damn thing about the guy! We met for the first time that night and I had the room under my name so legally I’m the one responsible for any damages and fees that may be incurred from said damages. So, because of that, I’m working extra shifts and overtime to get as much money as possible to clear the charges without asking my friend for a loan.>
<Damn. Do you remember anything about this guy? I can beat the shit out of him for you. I’m pretty good in a fight, if I do say so myself.>
<I feel like saying that automatically means you’re terrible and I’ll need to save you from yourself 🤣. Thanks for the offer, though.>
<Ow, rude! We’ve never even met! How can you tell if I’m strong or not?>
<Just like how you can tell if I’m a guy or a girl by how I can text and assume I’m not Batman.>
<Nice try, but I have sources close to hm. You’re not Batman. Also, was I wrong though?”
<Would my saying yes or no actually prove your right or wrong? “
<Touché, well, the offer still stands. If you need me to teach that shithead a lesson, just say the word.>
<My hero, now can we go beat up some giant lizards for items? I need to vent out the frustration of having to deal with the rich snobs of Gotham who like to complain about the color of our cups during the holiday season.>
<What, it’s not December yet.>
<I know, that doesn’t stop them. Now, ya joining me or not, wonder boy?>
<Yeah, yeah, let’s go!> He chuckled, following her avatar.In the blink of an eye it was nearly dawn and the two of them finally called it quits and logging off. The boss monster was a lot harder than they anticipated, but they finally managed to get the upper hand and reap the rewards. Crawling into his bed, he pulled the covers up to his shoulders and rolled onto his side. She was safe, and he managed to get some great gameplay time after a boring night of patrol. Maybe life was not so bad after all. Yawning, he closed his eyes and let sleep finally creep over him. Yup, a good night. His eyes flew open as he practically went flying out of bed at how fast he sat up. Two words had suddenly come hurdling to the forefront of his mind. Two words he skimmed over in his eagerness to get the hunting on the road. The same pair of words that made his eye twitch from how close they were to his old title as Batman’s sidekick. “Holy shit, there’s no way! It can’t be, but who else says that?!” He let out another loud groan as he dropped backwards on to his mattress. IAmBatman was the girl from the hotel room. Tonight was going to be a long night.
99 notes · View notes
el-ly-sha-give-no-f · 2 years
Text
Camera and Blessing
AUTHOR NOTE: hello, FINALLY I HAVE THE URGE AND ENERGY TO POST, I’ve been doing better now, so like I said before I've been working on father!reader imagine, so here's the first one, Wolff reader, Enjoy! let me know if anything wrong, enjoy and NO repost or COPY my work okay?! love you guys and have a great day! <3
WARNING: yelling? arguing? but flufffffffffffffffff
PAIR: Wolff!reader x Lewis Hamilton
PRONOUNCE: she/her
WORDS: idk
Tumblr media
-----
Hi, Im y/n Viss Wolff, and yes daughter of the famous Toto Wolff, Im working with F1 as a Mercedes Photographer and my dad's Social Manager. Yeah, I’m actually not into the F1 world, I like Photography! I mean look at it! they're so peaceful. At first when I told my dad that I want to become a Photographer, he kinda doesn't like it.
I ask him why, first, it is because I need to travel and explore outside of the country, that means I have to go alone and it's dangerous then i’m gonna be away from my family, second of all, he said I need to become his Legacy, but I said that I’m not into racing, I was pissed off at that time but he still insisted.
After how many months I begged him, only God know, he finally gave up, he let me become a photographer but on two conditions, that I become Mercedes's special photographer and his social manager. I don’t care, at least I reach my dream work
The first year when I’m part of the Mercedes team, it's was the hardest year of my life, a stressful and depressing year. My dad and Susie have been helping me with a bunch of stuff, the other Social Manager helped me too and other people around the paddock give me a lot of motivation. Oh, by I mean people around the paddock including 'Lewis Hamilton'. When I met him for the first time, I was starstruck, I was so excited to meet him earlier that day, I know I said Im am not into F1 but, what did you expect when your dad talk about him almost every day, of course, I have a little crush on him.
But all of that happened 3 years ago. My feeling toward him become growing.
By that means I have been working with dad for 3 years, it's getting better now. They had my back since then and Im very happy that I live around awesome people.
Right now, I’m at Mercedes paddock , preparing my Canon camera that i bought it myself 2 years ago. I know Mercedes already prepared a camera for me but I don’t want to share it with other photographer cause I’m afraid that they’re  gonna delete my works accidently or not. 
But I don’t know what happen with my lense today, I’ve been wiping it for almost 6 minutes. I’m glad that today activities ir I can say “work” is not much. Just take some picture, handle my dad’s  interview and edit some of my pic then send it to Mercedes Social Media Handlers. That’s it. Like usual.
I heard someone footsteps walking toward me, I look up from my camera lense, It’s Lewis walking toward me, he’s wearing Mercedes official T-shirt. I saw him him smiling at me I reply with my smile back. He gives me a tight hug. His hugs is my favourite thing in this world well other than “foods”. We pull away from the hug.
“Hi Darling, how are you?” He greet me
“Hey Lewis, not much, just preparing my camera right now, as you can see on this table, It’s a mess, I don’t know why my lense suddenly became blurry when I want to used it earlier” I hand the lense to him and he take the lense from my hand and take a look with it.
“well I don’t know much about camera, I’m not a camera nerd like yo-” I smack his arm as I give him a death stare, he raise his arm surrender “I’m joking, well lady, this is your sign to buy a new lense” he suggest made me laugh.
“In your dream Lewis Hamilton, I think it’s just because I don’t wipe it properly but I’ve been wiping it for 6 minutes straight, besides, this lense is my favourite lense cause’ my dad bought it for me as my birthday present last year and I use it since then, kinda hard to replace it with other”
“oh you’re very loyal to this one eh?” Loyal not just for the lense but for our love if you want to know.
“yeah, yeah, kinda like that” I reply
-we talk for a while-
“well Lewis, I think you need to go” I said to him
“why? you want me to leave you?” what the fuck are you doing Y/n. “wait no no, not like that, you still not changing into your into your race suit yet and I know my dad not gonna be happy about it, especially 30 minutes before racing” I rumble
“ He He He, his not gonna be mad at me, besides-” he wrap his arm around my neck “I want to meet my bestfriend before the racing start”.
ouch, that hurt. “bestfriend”. Not me hoping for him to call me his lover.
Like I said my feeling for him is growing, I mean three years! who doesn’t... I’m afraid my dad gonna be mad if I date his ‘Top Driver’, my dad has been teasing about this before but I keep denied it maybe he react is a good react. Well, maybe one day Y/n.
“LEWIS! we need you right now” my thought was interrupted by someone voice calling for Lewis. I see him nodding to the staff.
“I guess, this is it, goodluck for today, and don’t worry about your camera lense, I think you just need to wipe it little bit more” he suggest
“well earlier, you said you’re not one of a camera nerdy like me, I’ve been your friend for three years! I don’t know you’re an camera expert Lewis” I joke
“whatever you said nerd” I smack his arm again, he remove his arm around my neck and looking at me, “I’ll see you after race” he said and he kiss me on the cheek, even though it’s an a quick cheek kiss but it is enough to make me blushing. I look him and see him smiling before, he turn back and walk away.
I’m standing still, blushing, God Damn that smile.
I’m so gonna tell this to Susie! I pack my stuff not worrying about my lense anymore. I put all of my stuff in my backpack and run to find Susie.
Turns out, I bumping into dad instead of Susie.
“hey you,little miss! why so rushing?” He ask me
“nothing” I reply and laugh, I’m ready to go and find Susie again, I turn around and start to walking when I feel someone hand pulling my arm and I turn around. It’s not my normal dad, instead it’s my serious dad. I sigh. This old man.
“what happened?” he ask me again.
“what do you mean what happened? nothing happened” I answer.
“I’m your dad and your shit doesn’t work for mr kid so don’t lie, I know you for the whole of my life, and we made a promise before, no secret between us , no secret between father and daughter” He remind me.
“you done?” 
he nod.
“Well” I smile and doze out while I’m thinking about what happened earlier.
I feel soft smack on my head, and I return to the present, this time it’s not only Toto but Susie too.
“ouch, what was that for” I ask, rubbing the spot where my dad smack me.
“I ask you to explain, not dozing out!”
“okay okay, but since when you’re here?” I ask Susie
“since earlier” she wiggle her eyebrow
“kay kay fine Lewis...” I see my father tense up and raise his eyebrow, “he kissed me-” I got cut off
“WHAT?!!” well here, I heard two types of “what” one is the fuss “what” and one is the excited “what”. But both of them caught everyone around us attention
“SHHHHHHHHHH” I put both of my hand on their mouth, they look around and look at me back, both of them remove my hand from their mouth, one harshly and one softly we all can guess who.
“No Y/n!” I look at Susie who already looking at Toto.
“what do you mean no?!” Susie ask his husband
“cmon his my driver”
“and?” I confuse
“if you guys together, yours relationship will distract him!” he state
“dad what? what about the tease before about me and Lewis?, when I close with Lewis, how come it’s not an issues and it’s never distract him before?” 
“that’s different you guys are friend not dating” he’s argue
“what’s the different, he still your driver, not that one day if I date him suddenly he’ll move to Haas team” I argue back
“stop it y/n! you never discuss with me before you do anything that you want to do”
“what’s the connection with this situation?! this is nonsense!”
“y/n listen-” I cut him this time
“no you listen!, I’m not a child anymore dad, if this whole problem relate with my career path to you you are insane, you always remind me before, past is past! What’s up with you changing your mind?”
“y/n when I say no, It’s a no, can you please just listen to me”
“okay you both, stop it, three of us currently at public, it will get media attention! why don’t you guys continue discuss this at home tonight?” Susie try to remind and calm us, almost forgot that Susie here with us too.
“well here the things, we’ve not even together yet but I’m glad this all happen, cause’ at least I already know how you’ll reacted, whatever you said, handle your interview yourself today” with that I walk of from Mercedes Paddock and start to take some of pics.
-[RACE START/RACE END!!!!]-
Lewis did a really great job! P1! word can’t even describe how happy I am for him, despite what happened earlier. I’ll try to ignore it.
I make my way to Lewis, I call his name and he turn around, I see him smiling and coming towards me, his smile always light my mood up,it’s just, beautiful.
he give me a tight hug and I hug him back.
“congratulation on your win Lewis, I’m so proud of you! you deserve this!” I congrats him excitedly
“thank you so much y/n, this is for you and the team, without you guys I- I don’t know what will happen” he confess
we pull away from the hug.
“y/n actually-” someone call him and he turn to look at the Mercedes staff
“Lewis we need you at the podium!” he nod and turn to look at me again.
“I need to go, duty call, see you later love” he kiss my forehead before he walk and go behind the stage.
I smile and walking to the in front of the stage, me and the team cheering when Lewis standing on the podium, and I take a couple pictures of him holding his trophy with my camera, after that I see my dad looking at me, don’t want to argue again, I look at Lewis currently soak with champagne , I smile before walking back to the paddock.
--------------- TIME SKIP!
Me,dad and Susie arrive home, I look at watch on my wrist currently showing solid 10pm. Jack probably already sleep, it’s passed his bedtime, I miss him so much, even though we don’t share the same blood, but I treat him as one. Despite my mother don’t want to take care of me, she’s long gone, gone from mine and dad’s life. I walking to go to my room tiredly.
“y/n” I heard dad calling my name softly, enough to make me tears falling from my eyes, I stop walking, and slowly turn to look at him.
I wipe my tears, before I ask him
“what?” trying to control my tone
“I leave you guys alone, I’m gonna see Jack and Kate(jack babysitter)” she said and walk out from the living room and go to Jack’s bedroom.
My dad standing in front of me and start talking again.
“first, i just want to say sorry, it’s never been my attention to hurt you or your feeling or anything at all, as your dad, I know i’m not the want who will choose your decision, your career or who you will going to date, I am so sorry y/n” 
“when I saw you and Lewis talking at the paddock earlier, I can see he’s the one for you, he’s the one that can make you happy in the future and he’s the one that can take care of you besides me” he continue
“I know my reason to why you can’t date Lewis is nonsense, like you said earlier, I’m just afraid that you will be far away from me,it’s not because it will distract Lewis no its not, I know I have Susie and Jack, but losing you is one of a thing that I’m not ready to face it yet, I realize i was wrong”
It’s makes me tears up more after I heard what came out from my father mouth, I hug him and continue crying on his shoulder, I feel he rub my back softly.
“Dad, it’s okay, you’re not going to lose me, I am your forever daughter, I’ll never gone from your life, I promise you, I will be with you forever, please remember that, and you don’t have to apologise, I also was wrong, I overreacted and I’m sorry too”
“its okay sweetheart, it was nobody fault, remember what I said, past is past” he remind me
“past is past”I mumble quietly.
“Please never leave me to handling my own interview again, it was stressful” he said and i laugh.
------------------
after that happened we never fight after that and Lewis confess his feeling for me and I told him that I feel the same, my dad already warn him, if he ever makes me cry or hurt my feeling just know what will happen to him. Yeah typical dad things.
END!
=======================================
what do you guys think is it okay? let me know, i have one more fics, daniel ricciardo x reader, prepare! hope you guys safe and healthy, and thank you for those who have been waiting for me to post a new one shot I appreciate it and I’m sorry for making you guys waiting, I love you guys.bye
-elly
119 notes · View notes
ididkn0w · 1 year
Text
Baby good morning😞 I’ve missed you so much I’ve been thinking about ur face. So lemme tell u ab my day so far. Babe I don’t want u to get up alrrrr😞😞 I haven’t stopped imaging us together like us pretending to be babies and sad for a kissss😭. We would hold hands everywhere n talk like best friends and take the coolest pictures of each other and laugh all the time. Ok so I’m at a resturaunt now I typed everything from before yes like nothing but bc bro I’ve been on this tour n I haven’t been able to have anyone off my fucking ass n when he talks n we stand there like I can’t be on my phone. So basically Idek if I alr started but idc I’ll repeat myself. So we hadda leave and whatever and we met up with the tour guide and I was not feeling good at all man I had the biggest headache n I was so nauseous man I was feeling so so bad like horrible. We got on a like team I guess from the city and we got to the first place and he was explaining shit I never payed attention bruh I’ve been bad in the morning and then the rest of the day I think I’ve been like hella dissaciated I’m ngl I might not even say much cus the whole day I’ve just been feeling like shit n I rlly was not like present. So then this was at like 9:30. Bro I can’t with my grandparents they treat me like I’m 7 all day every day it’s so much bro. Ok so then they were going into this sultans palace and Ik all ab this btw😅 I like history especially the ottoman one. Ok so we alr went there when I came like two years ago so I was like aight imma head out like u guys go check that out I’ll wait for u guys here bc they haven’t come before. So I waited for them and so i fell asleep on a bench😭 for two hours😭 like straight up public bench at a park n ofc I woke up every once in a while but I was so bad like I couldn’t keep falling asleep n like everytjme I woke up it was random ppl sitting next to me and whatever n I would check the time like damn they’re still not back. But thankfully I was sleeping bc wtf would I have done for two hours n then finally I woke up all super good n happy n motivated I felt so much better and then I was like fuck like how much longer will I have to wait like awake doing nothing. N thankfully they came like 15 min after. So then bruh I literally don’t even rmb what we did lemme see my pics. Oh yes there’s a pic of a baby bc I want to have a baby with u. And that was the bench where I slept at. N then we went to a cafe nearby n we tried postres and I had this drink it was rlly yummy. And more moon underthink sorta signs. Then we went to this underground thing and like I wasn’t having it so whateverrrrrr n like it used to be an aqueduct for the sultan some shit like that. And it was actually cool n they had Roman gods and goddesses in there bc the ottoman used to be scared of the Roman’s. Then we went to a very pretty mosque. I LOVE GOING TO MOSQUES. Middle eastern countries are def my second favorite place to go/have been after Thailand. Yes Ik our number one is Thailand😆😆 I love that we twin like that I love you. Ik we’re gonna go together. I need to be rich and travel with u. My number 3 is Russia. U have to take me to Ghana. Then we went to a market obv spice market but they had other stuff especially fake stuff this is where I brought my fake yeezy slides😭 imma buy another pair😭 easy to like trash them yk what I mean n I also want a fake bag but u might convince me otherwise lmk (u my stylist) imma go to those shops tomorrow. Then we went to a rooftop n im showing u my pimple. Then we left n then we got on the metro n we’re at this popular restaurant I took pics of ppl who have been here before for u that yk. Bro oh my god I just got up the did a whole show for us they even threw a plate and they made me hold this bread that said Colombia I was so fucjing red oh my god. If I didn’t give u much details or I’m not all being funny n shit perdon Bebe I’ve been pretty mad. I’ve just been wanting to get home n talk to u. Acabo de comer bebe now I’m in the bathroom shitting. The food was very yummy im just anxious bc I just wanna talk
8 notes · View notes
nancypullen · 10 months
Text
Friday
Hey there, cool cats and kittens!  It’s Friday, not that it matters in my world, but happy Friday to those who celebrate.  I hope your weekend exceeds your expectations.
We don’t have any plans here at Sassafras Woods (I’m trying to make that stick), though the mister will be trotting off later to take some festival photos.  The volunteer fire department in one of the little towns nearby (Preston? Ridgely? I can’t remember.) is having a carnival and fireworks.  It’s a fundraiser and the folks around here are so starved for any sort of entertainment that they’ll hand over their money for it.  I’m not knocking it. I’ll just say that so far the festivals, carnivals, celebrations, etc on the Eastern Shore have oversold and underdelivered.  Honestly, I want to try to sell the town of Denton on the idea of starting a pumpkin festival but the residents here don’t seem to want to do anything.  I could post a sign saying that I’m giving away bags of money at noon on Market Street and people wouldn’t show up.  I don’t get it.  Anywayyy, I don’t have any plans for the weekend and Mickey is going to stand in a field and get photos of fireworks. Our boys, however, have BIG plans. My sweet sons are leaving on a “brother trip” to Berlin and Prague.  I’m so excited for them and I can’t wait to hear their tales when they get home.  I love so much that they’re still close. Those two are my whole life and I can leave this Earth knowing they’ll look out for each other.  I mean, I don’t wanna’ leave yet, but my heart is peaceful about my boys. Mission accomplished. That got a little maudlin, I swear I’m happy. Moving on, last night I went to a class at The Foundry.  It was a mosaic class and, although I’d been to one before, I wanted to get out of the house and bask in the company of women.  Even if they’re strangers, the company and conversation of women is still a pleasure.  So I went in without a plan (dumb) and the time in class is really too limited to create anything wonderful.  For some reason I’d been thinking about bees, and that lovely quote from Ray Bradbury,  "Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers."  I imagined a bee with wings made of a million tiny flowers. What I had time and materials to construct....was not that. This was when I was about 3/4 finished, it looks like a cross-eyed, drunken monkey did it.
Tumblr media
It still needs to be grouted, but I’m not sure I’ll bother.  You just can’t make a masterpiece in an hour, especially when you don’t know what you’ll have on hand to work with.  I really needed a lot more pink and red.  Oh well, it was still a fun time and the ladies in attendance were a delight.  I really like the teacher of the class, she’s got a lovely way about her.  Our projects were done on the glass of old picture frames, and I’ve got plenty of those around here.  Goodwill always has plenty as well.  This might be a fun project for the winter. I could work on a large piece with loads of flowers and bees - maybe even a queen bee at the top, complete with crown. I could devote hours to it over the cold months and have it ready to hang in a window by spring.  There’s something very satisfying about snipping tile and glass.  It’s even more satisfying to take broken pieces and put them together to make something pretty.  I really want to do more, and practice makes perfect right?  Might be fun to do a swirly, magical Halloween piece.  Oh dear, I’m going to buy more supplies....this is how it always happens.  I spent a bit of time in my porch spot this afternoon, thinking and having conversations with myself, and three hummingbirds were buzzing around chasing each other through the zinnias, battling for territory. Delightful. It makes my heart so happy to see them.  I ask for so little - birds, bees, and peace & quiet.  Okay, also books, chocolate, cats, popcorn, bubble baths, art supplies, and flowers.  I’m starting to sound high maintenance.  I mean, if I’m making a list, I also want world peace, no pain or suffering, and for every child to feel loved, safe, and hopeful.  Can’t hurt to ask, right?  Did you hear me, universe? 
I don’t have a thing to say today, yet here I am rambling on in no particular order. I should probably shut up and get productive. I have a bench to paint for the master bathroom, no word yet on when the flooring installation will happen.  I ordered and received a shower curtain and a couple rugs.  It’s so dang hard to do this all online.  I could drive into Easton and poke around Target, or I could go the other direction and drive an hour to Dover and check Home Goods, Kirkland’s, and another Target - but that is unappealing.  Ordering online and getting the colors just right is a gamble.  If you know me, you know how I am about color.  So far neither the shower curtain or the runner to go in front of the vanity showed up looking exactly like they did online.  Their photos, my monitor, all of the above can lead to variations in color.  I’m trying very hard to let go of it-has-to-be-exactly-right and wrap my head around this-is-fine.  I am the only one that will be bothered by a shade of green that is slightly too yellow or a coral that leans a bit too pink.  No one else will care.  It’s not like we’re on the Christmas home tour.  I guess I just feel that when I put time, effort, and money into a project, I want it to be exactly what I envisioned.  I’ve painted more furniture and cabinets since we moved here than I have the last ten years.  I never thought I’d say this, but I’m sick of painting.  Of course, I just ordered a quart of my favorite Heirloom Traditions paint for the Halloween bathroom.  New flooring is going in there as well which means that orangey wood vanity will look especially out of place.  I didn’t want to do cream or white, I didn’t want to do black because the floors will be darker, so I settled on this color and these knobs for the cabinets (think pumpkins!).
Tumblr media
Won’t that be fun?  So I’ll be painting one last vanity and then I’m surrendering my brush and roller.  I’ll bet Mickey hates it when he sees me walk past him with painter’s tape.  He has to admit that he loves the end results.  Especially when I show him the before and after pics.  Like the powder room! Before (yuck!!)
Tumblr media
 After. Not perfect, but better!
Tumblr media
I can’t rave enough about Heirloom Traditions paint.  If you have followed this blog since 2007 (holy cow!) you know that I’ve tried just about every paint under the sun.  This one is hands down THE BEST.  If you have anything you’re considering painting - from your front door to your kitchen cabinets, go look at their Instagram or website and be inspired.  Speaking of Instagram, I recently tried to revive mine. I hadn’t posted there in a nearly two years.  I didn’t have much to post.  I scroll Instagram for recipes and jokes, and I wasn’t contributing either of those.  Lots of people post really beautiful photography - that’s not me either.  Come find me there and maybe we’ll make some fun together.  I’d love to follow more people.  Don’t get your hopes up for my account though. I think I’ll try making more reels and see how that goes (probably as well as we all expect). https://www.instagram.com/njpullen/ It’s nearly 4 o’clock and time for me to prep a bit for dinner.  Tonight will be quick since Mickey is running off to that little carnival.  I’m making fish tacos and roasting some fresh corn from a local farm stand. I’ve got a creamy slaw for the tacos already in the frig, so I just need to get the fish flavored and get a couple of limes juiced. A few minutes in a skillet while the corn is in the oven, warm the tortillas a bit, and we’re in business.   Good thing I’m getting him ready for the festivities because as I’m writing this he’s sawing logs on the sofa across from me.
Tumblr media
In the afternoons our house is like that scene from Sleeping Beauty where the fairies use their magic to put the whole kingdom into a slumber.  Sassafras Woods (is it sticking yet?) must be under a spell.
Tumblr media
Alright, I’m just getting silly now.  I have to go fill the hummingbird feeder and then cook some fish. Livin’ life on the edge, as always.  Have a fabulous weekend and treat yourself - whether it’s a much-needed nap or a girls’ night out. I’m going to pick up two new library books, so I’ll be knee-deep in a “Mid-Atlantic Gardening” binge.  Don’t try to keep up with me, I’m wild. Sending out love, getcha’ some. Stay safe, stay well. XOXO, Nancy 
4 notes · View notes
Season 1 Episode 10
Jumpin right in! This episode starts shortly after the previous episode. Maybe the very next morning? Look. These next couple episodes are gonna be hard to pull the humour from, but I will say this: John Wells’ dentist must be super proud of him! I don’t know anyone who flosses as regularly as his characters do.
Tumblr media
Monica and Bob seem to have moved into the Gallagher house. Bob is excited to get the DNA test back proving Liam isn’t Frank’s kid. Lip and Ian are eavesdropping. Look at these two worried baby faces!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Fiona and Steve seem to have moved into the new house, but she’s keeping tabs on Debbie and Carl with a baby monitor. They have school the next day. If the last episode ended on a Sunday, and they had time to get a DNA test, then maybe this is Monday night? But is Fiona wearing the same exact outfit she was wearing when she left Sheila’s the episode before? Is it the same night? Have they not done the DNA test they were just talking about yet? Who knows you guys! Who knows!
Anyway, the next morning is a classic hectic Gallagher kitchen moment. Monica is struggling to keep up in the morning and Lip is loving it.
Tumblr media
This picture might as well be this one:
Tumblr media
Carl needs $10 for a field trip to the aquarium. Deb needs poster board and markers to run for re-election. Lip needs $40 for a new textbook. Monica hasn’t made lunches. And Ian is unamused.
Tumblr media
Also, the calendar on the fridge hasn’t changed still.
Tumblr media
Fiona is losing her mind listening in. Steve buys her a new phone and gives her money for a couch. Lip gives Bob and Monica shit for trying to take Liam, then walks out. Monica follows him, asking for forgiveness, but Lip is so heartbroken and angry.
Tumblr media
This episode’s really hard to make funny. It’s just a lot of these kids being sad..
The Jacksons seem to be doing better as a family, but Frank and Sheila aren’t doing as well. She’s not happy with Monica’s re-emergence, especially since Frank wakes up bright and early to head over to pick up Monica to sign the settlement papers. Also, there’s a car following Frank. Bob is excited to leave, but Monica is having a moment of good, wanting to stay and be with her kids. Frank comes to pick up Monica to go sign the settlement papers, but Bob says Monica won’t unless he convinces Fiona to give up Liam. And here’s a fun fact about Frank you might not have remembered if it weren’t for me doing these recaps. You’re welcome!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The car following Frank is being driven by Jasper the disability guy. He’s trying to catch Frank in a lie about his injury so he doesn’t get any more disability money. Meanwhile, Ian checks in on Mickey, asking Mandy how he’s doing. Here’s his scrunchy little worried face.
Tumblr media
Kash is doing ok. Lip comes over and tells Ian they need to skip some school. Ian goes, no questions asked, but not before Lip and Mandy have a flirty eye moment. Please notice Ian’s “what the fuck why are they flirting” face.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Tony seems a little bitter about Steve buying the house next door. Vee and Fiona get the new couch in the door and find Frank waiting for them. The asshole is literally willing to sell his kid for the settlement money. Fiona is worried, so she and Vee start looking for a lawyer. Everybody’s got worried faces today!
Tumblr media
Lip and Ian have a BROTHERS moment in a stolen car he borrowed from Steve. Ian tells Lip about the Mickey/Kash situation, and Lip is shocked. Please see this post by @gardenerian‘s most brilliant Anon. I’ve waited months to share that post. Anon, if you’re still out there, please take credit for this! Also, Thank you. Also, Lip’s face when Ian says he’s going to go see Mickey in prison. Think he knew his baby brother was already gone for the neighbourhood thug?
Tumblr media
Anyway, They follow Monica and Bob to whatever appointment they have with Liam. Vee and Fiona see a lawyer. Fiona’s got a folder to explain why she should have guardianship. We find out that Monica’s been gone for 21 ½ months. If Liam is about two years old, means she left just shortly after he was born. She asks about their parents, if Frank is a drinker, and well—
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
(Thanks @gardenerian​ for these specially made gifs!)
Unfortunately Fiona doesn’t have the money to support them and she has to prove her parents’ incompetency, so the lawyer explains the kids would likely be split up into foster homes. Not ideal.
Bob and Monica find out that Liam is Frank’s. Carl is busy building some kind of bike ramp that’ll likely kill him. He gets away with just a broken arm. The fact that this kid grows up to be a fucking cop…
Tumblr media
Frank is still being followed by Jasper. Lip and Ian have more brothers moments, swabbing their cheeks to find out if they’re Frank’s. Like, how cute is this!
Tumblr media
Also they discuss whether one of them has the drunk gene from Frank or the dummy gene from Monica. Which, haha writers. I see what you did there…
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Frank uses Carl’s broken arm to get Jasper to leave. Eddie is taking Karen to a Purity Ball, and she’s all dressed up in a pretty little pink and white dress. They have dinner together and Eddie is confused why Sheila would wonder if boys get Purity Balls too. Isn’t it just soooo nice?
Tumblr media
Ian goes to see Mickey and those two babies are adorbs. Mickey’s got a year in juvi, a few months if he’s on his best behaviour, but we know Mickey.
Tumblr media
Steve and Tony have a moment. Good Officer Tony isn’t so Good sometimes. The Gallaghers confront Frank at the Alibi to make sure he doesn’t sign parental rights of Liam to Monica. Frank is his usual self and Lip hits him. Good for Lip.
Tumblr media
This Purity Ball is disgusting. But Karen has her fun. She explains that she’s been having oral sex since she was 13 and started having sex in the 8th grade. She explains that she’s experimented with guys and girls while high. And participated in an orgy. She keeps going until Eddie calls her a whore. Karen is absolutely heartbroken. She goes home and wrecks Eddie’s creepy little basement bedroom.
Tumblr media
The Gallghers are having a dramatic family dinner over some burnt lasagna. Ian seems to forget what lasagna is though.
Tumblr media
To be fair, it is a little burnt..
Tumblr media
Lip comes home with the DNA results. Ian is not Frank Gallagher’s son. Frank seems more upset about Monica doing PCP without him than Ian not being his son. He’s pretty mad that Monica fucked his brother, though. Yeah, it’s a lot to deal with baby Ian.
Tumblr media
Fiona tells Monica to leave and never come back, and Sheila kicks Eddie out and in her anger, she follows Eddie outside, where Frank sees her. He points out that she’s out of the house and Sheila is ecstatic. Good for her!!
Tumblr media
The Gallaghers are watching Bob and Monica from the window of Steve’s house. They see them packing, then leave the house with Liam. Monica does the right thing and gives him to Fiona. And then she leaves again.
Tumblr media
And after all that, Frank doesn’t get his money.
Tumblr media
As for the whole reason we’re doing this: except for the beginning bit, the whole episode takes place on a single weekday, but there’s no indication as to when. It seems like the results of the DNA test Lip and Ian took only took a few hours, so maybe Liam’s DNA test was done earlier in the day of the first part of the episode but too late for them to get it that day. Maybe they went to get the DNA test the day after the previous episode. Either way this episode is either the very next day after the previous episode, making it the Monday, or the day after that, making it the Tuesday. I’m leaning towards the Monday.
38 notes · View notes
lilredghost · 1 year
Text
Tag Game To Better Know You
Send this to people you’d like to know better!
Tagged by @bladling (hi!!!)
What book are you currently reading? Idk I’ve had The Fellowship of the Ring on my bedside table for like months now. But I haven’t had time to read it?? Clown emoji.... SW has taken over my life so it’ll have to wait
What’s your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? I’m preeetty sure I didn’t go to any movies this year. My cousins all went to see the black panther movie together but I was busy OTL
What do you usually wear? Sweaters or crewnecks with jeans, but I need to buy more plaid and flannels again. I used to dress like a butch but my old clothes either don’t fit or have holes. I’ve been avoiding getting new ones bc I hate shopping, lol
How tall are you? 5’6”, but my driver’s license says 5’7” for some reason
What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? Immm gonna be honest, if blade didn’t answer “capricorn” I wouldn’t even know what you meant by star sign. I’m a sagittarius or however u spell it. I’m not even gonna bother googling the second question
Do you go by your name or a nick-name? I hate my name but I do go by it irl. On here I like to stick to some variation on my username
Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? Do you want the funny version or the sad version of this story? I honestly never thought I’d be anything, so in grade school I just put something random and different everytime someone/something asked. I'm a grad student rn
Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one? Nooope, I’m extremely single (and ready to mingle?)
What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at? I’m good at crafts! I’ve got a decent amount of experience with needlework and I’ve been thinking I want to branch out into something that’s more functional (like crocheting or sewing) compared to purely artistic.
I’m bad at reaching out of my comfort zone. I feel like life is already hard enough in the day-to-day, so finding the motivation to do something new and different is hard. I need a friend who will drag me out :(
Dogs or cats? Either one, they’re cute in different ways!
If you draw/write or create in any way, what’s your favorite picture/line/etc from something you created this year? Probably this bit from Take Care of Me, Please? These fics make me feel extremely seen, and I can’t wait to get back to them when I have a chance
But it seems too easy. Anakin is… Anakin is the brightest star in his life. He smiles and laughs and shines with such charisma—such gravity—that he must surely be at the center of everyone’s solar systems, not just Obi-Wan’s. What could Obi-Wan have possibly done, to deserve such devotion?
What’s something you would like to create content for? Well blade is right, “content” is kind of a shitty word. We are inspired and driven to make art. We’re sharing pieces of ourselves; in this essay I will... Anyway the answer to this is obvious: Star Wars
What’s something you’re currently obsessed with? Star Wars again! I normally fandom hop a decent amount but ever since I found SW, something has sort of settled in me. I hope it never goes away <3
What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? Man I joined a westmarches campaign and it was very disappointing compared to a regular dnd campaign. I understand the draw of the structure, but it's just not as much fun
What’s a hidden talent of yours? Idk if you’d call it a “talent” but I really like to sing. When I get my own place, I’m never going to shut up <3
Are you religious? Kind of? My cultural roots are very deep and my religion is all tied up in that. But my health is bad, I regularly get fierce pains, and I’ve been depressed for like ten years now. Not to say that you CAN’T have faith coexisting with all those things, but I’m just exhausted. It’s not for me. (Or at least, it’s not for the me that exists right now. I suppose that could change in the future)
What’s something you wish to have at this moment? Ummmm, an ask in my inbox? Jk jk
I know this is a long one so don't feel obligated or anything but I'm tagging @leafchan15 @tennessoui @kyberkenobi
5 notes · View notes
tonyhightower · 1 year
Text
Morning.
Okay, I was joking before about being stir crazy, but it's not really a joke anymore.
This week, my son Felix turned three.
I'm sick as a dog. I can barely speak.
I'm exhausted, I'm burned out, I'm tired, I'm tired. I'm tired.
I'm stuck in Paris. (Stuck? In Paris? How can you even?) I haven't seen Paris yet, barely at all.
Right now, Paris is just a place I've managed to hurry through a couple of times to get some stuff from IKEA or the boulangerie, and then hobble home on my still-unhealed knee, because we gotta get dinner in, or Felix is edging towards a meltdown and we just need to get him to a place where that can happen more safely and less publicly, and then get him to calm the hell down and, for lack of a better term, go the fuck to sleep.
I don't have any money. We have two credit cards, both in my wife's name. It's okay, I have nothing to buy anyway.
I have nothing to offer. I'm taking up space. I'm Jo's second child. I fucking hate this part. I need her permission to do pretty much anything. This isn't what either of us signed up for.
I'm not doing French lessons. I'm barely keeping a Youtube channel afloat. I've put out a video every Tuesday, until this week. I have a script, It's shot (poorly, but it's at least ready), but this is Winter Vacation Week for X, and it's also his birthday week, so we planned our first party (which is code for: emailing every parent in town we know and begging them to come over, drink our wine, and be our friends).
And then X's Grandos are here for a few days to see our place, which is great on its face, but they're not here to babysit while J & I get our shit together. X is home for two weeks, and there's no respite.
I love my kid truly and forever. I love him so much that I'm sacrificing the one thing that's making myself sane, because it's more important, on a minute-to-minute basis, to make sure he's okay.
I was told that would start to happen less and less as he becomes a little more independent. Like, I'm looking forward to the last day I ever have to wipe his ass. We're not there, but that day is now on the horizon, which is a thought that brings me indescribable joy.
I'm off my meds. No more ADHD meds of any kind until I get my Carte Vitale. (Our Titre de Séjour is on its way.) Could be weeks. Could be months. So, as a substitute: coffee. Lots & lots of coffee. Morning, noon, night. Worrying about cortisol & anxiety is, to paraphrase Leona Helmsley on Paying Taxes, is for the little people. I have a kid I really want to raise properly.
I've spent the last six weeks literally unable to walk, unable to buy even the most basic of things for the house, unable to put any more art up on the walls, unable to dance or pick up or even sit down with my child to read a book. He has to come to the couch, like I’m 90.
It's his birthday today. He calls me "Broken Racecar." My heart breaks a little every time he says it.
Jo is doing so much around the house, at a time when she needs to be writing. That's her job. It's literally why we're here. It's why this is all happening. It's why I'm staring out the window at a city I really want to start falling in love with, that I really want to write about & take pictures of & interact with.
I'm stuck in the exit lounge. I'm standing on the banks of the Styx, waving a ticket at a boat that isn't in dock.
Get help. Yeah, I know. I know. Except ... English is not the LIngua Franca of this place (uh, Franca is), which means I can't just walk into a place and get either (a) the drugs I need, or (b) something more shrink-adjacent. (I truly don't think I have a genuine psychological issue at the moment; it's more just the isolation and the fact that my go-to fixes for what ails me are things I don't currently have access to for one reason or another. If I was running, I'd be fine. If I had a workspace and the time to actually make videos & write screenplays, I'd be better. If I was able to actually get out into Paris and, y'know, enjoy the city that we've all worked so hard to become a part of, and get involved in the new world we've crossed an ocean to but up against, then fuck yeah go me.)
But kvetching about this stuff in the hour every morning before my sick three-year-old wakes up is not a useful way to spend my time. I need to be cramming in a French lesson or CREATING TEH CONTENT or whatever. So, Ima get on that.
Fun stuff to come. Promise.
1 note · View note
Note
9 Supercorp
1 new message.
The notification reads. This is odd. Nobody ever sends Kara any messages on this account, for the sole reason that it doesn't have much followers.
It was Nia's idea initially. She's told Kara to buy herself a journal. She keeps one herself, where she writes all the dreams she doesn't know how to interpret yet.
"You should write down whatever it is and let it lie there for a while you know?"
Kara thought about it, had mulled it over and over in her head. A journal is indeed a great idea. An outlet of sorts. But the thing is, a journal is too private. If Kara wrote in a journal the only person who would ever read it would be herself.
Kara didn't want that. Kara hungered for an audience. She wanted to write and put it out there, out in the world where somebody will maybe one day read it and come to her--tell her, "Me, too. Me, too."
She wanted to write and be read by people.
And so, the journal idea became the Instagram poetry account idea.
A handful of original poetry posted in between aesthetic photos.
Nia and her sister are the only two people in her life who knows about it. That's why she is genuinely shocked when she reads the notification.
By the time, she's collected enough courage to open the app.
There have been more than 10 notifications. First, was the follow, next was a series of likes and then finally the message.
Kara clicked on the profile first.
It was a bookstagram account it turns out. There was only the username display, kieran. All in lowercase. No location, no bio, no nothing. The icon was of a single, black, loopy 'K' on white parchment.
The feed was of book covers, pages, spines and some quotes here and there.
The thing that Kara noticed about it though was how sad everything looked, once she's looked at it all in one grid.
It looks beautiful but melancholy.
She opens the message.
"I don't usually do this but...I just have to tell you that, your poetry has more of an impact than you will ever know. Thank you making me feel like I'm not alone. Thank you for sharing your words."
It was signed with a single heart and a 'k'.
And that's when it hits Kara.
Kara writes out a reply.
I'm out there.
I'm out there, in the world. And somebody is reading my words. They're reading what I wrote and it made them feel something.
"Thank you for taking the time to write those kind words to me. I hope you know you've made me want to write now more than ever. Thank you."
She added a heart at the end too. Kara didn't check her phone for the rest of the day.
They didn't reply it turns out. Kara tries not to feel too disappointed at that and tries to go on with her life.
Although, two weeks later after their first interaction, Kara posts two new poems, she discovers that kieran didn't stop reading.
Kara would usually get a like or a comment of a single heart then and again, and if she's lucky they'll comment a 'Beautiful.' underneath one of Kara's longer poems.
Kara collects all those crumbs and keeps it close to her heart.
******
"had a shity day ur peom made my night. thbk you."
Kara reads the message at 7 am, it was sent at 3:36 am. It isn't till she's halfway through, that her groggy mind realizes that they must've been drunk when they sent her this.
There's a twinge of worry in her chest, so she writes.
"I'm glad I made your night. And I don't want to overstep, but I think you were drunk when you sent this. I hope you're alright today. Drink lots of water! Thank you for the kind words."
She doesn't check her phone for the rest of the day.
Kara's knee-deep in Snapper's column assignment when her phone pings.
"Don't worry, you didn't overstep. I think you're the kindest person I've ever met."
Kara can't help the feeling of concern when she reads the message. Imagine thinking an Instagram poet who you've interacted with, two times in total, is the kindest person you've ever met. Never mind the fact that she's the Instagram poet.
Kara feels intrigued by this person.
Maybe it's because they're making her feel important. Maybe it's because Kara doesn't know who they are and the mystery appeals to her. Maybe it's because with them, Kara isn't anything. She's just a poet.
Maybe it's all of those or maybe it's none of those reasons at all.
Nevertheless, Kara sees her fingers fly across the keypad before she can even realize what she's doing.
"And you, IG user kieran, I think are the most interesting person I've ever met : )"
She puts her phone facedown on her desk.
Kara stands up from her station, walks around, pokes her head into Snapper's office, asks if he needs anything, gets yelled at, bothers Nia, walks around the entire bullpen, refills her tumbler, sits back down on her desk.
1 new message.
Kara lunges for her phone.
"Interesting huh?"
Just that. Just that and nothing else, yet it makes Kara feel like she's being observed, judged, weighed.
"Your feed is beautiful, your books. What I wouldn't give to get a peek in that beautiful mind of yours."
Kara exits the app, her thumb gliding through the screen so fast, it's a miracle it didn't break under the pressure.
She stands up from her desk and does a whole 'nother round.
1 new message
Kara takes a deep breath before opening the message. She doesn't even know why she's nervous.
"my mind is a lot of things, but i doubt beautiful is one of them."
What does she mean by that? Well, Kara guesses, everyone's brain is a mess right? She's pretty certain she's fucked up herself in more ways than she even knows.
So that's what she says.
"Everybody's a mess i think. Doesn't mean they're not beautiful."
Kara waits and waits and waits.
The reply doesn't come.
*******
Life goes on, her IG account gains more followers, her poems get stacked upon each other each week.
She always notices which ones kieran likes though.
They never message each other again.
******
And then, that one fateful day comes—Kara falls in love.
She meets Lena and Kara falls.
Hard.
Lena catches her and together they write what Kara thinks, is the most beautiful love story in existence.
Lena's her soul mate, her best friend, her one true love.
Her poems become lighter, happier.
She's so caught up with living in the real world with Lena, that sometimes she doesn't even have the time to write poems anymore.
Why would she? When she's living a brand new love poem each day she wakes up to Lena by her side.
One night, Kara is putting on her pajamas, and Lena is taking a picture of some book in their bed, her hair in a bun, big nerdy glasses perched on her nose.
Kara is in the middle of climbing into bed when Lena asks her, "Hey, have you ever read poetry and felt like it was speaking to you directly. As if the poet wrote it with you in mind??"
Quietly, Kara answers, "Yeah."
Immediately, Kara's head travels through all the snippets of conversations she's had with kieran.
All her IG posts, the one account, the one thing that Lena does not know about.
"Why?" Kara follows-up.
Lena's sat, leaning into the pillows, her phone in her hand.
"There's this- you know what? Why don't I just show you? You'll get what I mean, when you read it."
Lena shows Kara her phone screen and Kara freezes.
There on the screen, is her Instagram poetry account. @kz_elwrites.
Her entire collection of verse all lit up in Lena's phone.
"I-" Kara doesn't know what to say. And Lena notices, of course, she would.
Lena always notices. ,
"Kara?" She asks. "Is there something wrong?"
"I wrote that." Kara lets the words hang in between them.
She meets Lena's eyes, reads the shock there.
Kara grabs her phone from the nightstand and opens her IG app--shows it wordlessly to Lena.
Lena takes the phone gently from her hands, flicks up and down for a couple of minutes.
Kara feels like something important is going to happen. Everything feels to quiet. Lena is too quiet.
Lena hands Kara her phone back, still not speaking.
And then, Lena turns back to her phone, swipes a couple of times.
"Come here," Lena whispers. "Take a look."
Kara's eyes land on the screen.
kieran.
"You're-"
"I am."
prompt list here
1K notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
A/N: I loved doing this one guys, and I hope you love it too. Might do a part 2 not sure yet, as always commissions are still open until 3/10 message if your interested- price list is here
- Okay this is the ship guys this is it-
- This is like Hades and Persephone type of love
- Everyone thinks that Regulus is someone to be feared because of his family, and everyone knows they dabble in the dark arts
- And everyone is so caught up in his family-
- In the estate, and those dark rumors, and their dark magic-
- That no one see’s Regulus is just a boy-
- A lonely boy with no real friends, not really
- It’s worse now that Sirius has been disowned
- He’s got people around him, boys who’s parents are aquatinted with his
- But they don’t really like him
- They just hang around because they want a flicker of his power
- Of that ancient dark magic everyone’s convinced he’s got
- Everyone except you that is
- You’re this beautiful, cheerful, precious thing
- He meets you when you’re lost, looking for the bathroom
- “Sorry to bother, but do you know if it’s down the hall?” You ask, he’s seen you a few times; in class, or around the corridors
- Playing gobstones with your ever growing group of friends
- He would be jealous if he wasn’t so surprised that you’re speaking to him at all, aren’t you a muggle born?
- Shouldn’t you be afraid of him?
- Just like everyone else?
- “It’s in the next hallway, that one is moaning Myrtle’s bathroom” he says quietly
- He watches you nod enthusiastically
- Looks like you’ll be on your way now, probably for the best, he wouldn’t want his parents to know -
- “Would you mind showing me?” You ask
- And it’s awfully pushy, but somehow Regulus can’t turn down that bright smile of yours
- You talk to him so easily, like you’re not afraid of him at all
- And it irritates him a little.
- Honestly, even the professors are a little afraid of him
- Everyone is
- So why aren’t you
- “Do you-“ he stops in the middle of the corridor, and you walk a few steps forward before realizing he’s not beside you anymore
- “Do you know who I am?”
- You must not, that’s the only explanation
- When you find out you’ll go as pale as the moon, and afterward you will regale the tale for your many friends, how you barley escaped the fearsome Regulus Black, right before he was about to curse you with his dark magic.
- But you only offer a quizzical expression and a smile
- “You’re Regulus Black”
- You say it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world
- It only makes him upset, but he doesn’t know why
- In fact since the moment he met you there’s been this burning irritation lingering in the back of his mind, and he just can’t seem to pin point why
- But regardless of the reason, it seems to be boiling over right now, in an empty corridor in the middle of the night
- “Shouldn’t you be afraid? I could curse you right here if I wanted”
- But the smile on your face remains
- “Maybe, but you won’t” you muse
- He laughs
- “Why because you think I’m afraid getting expelled?”
- Honestly his parents would welcome him with a feast if he came home for attacking a muggle born
- It would be a sign he wasn’t going to become like Sirius after all
- Because that’s the worst thing a person could be according to his parents-
- A blood traitor
- But instead of quaking in your shoes you flash him a quizzical smile
- “Nah, I just don’t think you’re that kind of person” you shrug
- The words echo in his mind long after you’ve said them
- And though he’s looked at you before
- He’s only really looking at you now, the easy way your lips curl into a smile, the sparkle in your eye, the glow around you-
- Like you’re made of sunlight
- Like you breathe life into all things wherever you go
- Like an ancient witch he heard of , heralded as the goddess of spring
- Like Persephone
- Ah, so that’s it
- It’s not that he hates you
- It’s that he envies you
- Because seeing how natural it is to see you do good, makes him hope -  it makes him yearn to be like that too
- To be more than an heir to his family’s dark legacy
- “I could be wrong though” you shrug, you can count on one hand how many times you’ve been right about something
- But still, you just don’t buy that the shy kid in front of you is some evil prodigy bent on destroying the world
- “No” Regulus’s voice cracks, and it’s soft, so soft you almost don’t hear it.
- But your turn to him, eyes jumping from one of the many paintings in the corridor to his pale face
- His eyes seem glossy as they look into yours, and it’s not just because of the light from the torches
- “No, I’m not that kind of person” he says with a bit more strength this time, and you grin
- And while you feel that there’s something important about the moment, you don’t realize the monumental significance this chance meeting holds for Regulus
- “Oh, we passed the washroom” he realizes after a moment, he was so caught up in talking to you he hadn’t realized
- “Ah, that’s okay I didn’t have to use the bathroom anyway” you say with a wave of your hand
- Huh?
- Noticing his expression you get a sheepish look on your face
- “Well I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while, but you’re always with people-“
- Yeah he’s sure his “friends” would give off an especially murderous aura if you ever tried to approach them
- “So when I saw an opportunity, I just took it” you admit with a slight laugh
- “I wanted to see what everyone was talking about when they mentioned the ‘Dark Prince’ “ there’s a teasing flint in your eye, and the nickname alone is enough to make him flush red
- “And what’s your assessment?” he manages to ask, a smile stretching across his face
- “Very underwhelming, I came expecting several hexes and a duel, and all I got was a cute boy with pretty eyes”
- This time he really does flush bright red, eyes trained on his shoes
- You laugh, you were mostly teasing
- But he is quite cute isn’t he?
- What’s everyone so scared of anyway? He’s like a shy kitten
- He watches you walk to a particular portrait, whispering a word before it swings open
- “Well see ya around Mr. Dark Prince” you say, sending a teasing wink his way
- Regulus is glowing red, even when he’s tucked in bed, in his common room hours after the meeting. the mere memory of the words you said send his heart racing again
- “They said I’m cute” he’ll recall with a goofy smile spreading across his face
- After that, things are brighter for Regulus
- You pull him into your group of friends, quite literally
- “I-I don’t think this is a good idea” he manages, catching the terrified glances of passerby’s as you tug him forward by his arm 
- What a sight you must be, the literal personification of spring pulling the Dark Prince  himself by the arm through the castle
- The aforementioned Dark Prince having a rosy tinge on his cheeks, which most of the other students misplace for Fury instead of what it actually is:
- Embarrassment with a healthy dash of attraction to aforementioned personification of spring
- “Nonsense, everyone’s dying to meet you Reg”
- When you use his nickname his flush darkens
- No ones ever called him that-
- No one except Sirius and Andromeda
- He likes the way it sounds coming from you
- And you’re right, your friends accept him into their fold immediately
- “You know any curses?” One of your friends asks, it’s in a jovial manner that anyone could tell they’re just teasing but Regulus flinches
- “No, not really” he admits, not any he’s good at anyway
- He did see his parents do something akin to a sacrifice when he was younger with an alter in the full moon, but he really wouldn’t know where to start with that
- “What about gobstones, you know the rules to that?”
- Regulus nods
- “Well lets play then!”
- Before he knows it, it’s like this was always his life
- Laughing with you in class, games of gobstones with your friends and trips to Hogsmeade on the weekend
- Regulus didn’t know that he was yearning for this
- How often had he wished for something like this,
- A place that feels like it’s full of sunshine, where everyone feels accepted, and no one has to feel sad
- This is the happiest Regulus has ever been
- But all dreams must come to an end
- The end of the semester comes around, and he has to go home for Christmas vacation
- You’re standing side by side on the train platform waiting for the train, your trunk lying next to you
- “You’re not taking anything back with you?” You ask
- Regulus shrugs
- “There’s no point, everything I need is at the manse”
- You’ve always been a bit curious about what the Black manor is like
- Probably something grand, large library’s, they probably have one of those record players with the gold horn thing
- And a ballroom
- It probably makes Hogwarts look like a pile of dirt
- But the way Regulus’ face darkens when you ask him about it tells you that- yes they probably do have a ballroom, but there’s other things too, things that are far less pleasant 
- And when he starts talking about his home life, how it’s worse - lonelier- Now that Sirius is at the Potter’s all the time, and there’s no one around to stand between him and his parents
- He notices your heartbroken expression and rushes to comfort you
- “It’s not so bad, Mum’s got her tender moments every so often and-“
- “Regulus” you cut in, and the sound of his whole name leaving your mouth makes him stutter to a stop
- “You’re supposed to feel safe and loved all the time not just sometimes”
- It’s such a basic thing, but when Regulus hears this, he feels like he’s being allowed something
- He feels, for the first time, he’s allowed to be safe and happy
- He’s allowed to be good
- “Why don’t you come home with me for Christmas? It’s probably not as grand as you’re used to-“
- You fidget awkwardly, maybe it’s silly, the prince, Regulus Black, himself sitting on your worn sofa, holding yarn while one of your family member’s knits
- You can picture it though
- You can picture a big smile across his face, indulging the younger children in your extended family in their requests for piggyback rides and for him to participate in their games
- “I want to,” he says, really the fact that you’re offering is enough, more than he could ask for
- “But I can’t”
- And it’s the truth, after Sirius, he can’t make any mistakes, his family won’t stand for it
- He especially doesn’t want to think what would happen to you if they found out he had been spending all of his time with you, a muggle born
- He doesn’t want to think what curses they might inflict you with
- He doesn’t want you to ever be hurt because of him
- “You’ll write to me?” You say it with the fervor of a demand, and it makes a smile curl onto his mouth
- “Everyday” he promises
- And things are exactly as they always were at 12 Grimmauld Place, his mother is distant, only livening up when one of the other ladies shows up for tea
- His father is squirreled away in council meetings
- His cousins are no fun, not really, and Andromeda’s not around anymore since she ran off with Ted
- He likes Ted, though he would never admit it to his family
- Ted is a lot like you, someone with an infinite amount of kindness
- He wonders how they’re doing
- He wonders how Sirius is doing
- He’s probably happy, he always looked happy when he was with his friends
- And so- with a picture of you discreetly kept on his desk, he writes three sets of letters
- The first is for you, to assure you he’s fine, and live vicariously through your spring, through your lovely Christmas moments and imagine himself there too. 
- The second for Andromeda, to ask if she’s doing alright, and to tell her he misses her
- And the last, is for Sirius
- Asking how he is, and hoping he’s well.
- And to say that he understands what Sirius was saying all those years, in their childhood and then into adolescence, Regulus understands now- 
- And he wants to be good too
1K notes · View notes
collecting-stories · 3 years
Text
Loose Lips - Rafe Cameron
Request: hey gorg! i’ve been waiting to request for so long and now they’re open! it’s kind of a basic idea but being kie’s sister and hooking up with rafe on the dl? and john b comes over to see sarah and sees y/n walking out of his room? thank you!!
A/N: This honestly came so easily to me and I’ve been having the hardest time writing so...fingers crossed that’s a good sign. Also, was listening to Lips by The Maine when I wrote this. 
Outer Banks Masterlist
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
The sound of the voice calling your name wasn’t unfamiliar to you but it was unfamiliar in this space. That voice, it was your best friend’s deep, raspy like he’d just taken a mouth of saltwater after he wiped out, voice. The tone was confused, naturally, because while he was out of place here to you, you were out of place here to him. You turned away from the bedroom door that you were quietly pulling shut, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.  
“John B? What are you doing here?” You’re words came out barely above a whisper, praying that the person on the other side of the door, the person you’d just left, wouldn’t hear the commotion.  
“I swung by to get Sarah...” he trailed off, probably, easily, putting together that you were coming out of not-Sarah's room and you definitely weren’t hanging with Wheezie whenever you disappeared for an afternoon or after a party. “What are you doing here?”
If he eliminated Rose and Ward too, that left one person in the Cameron household. You could see the gears turning in his head, already imagine him trying to blindly text your sister some kind of SOS as he reached his hand into his back pocket. Maybe you could play it off, would you rather he think you were buying coke or that you were here for the actual reason you were here.
“I uh...” you trailed off, looking back at the crisp white door, the doorknob warm in your hand, knuckles turning white as you gripped it. Maybe you could slip back inside and pretend nothing ever happened. “I-”
Before you got a chance to answer him, the doorknob was pulled out of your grasp and you stumbled back as the door opened, the last option John B wanted to believe but the one he knew was it stepping into the hallway.  
“You’re still...” Rafe looked at you curiously for a moment, you were still in the hallway outside his room. But when he turned he John B at the top of the stairs looking a lot like someone who’d just been told that Santa Claus wasn’t real. “You forgot your phone.”
If there was any chance for making John B believe that your trip to the Cameron household was innocent or not-innocent-but-not-what-he-thought, that opportunity flew out the window. Rafe was standing there, holding your phone out to you, in nothing but a pair of boxers sitting so low on his hips it was obvious he’d just pulled them on to come out of his room. His hair was still messed up and there was clear evidence, marks on his otherwise flawlessly sunkissed skin, that whatever happened in there was exactly what John B didn’t want it to be.
“Are you sleeping with Rafe?” He practically shouted as you awkwardly pocketed your phone. Couldn’t you have just stayed in bed ten extra minutes like Rafe had asked, did you have to always be so punctual.
“It’s not what it looks like!” You insisted, not daring to look over at your co-conspirator. You could just imagine him leaning up against the door frame or the wall, arms crossed over his chest, amused grin as you tried to stutter out an explanation. Wasn’t that exactly how you had ended up in his bed the first time?
“Pretty fucking sure it looks like you and Rafe just had sex.” John B replied, sounding both disgusted by the idea and betrayed.  
“Oh, then it is exactly what it looks like.” Rafe piped up. You turned to look at him, trying your absolute hardest to burn him with your glare. He remained unaffected, which didn’t surprise you at all. He usually was unaffected by most things.  
“Does...does Kie know about this?”  
“Please John B, you cannot tell my sister about this.” Sarah didn’t even know and most times you were in the house at the same time that she was. There was no way any of them would take this well. Hell, your sister had thrown a fit the first time John B brought Sarah around. This would be ten times worse.  
“So what’re you saying,” Rafe asked, feigning hurt, “you don’t want anyone to know about us? I’m really hurt Carrera...I thought we meant something to each other.”
“Shut up Rafe!” You snapped, smacking his arm.  
John B ran his hands through his hair, pulling at the ends. He had half a mind to bolt back down the stairs and tell Kiara exactly what he’d seen. You leaving Rafe’s room, Rafe confirming that you were sleeping together. “How long have you guys been together?” He asked you, trying to remind himself that you were his friend, practically his sister, and he owed it to you to let you explain. At least enough that he could get a whole picture of what was going on.  
“Together...would you call it that? Together?” Rafe cut in before you could answer, repeating the word a third time as if he was testing it out. Like he’d never heard it before.  
In all honesty, and maybe somehow it was better this way, you weren’t together. You weren’t even definitely friends. You were just hooking up, strictly sex. And yeah, maybe sometimes after sex you hung out and watched TV or smoked weed or ordered a pizza and then had more sex, but it wasn’t together. It wasn’t a relationship.  
“We aren’t.” You said it like you were promising John B it was nothing serious. “We aren’t together.”
“John B!” Sarah’s voice rang out from the bottom of the staircase, “are we going or what?”  
You mouthed a silent please to him. Please don’t tell Sarah, don’t tell anyone. If your friends found out you would be ostracized, tossed from the pogues forever. You would never be able to show your face on the Cut again.  
“Yeah, yeah...” He called back, waving his hand to her to go outside, he’d be right there. He was still staring at you, as if he could somehow figure out why you had decided to hook up with Rafe of all people. Maybe if he looked at you long enough it would all make sense. “We need to talk later.”  
“We will, just please...I’ll, we’ll talk, I’ll explain.” You promised, trying to buy yourself some time.  
He turned from the top of the staircase, heading down to meet Sarah in the foyer and you heard her ask what the hell was taking him so long when she thought he’d just gone up to use the bathroom. He fumbled through an excuse, casting one more look up the stairs but he couldn’t see either you or Rafe from his position near the door.  
When you heard the door slam shut behind them you pressed your hands to your face, “fuck...fuck.”  
“Looks like someone’s in trouble.” Rafe teased, laughing when you smacked his arm for a second time.  
“Shut the fuck up Rafe!” You grumbled, turning to look at him, “fuck...he’s totally gonna tell my sister, he has no fucking filter. And they’re all shit at keeping secrets.”  
“Well,” Rafe shrugged, standing straight and pointing back to his bedroom with his thumb, “might as well come back in, if they’re gonna know anyway.”
“No, I need to leave, I need to go talk to them or something or try to...explain what’s...” your sentence stuttered, trailing off as you lost your thought. Rafe had crossed the hallway to you, placing his hands on your hips and leaning down enough that he could kiss along your neck and shoulder, over faint marks that he’d left earlier.
“You need to what?” He asked, between trailing kisses.  
“Rafe...”
“You need to what?” He repeated, pulling away just enough to look at you. Right now John B was no doubt cooking up exactly what he was going to say despite promising to let you explain because he had absolutely not self-control and he was always more loyal to Kiara. You needed to leave, to somehow beat him to his own house so you could make them understand that this meant absolutely nothing to you, that they were your friends and they were ten times more important than Rafe Cameron. “You need to...come back to my room?”
“Like ten minutes, tops.” You reasoned, letting him taking your hands and walk you into his room, pushing the door closed behind you with your foot. It wouldn’t be ten minutes, both of you knew that, but you’d been slowly lying to yourself about this whole thing for months. What was ten more minutes?
414 notes · View notes
devildomimagines · 3 years
Text
MC Almost Gets Abducted by a Flying Demon
Hello~
You ever just have an idea that occupies your head and won’t go away until you write it? Yeah this was one of those.
You’re out with your favorite demon brother and some demon thinks it would be a good idea to try to take you away.
Warning for angst, injuries and kidnapping attempts.
Belphegor
The day had passed without event. Belphie and you were relaxing under a tree in the park.
You offered to go buy some drinks. 
Although he was clearly comfortable, he offered to get the drinks instead.
You smiled as you watched him push himself up and trudged to the closest store. Who said he was selfish?
A few leaves had fallen on the blanket while you had been watching Belphie. You brushed them off.
As you waited for his return a couple more leaves fell. Annoyed, you brushed them off and looked up at the tree.
You were not expecting to make eye contact with a demon in the branches that was already watching you.
Before your mind could make a connection, the demon swooped down and grabbed your arm and leg.
“Belphegor!” You hollered as you clung to the branch with your free arm. The demon was strong and it felt like you would either lose your grip or be torn in half if this kept up any longer.
Belphie was back in a flash, he was already in his demon form.
He was looking between you and the demon trying to figure out what he can do when your grip on the branch faltered.
His tail shot out and grabbed your arm. The barbs bit at your skin but the tuft of soft hair at the end of his tail rested gently against your face reassuring as he moved you towards him.
Once close enough, Belphie grabbed your hand and arm and removed his tail.
The demon looked back to see what was happening and why they couldn’t make their escape. They locked eyes with Belphie’s glare and immediately dropped you to run.
Luckily you were closer to the ground now and fell onto the blanket, your arm still in Belphie’s grasp.
You tried to take a few deep breaths but when you looked up at Belphie, you just broke.
He sat down in front of you and hugged you to his body as your cries were released. Belphie whispered, “I’m sorry MC.”
He felt guilty having left you alone and then further hurting you with the spikes on his tail. The places that the demon had been pulling on you were already blooming into bruises. It reminded him of the time in the attic and his emotions are spiraling. 
When he pulls away slightly to double check your injuries, you see his eyes are watery, tears threatening to spill at any second but he was putting on a brave face for you. You tried to do the same in the moment, for him.
Beelzebub
The two of you had been walking down the street when an ice cream stand caught his attention.
You sat on the nearby bench waiting for him to return.
He was on the way back to you, his ice cream already finished and he was eyeing yours, maybe just a lick?
That is until he heard your scream. He dropped the ice cream to run back to where he left you.
You weren’t on the bench and his heart dropped into his stomach as he looked around. 
You saw him from the air and howled, “Beel!!”
He instantly looked up and found you. Beel ran through the streets transforming into his demon form until he was underneath you and the demon. With a powerful jump, he was flying straight up towards you.
The demon was surprised at the speed that Beel was approaching. In a desperate attempt to leave with their life, the demon threw you to the side and escaped the other way.
You screamed as you started plummeting towards the ground.
Beel was fast and caught you before you could fall far.
You gripped at his clothes as tightly as you could, with hiccupping sobs you whispered his name over and over, “Beel, Beel.”
He hugged you into his body firmly, “I’ve got you,” he assured as you two lowered to the ground, his wings buffering the descent.
Once on the pavement, he placed you back on your feet gently and only pried you away to assess injuries. “Are you ok? Where does it hurt?”
You rubbed your eyes and face, trying to regain composure to answer but the sensation of Beel pushing you away hurt and made you feel worse.
He promptly pulled you back into a hug, noting your crying was worse than when he held you.
“I want to go home,” you finally requested.
Beel nodded and picked you up to carry you back to the House of Lamentation.
Asmodeus
Asmo was surrounded by a group of his fans.
These encounters usually didn’t take long. They would snap a few pictures, he might sign something he collaborated on, a few more pictures or videos and they would be on their way.
This was one of the times where you weren’t included, sometimes being a human was interesting enough to warrant a picture but today’s group only wanted Asmo’s attention.
This was pretty common so you didn’t mind stepping aside and waiting while he did his thing. You were secure enough to know he’d come back to you once he appeased his fans.
With the free moment, you took out your D.D.D. to check the time. 
You two were still ahead of schedule so another moment for the fans wouldn’t be an issue.
That is until your snatched into the air. You dropped your D.D.D. in surprise and screamed.
Asmo was looking for you and spotted your form struggling in the air.
He was angry and the fans backed up a few steps when he changed into his demon form.
One bold fan tried to hold him in place for a quick picture and he brushed them off.
His attention was completely on you and he jumped into pursuit.
His wings were out of practice but he still gained on the demon.
You cried out for him and he tried to offer you a reassuring smile that you would be safe soon.
The demon looked over its shoulder at Asmo’s chase and when their eyes met, Asmo began charming them. “Release MC~”
The demon slowed and started letting you go.
Asmo swooped in and caught you as the demon completely removed its talons from your clothes.
“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Asmo began soothing as he flew as far away as he could.
“Asmo,” you whimpered into his neck.
“I know MC, I’m so sorry, that must have been really scary.”
He held you close all the way home and for a long time after.
Satan
You had been enjoying your time with Satan at an outdoor cafe.
He went inside briefly to get refills. As he was reminding the barista what you each had, he heard a commotion, broken glassware and chairs scuffing the ground, “another fight?” a tired employee asked.
Then you screamed Satan’s name. His breath stopped as he pushed people out of his way to get back outside.
Your table was on its side and you were fighting the demon that was dragging you along by your hair and an arm.
You happened to look back and found Satan. “Help!”
You didn’t have to ask, he turned to his demon form in a fiery flash. Most other demons vacated, no one wanted to stick around the warpath of Wrath incarnate.
His tail whipped the demon’s leg holding your hair. The demon screeched and released its hold.
The release was enough for you to throw your weight away from the demon, that and another whip of Satan’s tail had you freed.
You stumbled towards Satan and he caught you.
“You’re hurt!” he observed, scandalized and new rage bubbling. If you didn’t need medical attention, he’d be hunting the demon.
You were shaken. Your trembling hand went to the scratches and punctures on your arm and shoulder. Although it came away bloody, you didn’t yet feel the pain, “huh.”
“MC?” Satan asked, now worried about your lack of response. He started smoothing your hair while searching your eyes.
“Hm?” You responded but your eyes were glazed over, not really seeing him.
“You’re in shock,” Satan determined, “Let’s go home, ok?” He took your hand on the less affected side and began leading you.
“Ok,” you repeated.
About halfway home it started to hit you. Your legs got heavy, the pain in your shoulder and arm started throbbing, and tears threatened to escape your eyes.
When you began slowing, Satan turned to check on you. Your watery eyes and uneven breathing were dead giveaways your shock had worn off. “Come here,” he pulled you into his arms.
“Satan,” you whined, him being sweet was pushing you over the edge.
“I know,” He adjusted his grip and you realized he was getting ready to carry you so you jumped slightly to wrap your legs around him. “I was so scared,” Satan admitted, “I can’t even imagine how you felt.”
With his confession of being afraid, you broke down into a hard cry.
He held you tightly as he carried you the rest of the way home.
Leviathan
Levi had ducked into a store to check if they had the new release of a game. You stayed outside sipping your beverage and scrolling through your D.D.D.
You hadn’t even seen the demon until it had you in its grasp.
“Levi!” you yelled. Would he even hear you from inside the shop? “Leviiii!” You poured everything you had into your next, “Leviathan!!”
He rushed out from the store looking around for you in a panic.
“Over here!” you cried. You tried to undo the claws holding onto you.
The demon wasn’t flying very high, maybe to keep a low profile.
Levi ran through the crowd, gaining ground on you and the demon. He was already in his demon form and his eyes never left you.
As soon as he was in range, his tail extended and wrapped around the demon’s ankle holding it in place.
The demon struggled for a minute but decided you were not worth the head-on fight with one of the rulers of the realm.
The demon dropped you and you fell the short distance to the pavement, your legs weren’t ready and you collapsed.
Levi was in front of you in a second. You looked up to see he was flustered, angry, and searching you for injuries.
Your shoulders throbbed and your ankles and knees beat in the same rhythm but that wasn’t why you were crying. No, you were crying because, for maybe the first time in the Devildom, you were scared.
Levi wasn’t sure what to say but he couldn’t stand by and watch you cry. He crouched down and held you for a moment before picking you up off the floor.
You wrapped your hands around his neck seeking comfort in his familiar presence.
Your sobs quieted as he walked you two home. When the roaring in your ears died down, you could hear he was talking, maybe rambling. 
You still weren’t in a mental place to make sense of what he was saying but you could tell his words were filled with love trying to distract you.
Mammon
It was flea market day, which meant the two of you were browsing the selection.
Mammon was fond of the flea market because, “Ya never know what you’ll find and one demon’s trash is another’s treasure.”
The stalls lined the street and Mammon flitted from side to side checking out the vendors.
He was totally in his element, bargaining prices and sifting through piles of goods.
You mainly walked along the middle path, maybe following Mammon up to a vendor if something caught your eye. Right now you were at a separate stall but still close by.
Unfortunately not close enough when a demon decided you were the prize of the flea market.
They swooped down and picked you up into the air by your waist.
The pressure made it hard to take a big gulp of air so your call to Mammon was too weak to hear over the crowd.
You tried to pour all your magic ability into your pact with Mammon to alert him.
It worked! Mammon was in the middle of the street looking around for you.
You tried yelling again, “Mammon!”
He looked up and locked on to you.
You never saw him turn into his demon form so fast. He was airborne in the next second.
The demon grunted when he realized he was being followed. They looked down to see it was Mammon.
When they made eye contact, Mammon growled loud enough, even from a distance, to show how angry he was.
The demon must have decided you weren’t worth the hassle and dropped you.
Finally able to yell at full capacity you wailed for Mammon. You landed in his arms.
“I got you,” he comforted as he watched the demon fly away. He wouldn’t let this go, no one steals his treasure.
At the sound of your crying, Mammon looked down at you holding onto his collar and hiding your face in his neck.
“I’ve got you MC,” he reminded, softer this time. He shifted you so you could properly hug him as he started towards home.
Lucifer
He looked away for only a second when someone called out to him. His grip on you loosened and then he let go as he dealt with the person who had drawn his attention.
It was long enough for the demon to swoop in overhead.
The shock took over at first and you were frozen as the demon’s talons clawed at your shoulders.
When you regained some semblance of recognition, you called “L-Luci-” but the demon wrapped its tail around your mouth to silence you.
You tried to get the tail off to try calling again when you caught his face in the crowd, slowly getting further away.
He saw you hold a hand out for him with the other still desperately trying to pull at the tail from around your head.
Lucifer quickly transformed into his demon form and jumped into the air.
The demon was quick, dodging between other flyers, and through architecture, they clearly had planned their escape to some degree.
The demon had not planned on how fast Lucifer was in the sky. He doesn’t usually fly around to get from one place to another but he had centuries of flight experience under his belt.
He was close, maybe five feet away. He could hear your muffled cries and could see the tears staining your face.
The rage and hurt you found on his face was unlike anything you had seen on his features.
Lucifer had caught up without the demon realizing, you gripped at his arms as he silently gauged how he could free you. 
When you started crying harder, he opted for the straightforward answer, he wrapped an arm around your waist and grabbed the tail that was wrapped around your head. The flesh under his hand sizzled and the demon yelped. Instantly, the tail unwrapped your head and the talons released you.
“Lucifer!” You cried as he adjusted his hold on you, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” Lucifer tried to calm you and his rage, it wasn’t directed at you but it must have left a bad taste for you to apologize. “It’s not your fault.”
“I, I,” but you couldn’t finish the sentence before breaking down once more.
Lucifer felt the tears fall on his neck and shoulder and it hurt as if his own heart was breaking.
He started towards the House of Lamentation silently. He couldn’t think of anything to soothe so he rubbed your back as he supported you in the air.
Once you had calmed enough to find your voice, you asked, “Can we go home?”
“Of course,” Lucifer smiled softly. His heart warmed to hear anything but your crying but especially that you thought of the HOL as home. “We’re almost there.”
458 notes · View notes
obae-me · 3 years
Text
A Taste of Your Own Medicine
Tumblr media
Author’s Note: I finally did it! One of my bigger projects finished! And this is the most ambitious thing I’ve posted in a while! It’ll be my biggest post for sure! I truly, truly hope you guys enjoy this. I hope this sickfic can make you feel a bit better during these times. (*slaps fic* This bad boy can fit so many cuddles in it). Thank you all for your encouragement and support, it’s honestly what helped me get this finished! Also, I swear I’ve been over this thing more than thirty times to try and catch mistakes, but it’s a lot so if I missed mistakes I apologize. 
Word Count: 18,300
Warnings: Blood, Medication Use, Vomiting, I’m not a doctor in any way shape or form, so please don’t take any of this as a personal guide. 
As Always, Read Safely, And Please Enjoy!
Tumblr media
Lucifer, then Satan and Mammon. After that came Beel and Belphie, followed up by Levi. Lastly Asmo. All of them, every single one, had fallen ill. Try as they may, none of them had been safe, and you’d been the main one working to nurse them back to health despite you knowing nothing about caring for demons. It had been...what was the right word? Grueling? No. Enjoyable? Well you couldn’t quite say that either. It had its ups and downs. Working for about a month straight on little sleep wasn’t exactly a dream job, but the affection and actions you’d seen were priceless. The pictures on your phone and the memories in your head would keep your heart warm for the rest of your life, but you could go no further. You were done. Done with being a nurse. Done with restless nights. Done with this illness. 
The House of Lamentation had finally begun to feel normal again, normal except for your persistent fatigue accompanied by strange shifts in your body temperature. It started off small at first, you had hardly noticed. Unfortunately, it had grown rather rapidly, impeding your day-to-day life. The fuzzy thoughts in the back of your mind knew that something was unnatural. Your body shouldn’t feel like this. Yet, afraid of facing the truth, or hoping you were just overreacting, you insisted that just sleeping it off would bring you back to normal. 
Only... you should’ve known. You should’ve seen the signs. The sneezing, the breathlessness you felt with the simplest of things, the discomfort settling in your bones. What were you going to do? Well, you figured the best thing to do was move onward, acting like nothing was amiss. Fake it till you make it. Whatever it was would go away on its own, it had to. 
But it wouldn’t, and as much as they would refuse to admit it, each demonic member of the household had grown fond of being fussed over by you. Tugging you in all directions, demanding constant attention, wearing your energy down to dust. Although, if you were being entirely honest, they tended to do that regardless. However, after being treated so specially, their neediness grew tenfold. Thus, without giving yourself a break, every morning you ended up feeling worse than the day before, and it was only going downhill from there. Perhaps you should’ve told them, nipping it in the bud before it had a change to blossom into something terrible. In retrospect, that should’ve been the obvious path to take. Yet, driven by some desire you couldn’t place, you pushed yourself so far past the breaking point that your own body had to stop you. 
Waking up to your alarm in the early hours of this particular morning was more difficult than you’d like to admit. Removing the blankets might as well have been pushing stones off your body. Your limbs felt stiff, gravity’s pull was stronger than it should’ve been, and moving forward was like pushing through waves of molasses. However, you went forward, still fooled under some grand delusion that you’d feel better once you freshened up. Gathering up a change of clothes and a towel for your morning shower, you stumbled out of your room. Getting to the bathroom had been a blur, the only thing you could recall was consistently leaning your weight against the wall to keep your legs steady. You’d met no one in your path, assuming they must’ve all already been in the dining hall, the faint smell of breakfast foods flooding the hallways. It made your stomach churn. 
Before anyone could see you in this downright pathetic state, you entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind you and locking it. You took a moment to catch your breath and press your forehead against the cold wood of the door. It felt amazing against your skin. But you couldn’t linger, you had to get ready for RAD. As you turned, you came up to the sink, settling your items on the side of the bowl. It was then you saw your face in the mirror for the first time that morning. Biting your lip, you splashed some water on your face, hoping it would wash away some of the hints of sickness-- the not-sickness...you weren’t sick. Right? You couldn’t have caught the demon illness, right? Was it possible? Your head was throbbing, the heart in your chest pounding in panic. What were you going to do? You couldn’t miss classes, you couldn’t let anyone know, you couldn’t be a burden. Brush your teeth, you thought. Get ready, play it off. It’s not that bad. It’s not that bad. Stop overreacting. 
Showering felt nice, it was the only thing so far that let you feel some peace. The steamy hot water released some of the tension in your temples and lungs. Although, the intense heat made you lightheaded, and a single little misstep in the shower had you almost plummet to the floor. Shaking, gasping for air, desperately attempting to cling to the slick stone wall, you slowly sat on the wet tiles, leaning your body back so the stream of water landed directly on your chest. The comfort almost coaxed you back into sleep, but before you could fall into slumber, you jolted. How long had you been in there? Five minutes? Half an hour? You could forget about washing your head today. Crawling out of the shower, the frigid air burnt the inside of your nose, shuddering you with a few sneezes. Not good. You rushed to dry yourself off and pull your uniform on. Before you headed down to the dining hall, you blew your nose, shook your head, and prepared yourself to sound as normal as possible. Somehow you managed not to stumble down the stairs, something you were thankful for. Maybe it wasn’t as severe as you thought it was. 
Arguing could be heard past the hall doors. That wasn’t too rare, it’d become tradition almost, to the point where being met with an unclamorous silence was somewhat threatening. What was it this time? Mammon stealing something? Beel eating something? Belphie not doing something? 
It was hard to comprehend the words, but you could make out the important pieces. “I bought that for ya, so it… … … that I took it back!” Mammon growled. 
“Once you… … …  it was mine!” Asmo shrieked. “It wasn’t yours to sell … … … buy it in the first place!” 
Ah, so it was another Mammon related issue, you didn’t need to be a hardcore gambler to win that bet. Raised voices didn’t do any good for your head, the pressure in your eardrums throbbing. You stayed silent as you slid inside, or at least you tried to stay silent. Instead, you accidently made your presence prominent as you shut the doors too harshly behind you. Heads turned all at once, your knees threatening to turn to jelly under the gaze. 
“Is something the matter, MC?” Lucifer asked, the first one able to sense something wrong. He always knew. You were never able to hide anything from him. However, the fact that you’d been able to play things off in his presence up till now settled a sort of twisted pride inside you. You blamed Pride himself for his bad influence. Lowering his cup from his lips, he raised an eyebrow. 
You mustered up a usual grin. “Just...tired,” you lied. Had your throat always been this sore? And was it the table full of warm food, or was it terribly hot in here? Not the healing sort of temperature either, but rather the sticky suffocating heat that formed waves in your vision. Or maybe the room was swirling on its own? Tugging at the collar of your shirt, you took a single step forward, attempting to walk again. You lowered your head, turning away from the eldest, remaining as inconspicuous as possible for fear he’d take one good look at you and expose your troubles. Lucifer was not convinced, shifting his gaze between his morning cup of coffee and your strange stature. For the time being, he dropped his questions, lying in wait for you to exude any signs that you were lying. 
Doing your best not to trip up, you eventually sat down at the dining table, a spot left open for you between Belphie--who was sitting up asleep--and Asmo. The demon of lust luckily didn’t seem to notice your weaker state, continuing on his tirade against his older brother. “Mammon, I swear to whatever forces may be listening that if you don’t get it back I will ruin you, you hear me?!” 
“Yeah yeah, you can try!” Mammon scoffed. 
Asmo spoke again, his words blocked out by the sudden ringing in your ears, the shrill noise spurring on pain behind your eyes. As you bit the inside of your cheek, you squeezed your eyes closed till the painful sound faded away. Only, opening them back up now seemed to make everything worse. The light was harsh, far too harsh, blinding rays striking off every reflective surface. Your vision started to swim, blurring the features of those around you. Squinting, you groaned a bit to yourself before lifting a utensil from the table, attempting to eat some of the breakfast in front of you before anyone became suspicious. Every bite sank heavily to the bottom of your stomach. 
“Will the two of you be quiet, for sin’s sake?!” Satan boomed, his wrath peeking through his composure as his brothers started to take their spat too far, interrupting what should’ve been a quiet morning. Although, when had that ever happened? Magic spilling from their fingertips, demon forms exposed, Mammon and Asmo were each ready to brawl it out at any moment. The ruckus finally managed to stir Belphie who was visibly irritated. 
The miniscule amount of food you had eaten started to already stir sickeningly within you. The sweltering heat you had felt before stripped away in a moment, a frightening chill creeping over your body. Before you could think, you got to your feet, breathless, heart pounding as an overwhelming presence of something agonizing forced you to move. Getting up too quickly caused the whole world to rock, your head doing somersaults. Lucifer obviously was now convinced everything was far from fine as you swayed on your own two feet, the legs of his chair screeching against the hardwood floor as he stood. Everyone in the room quickly went quiet, all eyes on you as you fumbled. The weight of their attention seemed to push you further over the edge. “It’s...I’m…” You needed to move, to be anywhere but here, so you staggered a few steps away from the group. 
You heard the thud before you felt it, not quite comprehending what it meant to feel the floor fall out from beneath you as the world shifted sideways. The area became a chorus of shouts as seven demons called out your name. You didn’t fully blackout. Your consciousness was too stubborn to be snuffed out like that, but you couldn’t fully talk or move either. 
A pair of arms wrapped around you, bringing you close to their body. Despite being right next to you, somehow everything still felt so far away, like you were experiencing everything secondhand. The smoothness of leather touched your cheek before the glove was supposedly discarded, cold skin touching your face. “They’re burning up,” Lucifer announced, the undertones of his voice just barely wavering, or perhaps your sense of sound was just as skewed as your sight had been. He flipped his hand over, his knuckles brushing against your forehead. You tried opening your eyes to look at him, but it was next to impossible. 
“MC?! Hey, what’s with you?!” Mammon shouted, two hands squeezing your shoulders. The panic in his words was apparent. “What’s wrong with them?!”
“I think they’re sick,” Belphie chimed. 
Satan sounded distant, but his voice still drifted to your ears. “Should I alert Simeon and Solomon?” 
Without warning, you sensed yourself being lifted off the floor, the sudden movement jerking the last strands of your consciousness back as you lurched into a black weightlessness. You swam through the fog, trying to pick back up the voices in the room. 
“...the human world to get a few things,” someone spoke. As you shifted your body, the people went silent, but not for long. 
“They’re awake!” 
“Thank heavens…” 
“Oi, everyone get off ‘em!” 
Somehow, you found the energy to open your eyes. There were no arms holding you and the dining room was far gone. You were now in bed, in your room, surrounded by demons, angels, and the only other human in the Devildom. The confusion of the blank spot in your memory shot panic through your nerves, not to mention it was uncomfortable to be stared down like this. “What…?” You gasped, trying to sit up in bed. A washcloth slid off your forehead and down your face. Someone’s gentle hands guided you back into a lying position, taking the rag and putting it back in its place. 
Lucifer had a chair pulled up to your bedside, lines popping up between his eyebrows in worry. He finished pressing you back up against your pillow, pulling the blankets back over your chest. “Don’t move too much,” he ordered, his words harsh but his eyes soft. “You collapsed in the dining hall.” 
Well, that part you could recall. They must’ve brought you here. Despite it only feeling like a second, you must’ve been out long enough for the other exchange students to arrive. “Is-” You interrupted yourself with some coughs, quickly turning your head into your pillow. Even just speaking left your lungs weak, but you had a question. “Is it…? 
“It’s not what the brothers had if that’s what you’re asking,” Solomon nodded. “You as a human couldn’t catch that particular illness. Although if you had, you probably wouldn’t survive. So lucky you, right?” Levi nearly dropped to his knees at that prospect, eyes wide with fear, as if he wasn’t convinced that you were lucky at all. You had to admit, you felt far from it. Many of the other siblings shot the sorcerer a dirty glare, everyone’s nerves strangely on edge. Solomon closed his eyes and laughed a bit. “Aha, but like I said, it’s a very mortal disease. Just a cold or the case of the flu from what I can tell.” 
“Just?” Mammon growled, barking out his opinions like an angry guard dog. “They’re lying here looking like they're two seconds away from pushin’ up daisies and you make guesses? You’ve been acting so calm and treating this like it ain’t that serious! And to be honest, it’s kinda tickin’ me off!” He took a few serious steps towards Solomon, shoulders squared, ready to fight. Luke ducked behind Simeon’s body for protection, but there was no need. Before he took things too far, Mammon growled and resumed his brisk pace around your room. 
“I hate to agree with him,” Asmo started, “But Mammon’s right.” The fourth-born frowned, some of his outward sparkle dulled with concern. Every hint of his and Mammon’s dispute had faded away. “This isn’t a joke! You have to do something, Solomon! Save them!” Asmo flung himself over the sorcerer begging and pleading, reacting as if you were on your deathbed. Mammon pushed a haughty breath of air between his teeth, turning on his heels to sit beside you on the bed. His nervous energy could hardly be contained, erratically adjusting the blanket over your body as one of his legs bounced up and down rapidly. 
Solomon shook his head, brushing Asmo off of him. “I was simply trying to lighten the mood.” You caught a flicker of amusement in his eyes as he watched these powerful demons on the brink of falling to pieces. “If treated properly, it shouldn't be fatal. Plenty of monitoring and rest and the body should heal on its own. Of course if it worsens or persists, then a doctor might be required, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Although, like I was saying, it would be best if I went to the human world to at least get some proper medicine. We wouldn’t want our MC here to suffer the full brunt of the symptoms, and I doubt the remedies here would have a desired effect.” 
With that, Lucifer sighed, lifting his chin to address the sorcerer. “I shall accompany you to the human world. We’ll get what we need and come right back, understood?” 
Either the demon of pride’s stern glare wasn’t at its peak today or Solomon was generally unaffected. The sorcerer looked past him and right at you with a grin on his face. “He gets rather overbearing when it comes to you doesn’t he?” 
“We’re leaving,” Lucifer huffed, his arms wide to shepherd everyone out of your room. Several of his siblings cried out in protest. “Everyone out! The last thing MC needs is the bunch of you bothering them.” The only one he didn’t tug along was Simeon, the angel turning down the light and approaching you as soon as everyone had gone. 
A short laugh rumbled in his throat. “They sure do care about you a lot,” he smiled. He took Mammon’s previous spot on the bed by you, settled by your hip. He discovered the bump in the blanket that served as your arm under the covers. Slowly, he ran his hand up and down over it. “What a terrible thing for you to be this sick.” It wasn’t often the angel frowned, but in this case he appeared deeply troubled, as if he was taking your pain as his own. “I can help you fall asleep if you’d like me to. Solomon warned me against using too much magic against your weakened immune system, but I should be able to let you sleep peacefully.” He waited for a response, not moving forward with anything till you nodded your head slowly. Golden light rushed to the ends of his fingers, the soft skin of his fingertips brushing against your eyelids to close them. A shudder ran down your spine, your own body tingling, and you wondered if it was his magic or simply just the tender gesture. “Rest well, MC,” Simeon whispered. “Feel better.” And then just like he suggested, your mind quickly got swept along into a blissful sleep. 
Tumblr media
Angelic magic or not, it didn’t seem to hold back the fever for long. Even in your dreams, all you could feel was frigid fire. Your nerves were fried, unable to tell if you were freezing to death or boiling. And the dreams...the images flashing in your mind of threats you couldn’t understand, dangers that filled you with panic. Someone was uttering words to you that you couldn't understand. All you could do was try to run, try to escape. Everything about you was screaming. 
Through the mist of sickness, you could finally make out the voice. “...gotta...can’t...help…” After a few moments of the whimpering and the distress, you were alarmed to figure out it was the sound of your own voice. But you couldn’t even feel yourself saying the words. 
“I’m here,” another person muttered past the darkness. “It’s alright…” The stranger shushed, trying to sound sweet to cover up the panic in their tone. “The one time I need that pompous jerk around and he’s gone. Figures.” You could hear a few pages being turned, a frustrated click of a tongue followed after. “Why didn’t I look this up before? Why wasn’t I prepared?” The anger from the other being in the room seemed to affect you. You thrashed a little, kicking your feet as if it would help push off the suffocating agony. Two hands clamped down on your shoulders, pinning you to the bed. “Calm down...Please calm down...I need to calm down.” Once you went back to being mostly still, more pages were turned. “Have the afflicted wear light clothing. I can do that.” A weight was shed off of you as the blanket pulled back. Air struck your sweat covered skin, sending chills down your body. You began to tremble. The front of your RAD uniform was tugged at, someone working at the buttons to shed the outer layer off your body. 
“...won’t...s...sor...is…hah…” Your speech was broken, and even if you knew what you wanted to say, your mouth wouldn’t let you. Someone took your hands, lifting your arm to let gravity help assist in removing the sleeve. You could feel it slip before fully crashing against the bed like a dead weight, free of the thick uniform fabric. The same was done with the other arm. Then a hand supported the back of your neck, lifting your upper body just enough until the extra layer was yanked out from under you. Removing the jacket had been like opening an oven. Heat from your body suddenly escaped into the room, no longer trapped behind unnecessary insulation. Even in your rather deranged state, you could feel your shirt sticking to your skin. Now you seemed to be shuddering harder.
“Hydration...medication...Curses, Lucifer, get back here...Nothing...there’s nothing here!” The individual grunted in a growl of vexation, a frantic flutter of paper soaring further away before something heavy struck the ground far from you. You managed to stop moaning, switching to feverish panting. Your company tutted at you again, stroking the top of your head tenderly. “Can you even hear me at all? Breathe, MC, breathe.” It’s embarrassing to admit it took you much longer than you would’ve liked to remember how to control your breathing. Once you took some deeper inhales, you heard your caretaker sigh in relief. “Good…Well, not good, but better.” 
Reality had sunken in almost completely now, just covered with a thin layer of dreamy haze. You cracked your eyes open, a mess of blonde hair and worried green eyes looking down at you. “S-Sa...tan,” you murmured. 
His hand stroked your head a few more times before grabbing the wet rag again and dotting it across your face. The energy you needed to retain consciousness was quickly fading. Satan’s hands grasped your face. “Hold on!  Look at me again, come on.” With every ounce of power you had left, you lifted your eyelids as much as you could. Still half-lidded, you only caught glimpses of his green sweater as he slid one hand under your back, lifting you up gently. Your head bobbed down, chin against your chest as Satan settled your back against your headboard. Gentle fingers lifted your head, some plastic brought to your lips. “You have to stay hydrated, drink just a little.” You wrapped your lips around the straw, sucking water into your body until you felt like you were going to be sick again. Satan moved to put the cup back down, and in that time he made the mistake of letting you go. Gravity tugged your body down, nearly slipping out of bed, threatening to fall to the floor. Thankfully, the demon of wrath was there to catch you. Head resting against his shoulder, you breathily let out a ‘thank you’ that was probably closer to a slurred series of sounds rather than a statement. 
His arms wrapped tightly around you. “Don...lea…ve...”
Then everything went black again. 
When consciousness flooded back to your mind, you had no idea how long it had been. Turning to your other side, you rubbed your head against the pillow. Everything was still much too warm. You slipped an arm under your heavy headrest, hoping to get to the cooler side. Your pillow twitched. Your pillow...was moving? Up. Down. Slow. Rising with steady breaths. You woke up, shifting enough in your spot to alert the person in your bed. Placing a book to the side, Satan rubbed one of your shoulders. Taking a moment to realize what position you were in, you felt your stomach flop once you came to the conclusion that you were lying against Satan’s legs, clinging to his clothes, hand against his lower back, head resting against his stomach. “You alright?” Satan wondered, pressing a hand to your forehead. You didn’t need to speak for him to know the answer. Not really. “I’ll admit, you had me worried for a while there.” He sat up fully, your head sliding back to your pillow--your actual pillow. You quickly retracted your death grip on him, hugging your arms close to your body. If there could be any more heat in your cheeks, there would be. 
Shame creeped into your bones. “S...sorry.” 
His expression brightened a small amount, pleased with the fact that you could speak mostly clearly now, even if your voice did sound ragged. He pulled the blanket back over your shoulders and up near your chin. “Don’t worry about that, just worry about feeling better.” He twisted his body, grabbing something off your nightstand again. “Here, have some more water. Everything I’ve read says that you need to stay hydrated at all times.” You dug your elbow into the mattress, lifting your head enough to not choke as you drank. As Satan lowered the glass, you noticed it was almost completely empty. You didn’t remember drinking that much. Exactly how delusional had you been earlier? How much had you forgotten? You downed the rest of the drink in small sips, lying back down when you were done. 
“Did…” You squeaked. “Did I do anything…” 
“Weird?” Satan finished your sentence for you. “So you don’t remember all of it, I take it?” You shook your head. “You started moaning, hyperventilating. Once you calmed down a bit you collapsed on me and refused to let me go. I figured since I was going to monitor you anyway I would…” A small blush formed on his cheeks. “Hold you till Lucifer got home.”
You looked away from his face, still a bit self conscious. You decided to change the subject. “He’s still gone?” 
Satan’s lips almost curled into a little snarl. “Yes. I have no idea why he’s decided to take his sweet time to-” He cut himself off short, clearing his throat and removing any traces of rage. “Don’t worry about him, I’m sure he’ll be home soon with the medicine.” You felt the top of your head being pet again, tempting you to close your eyes. “Until then, is there anything I can get for you?” You shook your head once more, allowing yourself to indulge in your impulses, moving closer to his body. Despite seeming mostly unaffected by the intimacy earlier, he took in a short sharp breath, lifting his head to the side to hide part of his face. His hand was near your face, tauntingly close, reminding you of how chill his skin was and how good it felt to have him stroke your head. You closed your eyes, bringing your head forward enough to bump against his wrist. A stifled gasp rang through the air before he took a deep breath. “It’s unfortunate that you had to be this sick to…” His sentence trailed off, his hand that you’d ran into pressed against your burning cheeks before brushing against your hair, running down the length of locks before starting again. “Conserve your energy,” he whispered. “Go back to bed.” 
Tumblr media
“... … how are they?”
“...still feverish… …sleeping for a long time…” 
“I’ll take over… … get some rest.” 
Soft voices somehow roused you from your deep sleep, the final click of your door leaving you awake. You flitted your eyes open, immediately upset with how dry and crusty they felt. It didn’t help you feel any better when you noticed Lucifer by your bed, busy observing a small cardboard container. He was quick to notice you move, turning his head towards you as you wiped the grime from your eyes with the back of your finger. How embarrassing. Having to be sick, weak, vulnerable, positively distasteful, and in front of the people you thought highly of no less. Memories of Satan flooded back into your mind. Would they all think less of you after this? For how low you’d fallen? For how weak you were? You couldn’t let that happen. What had happened with Satan couldn’t be helped, but from here on out you would do your best to be independent. You adjusted to sit up. 
“What did I say about moving too much?” He scolded, his hand outstretched to settle you back down. You swept his gesture away, sitting up fully and focusing on the item in his hand. A regular box of human world medicine. You reached out for it, and despite being annoyed you’d swatted him away, he handed it to you. The tones of his voice casually shifted from his typical strict nature to low and sweet. “Is...this the one you need?” You glanced it over. Gel pills, daytime and nighttime ones, for cold and flu symptoms. You nodded. He seemed relieved. “It doesn’t happen often, but I was glad for Solomon’s help in picking the proper medicines,” he admitted. “Who knew humans needed so many medications? And you even have entire shops dedicated to them.” He shook his head as a deep frown formed on his face as if he just realized how fragile and complicated human bodies could be. You sighed, agreeing with him in your mind. You were thankful he managed to bring this back though, for as much as you hated proving he was right, you desperately wanted the medicine to ease your aching symptoms. You tried prying the flap open, annoyed when it refused to tear apart. From out of the corner of your eye, you swore you spotted the smallest smirk cross over Lucifer’s face. “Would you like some help?” You grumbled, turning your torso away from him as you attempted again to open the simple package. In slight sadistic fashion, he simply observed you struggle for another few minutes before you tore the box open. Even just working on that had you nearly breathless, but you scrounged up a little triumphant grin. Pulling out one of the bubble sheets, you settled the box back in your lap which Lucifer quickly picked up, returning to read the details printed on the back. “No more than four doses a day,” he announced. “You can take two of those pills now and then wait for four hours before you can take any more.” He read all that out with the confidence of a doctor who knew exactly what he was prescribing. “I want you to check in with me before you decide to take more, understood?” 
You desperately wanted to be snippy about it, but the energy for defense was long gone. Plus, you knew that he needed to have his hands on the reins at all times, and his stubbornness was especially bad when it was a situation he had no control over. “Okay,” you squeaked, pressing your thumb tightly against the foil backing until the pills were free. Dumping them out into your palm, you sighed to yourself once you spotted the empty glass of water from earlier. You’d have to go refill it. 
As soon as you pushed the blankets back and swung your legs out of bed to stand up, Lucifer tightly gripped your shoulders. Normally, he would’ve reacted before the thought even crossed your mind, but your actions must’ve stunned him more than usual. “Where do you think you’re going?” 
Wincing a little, you cleared your throat before you spoke. “I need water.” You tried to get back up, but your weakened strength was no match against Lucifer’s, and he was hardly trying. 
“Then let me get some for you.” Your lips parted to utter out a rebuttal but he’d have none of it. He grasped your ankles, pulling your legs back into bed and folding the covers back over the lower half of your body. He pointed a gloved finger at you. “You’re not to move.” He plucked the empty glass off the tabletop, striding out of your door before you could even try to argue. A low groan rumbled in your chest, your lungs convulsing out a few more coughs. By the time you got your breathing managed again, the demon of pride was back in your room, handing you a fresh glass of water. A deeper frown tugged at the corners of his mouth as he watched ripples form in the liquid as your hand shook. Attempting to stabilize your hold only seemed to make it worse. He reached out, his intention to help you drink. Before he could, you popped both pills in your mouth and grasped at the cup with both hands as you brought the rim to your lips, watching his arm fall dejectedly back to his sides. Even the smooth gel coating went down rough, feeling more like two sharp stones scraping the inside of your esophagus. With your nose more stopped up than usual, by the time you were done drinking you were gasping for air, resulting in coughs again, hard enough to nearly make you gag. Lucifer took the cup from you before you could drop it, settling it on your nightstand. You were bowled over, tears streaming from your eyes. Rare panic crossed over Lucifer’s face, rubbing your back till the coughing fit came to an end. He took a deep inhale once it was over. Then he placed his touch over your forehead again, his thumb gently rubbing against your temple. When he retracted, you nearly let a little moan betray your feelings. You’re supposed to be independent, you reminded yourself. Lucifer shifted in his seat a bit, brandishing another item from his pockets. “We got one of these things as well,” he explained, taking the little item between his fingers and squinting to better study it. “He said it would be useful in monitoring your temperature, but...he failed to explain how it worked.” 
If you were feeling even just a bit better, you would’ve laughed. Lucifer took the thermometer and pointed the end towards your forehead, his eyebrows raised as he waited for something to happen, only to scowl when nothing did. You let a similar cocky expression coat your face as he was the one to struggle with something so simple this time. If only he knew he had the right idea but the wrong type. He’d gotten one of the older fashioned versions. “This kind goes under my tongue,” you explained. 
“Really?” He hummed. “How strange. Seems...messy.” He held the end close to your mouth, his face showing no signs of amusement this time as he waited. You hesitated, your heart beating faster at the emotions swelling in your chest. Independent, independent, independent, you repeated in your mind. Only, you’d caught him in a very impatient mood. With his other hand, he cupped it around your chin, carefully pulling your jaw down till he could slip the end of the thermometer under your tongue. You pressed your lips back together, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. The small device beeped once it got its reading. Lucifer pulled it out and brought it back towards him. “101.4” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair before settling the thermometer down, attempting to guide your body back down in a lying position. 
You stopped him, grabbing his wrist, eyes focusing on anything other than his face. “You don’t...have to do this.” 
He entertained you, fully capable of pushing you down should he desire it, but he let you keep him in your grasp. His eyes narrowed. “What thing in particular are you talking about?” 
Taking as deep of a breath your lungs would allow, you corrected yourself. “You don’t have to take care of me, I mean.” Words strained and cracking, they did little to convince the demon. “I’m well enough to take care of myself. Trust me, I’ve done it plenty before.” 
Distrustful and discouraged, he stiffened, tugging his wrist away. “Be that as it may, while you are down here you are my responsibility. It is part of my duty to ensure you are safe and well looked after. Do you expect me to just walk away from my role?” 
You’ll admit, it wasn’t very rational, but something other than the fever in you burned. “I’m not an assignment to be written off, Lucifer.” 
“You know I didn’t mean that.” His crimson eyes looked down at you for a moment, the air silent between you save for the faint rattling in your chest. Eventually, he spoke back up, the previous forbidding expression gave way to a small smile. He closed his eyes and chuckled a little, taking you aback. “When did you ever get so prideful? Is it too bold to assume it’s my doing?” Then his hand moved forward, unbothered by your past attempt to push him away. He brushed sticky strands of hair away from your face. “If you truly don’t want me here, I will leave.” Your chest seemed to flutter at his words. It wasn’t that you...didn’t want him there. It was that you did. Almost too much. If there was anything you didn’t want, it was to be a hindrance. You knew how busy Lucifer was. His trip to the human world had probably already doubled his workload, and if you were right they’d all  skipped classes for your sake, and- “MC.” He cupped your face, the look on his face told you that he knew everything you were thinking. “Not worrying about anything else, not overthinking it, do you want me here, yes or no? A simple question and two simple options.” 
“I…” You knew the answer, and he did too, trying to hold back his amusement until he could hear the answer for himself. “If...you...want to.” 
He shook his head in a defeated way. “You’re incorrigible, you know that don’t you?” With your acceptance, he took your shoulders, letting you lie down. He took the rag that had fallen off to the side, gently brushing it across your face. Under your eyes, over your cheekbones, under your chin. Then he leaned forward, his upper body resting against your bed, his head propped up under one of his hands. He gazed at you, tracing your jawline with his knuckle. The skin across his cheeks turned a light pink. “Of course I want to be with you. Not a moment goes by that I don’t desire to be at your side.” 
The fast acting medicine and the fact that you’d been so distracted by his peaceful touch, you’d totally missed what he’d told you. “Hm?” You sleepily hummed, too focused on how close his body was to yours. 
“Nothing,” he mused, making sure you were secure under the covers. “I’ll tell you once you’ve recovered. Sleep now.” 
Tumblr media
The muscles in your body slowly woke you up, screaming at you to change positions after having slept like a stone for Diavolo-knows how long. Eyes still closed, sleep still foggy on your mind, you turned over in bed. However, even with the smallest amount of alertness you possessed, you were very aware of how...generally upsetting your body felt. Soon it was all you could focus on, forcing you awake. Groaning, mourning the comfort of sleep, you slowly stretched out your weary legs. Your feet pressed against a foreign lump in your bed. 
Mammon shot up, uncurling himself from the foot of your bed as he apparently woke up from a nap. “MC!” He crawled forward, placing both of his hands on the side of your face. “How ya feeling?” His sudden energy left you a bit winded, still trying to comprehend him caressing your face so tenderly. He let his arms drop to your shoulders. You shifted under his gaze, shaking your head. 
“Like garbage…” Hot, sweaty, gross, you felt uncomfortable in your own skin. Mammon frowned, his blue eyes wide and shimmery. He resembled a puppy for just a second, observing your face for any sort of hope that by some miracle you’d fully recovered. When he saw you were still the worst for wear, he sighed, grabbing the covers around you and tucking it against your legs. Only, the blanket wasn’t one that you owned. Running your hands over the fabric, you noticed that this was one of Lucifer’s blankets. It was lighter and cooler than the blanket you had on before. You took in the rest of your room for a moment, noticing more than one thing out of place. Mammon had been resting on one of Belphie’s pillows, one of his new expensive ones. In fact the pillow you had been sleeping on was replaced with one of Sloth’s. On your nightstand, near your box of medicine and a box of tissues was a little diffuser, one you recognized as Asmo’s. A small plume of steam flushed out of the top, a mild comforting scent spreading throughout the space. A book that wasn’t yours, a replica of some sword draped over your table, and a number of other things that had never been between your walls before were littered here and there. You tilted your head. “Where did these things come from?” You wondered.
Mammon lowered his eyelids, his hands on his hips as he settled into a more comfortable seating position beside you. “Listen, my hands get grabby sometimes when I get anxious.” 
You simply blinked at him. “You were worried?” 
His sincere expression changed as he frowned, pink touching his cheeks as he shook his head. “W-well of course! Lucifer would make sure I never saw a lick of Grimm again if something happened to you…” His voice turned to a lower mumble. “And what, you thought I wouldn’t be worried after watching you take a spill like that? Had me thinking you’d bit the dust for a second!” His eyes flickered around the room as if he was making sure you two were truly alone. Then he leaned past you, fluffing up the pillow you had been laying on. As he straightened, he pressed his hand against your forehead, his body temperature much warmer than Lucifer’s. “Never make me that worried again, yeah? I...You see...Just don’t, okay?” 
You hummed an affirming tone, nodding, a small smile creeping across your mouth. Then after the moment had passed, you shifted in your spot. You felt disgusting even after all that effort to take a shower this morning. Lucifer did say not to move too much, but right now you wanted to be clean more than anything. Pushing back the blankets encouraged a similar reaction to Lucifer’s earlier. 
“Oi! What do you think you’re doing?!” Mammon scurried to his feet, standing in front of you with his arms wide to block you from moving, even though you had yet to even leave the bed. “Bed rest means staying in bed last I checked!” 
“Please, Mammon, I just want to take a shower, I’m grimy and gross. I feel like an over-steamed dumpling.” 
“Don’t let Beel hear you say that.” You managed to stand up, but your sense of balance left much to be desired. On instinct you ended up grabbing Mammon’s shoulders to keep from falling over. “Alright, nuh uh, you can barely move! What if you end up falling and cracking that head of yours open, huh?” Your mind was brought back to your morning mishap and near tumble in the shower from before. “You’re lucky you didn’t injure yourself too badly earlier!” 
Your eyes widened. “H-how did you know about that? I don’t remember telling anyone.” 
His eyebrows raised. “I’m talking about the dining hall, dummy. But now that you’ve let that little detail slip there’s not any chance I’ll let you go now! No way.” He put one arm under yours to keep you steady, ready to keep you back in bed for good. 
Gathering up what little energy you had, you took several deep breaths, gently pushing yourself away from his body until you were standing on your own, just barely stable. “Mammon, please?” It had been your goal up until now to look as far from pathetic as possible, yet now you poured all that into your expression, eyes pleading, head tilted a bit to the side. 
He squirmed. “Tch, you think you can do whatever you want just by giving me some puppy-eyes? Who do you think I am?”
“Fine,” you grumbled. “I bet Asmo would let me take a shower. Maybe I should call him and have him take care of me instead.” 
“Asmo?! I...you...fine! But I’m c-coming with you, to make sure you stay safe and all.” 
You lowered your eyes at him. “You can stay outside the bathroom.” 
“I’m not payin’ for a busted door if I need to break in. I’m going inside! I’ll just turn around or somthin’.” 
He stared you down with a nature stubborn enough to match your own. In your state now, you had little time to squabble. “Fine.” You started walking, leaning against bits of furniture to keep you steady. Acting rather gentlemanly, Mammon rushed ahead of you to open your door. Once he did, he took your arm tucked against his in a sort of escorting fashion. Saying nothing, you both took steady silent steps to the bathroom. You were immensely pleased to find it unoccupied, leaving Mammon’s side to step in. Like he promised he would, he followed you inside, shutting the door before his cheeks turned dark with embarrassment. He turned, parking himself in a corner with his face to the wall. 
“I-I’ll be right here in case something happens, alright?” For him to come this far for you was...The added heat rushing through your body only caused you to feel worse, so you flicked on the water to heat up as you stripped. As you were taking off your pants, balancing on one leg, you teetered to the side, nearly falling. The tub right next to you served as your saving grace. You panted, cursing at yourself for being so clumsy. “You alright?!” Mammon clasped his hands over his face before turning around. “MC?” Riddled with nervous anxiety, he danced back and forth on his feet. 
“I’m okay,” you wheezed. Just barely. You planted your foot against the fabric of your pants, tugging your other leg out. “Just keep looking at that wall.” You questioned the idea of him being in here at first, but now you were beginning to have little trust in yourself. What if you did collapse, locked, exposed inside an empty room till someone came looking for you? You shuddered. Climbing into the shower, you pulled the curtains across the rod until you were completely concealed. You let out a breath of relief as the steam once again cleared up your airways, the pressure building up in your head loosening. Shutting your eyes, you let the water wash over you, cleaning off the sticky sweat that had clung to your body. You simply stood there for a few moments, appreciating the serenity. Then you figured it would be best to get yourself clean while you had the capacity to. Reaching down for the soaps you used, you washed your hair and vigorously scrubbed down your body, envisioning all the germs swirling down the drain. Although by the time you were done, you became aware of the fact that you might’ve made the water a bit too hot, and you might’ve once again pushed yourself a little too far. Nausea came along with the dizziness, the floor losing it’s feeling of solidity. After you turned the water off, you tore the shower curtain back, stepping onto the bathroom mat. 
“You done?” Mammon asked. Right now, all you could do was grunt in response. The small burst of energy you possessed had plummeted. You bypassed the towels and straight for your clothes. Only, the clothes you had been wearing previously were gone. On cue, Mammon explained. “Oh I got you some pajamas. Not good to be lying in those same clothes all day, besides, I got you something comfier.” Folded up on the floor by the tub were a comfortable pair of your pajamas. Pushing aside your humiliation, you picked up the “pajamas” he’d picked out for you. One of your shorts and...one of his t-shirts. It was one he had bought on a whim, much like most of his other purchases. Merch from an action movie you and him had watched in the theaters a while ago. He loved this thing. You could only stare at it for a few seconds. Mammon was right, these would be much nicer to sleep in. 
With a meek voice you started slipping into the new outfit, still dripping. “T-thank you.” You had hardly finished poking your head through the shirt before your knees began to tremble. Your head felt foggy, your mind threatening to slip. “M-Mammon,” you gulped, your voice shaking. 
He spun around, eyes squeezed shut. “What? What is it? Are you bleeding? Are you hurt? Are you dressed? Can I look?” As soon as you ‘mm-hm’ed he flashed his eyes open, took in the sight of your shuddering frame before hurrying over to you. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head for a moment, the world disappearing as you plummeted to the floor. You woke up in his arms hardly a few seconds after your fainting spell. Held tightly against his body, he wrapped his limbs around you, supporting you to keep you upright. “Hey, hey!” His voice shook as he squeezed you. “MC!” 
“ ‘s too...hot.” 
“Stupid human…” He muttered, his rugged tone falling short. “And you’re still drenched! Are you trying to make yourself even worse?” When his sharp remarks were met with your silence, he pulled you closer. “Ah...Really not good, huh?” He asked softly, one of his hands rubbing your back. You could only slowly shake your head. “Let’s get you back to bed, eh?” He brushed some damp hair away from your face before he dragged you out the door, his distress growing ever more visible the more you seemed to slump harder against him. It felt like an eternity inching back to your room, flopping facedown onto your bed as soon as it was in your sights. The mattress bobbed up and down, the movement surprisingly soothing, almost lulling your body to a light sleep right then and there. “Alright, come on. It’ll do you no good to fall asleep like that.” Mammon helped lift you up, letting you settle your head against his body, arms wrapped around his neck as he worked to get you back under the covers. He tucked you in, moving about the room nervously the less responsive you became. Shutting your eyes to conserve some energy, you listened to him curse under his breath, grumbling to himself about “fragile humans”. At some point, a dry fabric came into contact with the top of your head. You were pushed slightly to make some space for him to sit down. He adjusted you till your head was in his lap, the fabric massaging against your wet hair. “Stupid human…” He repeated, softly scrubbing the towel against your scalp. “Why’d you have to go and get yourself sick, huh?” 
“...didn’t...mean to...I’m sorry…” 
The motions across your head stopped, then you felt the back of his hand stroke against your cheek. “Now don’t sound like that...Do you know how much it hurts me to see ya like this?” He paused and then resumed ensuring your hair was as dry as he could get it. “Don’t you worry, the Great Mammon will be right here for you till you feel better, alright?” His voice sounded strained. “So ya better get better…” You cracked your eyes open, pushing yourself up. “What’re you doing? I-“ He quickly cut himself off as soon as you settled yourself between his legs, head against his chest. You could hear his throat casually gasp for breath. His nose came down to nestle against the top of your head, his arms dropping the towel, instead wrapping around your body. “Don’t do this for anyone but me, ya hear? Only I...only I want to take care of you like this.” He pulled the blanket up around the both of you, his soft breaths growing deeper and deeper. Eventually you both fell asleep. 
Tumblr media
Your mind was flooded with more fever dreams, clips and scenes of moments your conscious mind wouldn’t even know how to explain. It blurred the line between what was real and what was simply your imagination, so in the moment, when you were disturbed from your sleep, you didn’t even react. Your body was moved, flipped over, weightless, moved from the soft surface you were on to something firmer. You could only process it for a mere second before you were plunged back into a nonsensical plot your frayed mind came up with. After what felt like some time, you were just barely awoken again when harsh and hushed whispers buzzed in your ears. 
“They shouldn’t be down here!” 
“So cute! I mean, poor thing.” 
“Are they still asleep?”
“Take them back.” 
Once you realized that this was real, you slowly became aware of more things around you. As tired numbness left your limbs, you felt your arms pinned against your body, something around you constricted your movement. Panic struck you for only just a second, feeling that your blanket was simply wrapped around your body. You figured in your restless state you must’ve trapped yourself inside it. An involuntary groan escaped your mouth as you squirmed a little, moving your feet in an attempt to feel an escape. 
Something outside of you moved you, tugging you tighter against something firm, a pressure rubbing circles into your back. It soothed you enough to keep you from struggling, but you were steadily waking up. The “wall” you were against vibrated as a deep voice rumbled out of it. “I just thought...it wouldn’t feel like a family dinner without them.” Your body was adjusted again, lifted to be propped up against what you now understood was a torso. One strong arm kept you still, draped against your back. 
“S-surely you can’t hold them and eat at the same time, Beel,” someone muttered. “Why don’t you let your big bro hold em?” 
The body holding you tightened around you, shielding you. “No.” 
“Don’t underestimate him.” 
“Should we wake them up?” 
“Don’t humans heal faster when they sleep?”
Someone else let out an exhausted breath. “Fine, but they’re to be put back in bed once you’re done.” 
The chest your head was against hummed with satisfaction. “Got it.” Soon, quiet but eager eating noises could be heard outside your muffled prison. If you connected the dots correctly, you were resting against Beel who had brought you down to dinner while you had been asleep. Was this a brief glance into what Belphie felt like? Albeit with more comfort and less...pain. Although he’d probably beg to differ. Right now, you couldn’t even pinpoint where the source of your suffering was coming from. It just seemed to be...all over, even down to the tips of your fingers. Even if you had wanted to move, you didn’t have the energy for it, so despite being almost wide awake at this point, you stayed in place. You tried to focus on anything else to keep your mind off the aching. Beel’s heart sounded like a distant drum. Burying your face closer against his body, you let out a small whimper, focusing on the melodic thumping of his healthy heart. You could even hear the pace speed up as your cheek pressed up against him. 
“Beel, you alright?” 
The sound of eating stopped, and a clink of something metallic against glass sounded before a second arm enveloped you, a hand settled at the back of your head. “I’ll eat in a little bit,” Beel whispered. 
“In a--” 
“Shhhh! Shut up, Mammon!” 
“I mean…” The voice returned to barely audible. “Whadda sayin’ ‘in a bit’? You’re not sick again are ya?” Beel didn’t grace anyone with a response. You were gently squeezed in his hug, a weight coming down on top of your head, presumably his chin. The hand behind your head moved to the space between your shoulder blades, moving up and down in rhythmic strokes along your spine. It was uncanny, you thought, how he almost immediately knew how desperate you were for some comfort. Or maybe he was just perceptive like that. If anyone would be, it would be Beel. 
“How are they feeling?” Someone asked. 
Cooler air poured against your face as the space left for you to breathe was made wider. Light from the dining hall illuminated outside your eyelids. Beel’s hand pressed against your forehead, moving down to cup your cheeks. Out of everyone, he always ran the warmest, bordering on nearly being a walking furnace. And yet even he moaned in unease, his stomach groaning alongside him in worry. “Still too hot,” he announced. You allowed yourself to flicker your eyes open, looking up at him just as he moved his hand away. Both his eyebrows raised in surprise before he quickly frowned. “Did I wake you up? Sorry.” You figured that now that everyone knew you were up, it would be time to move. Sitting up straighter in your spot, you wiggled one of your arms out of your cocoon, pulling the fabric of your blanket off your head, letting it settle around your waist. You rubbed spots out from your vision, blinking as you soaked in the sight of the room. 
Asmo politely dabbed at the corners of his mouth with a napkin, settling it back in his lap before addressing you with the sweetest pair of eyes. “Good evening, darling! How’re you feeling?” 
You had half of a mind to try to play the “I’m fine” card, but with your fit with Satan and fainting scare with Mammon, it would be no use to even try to pretend you were fine. So you didn’t see the harm in being honest. “Like I’ve been to hell and back.” 
“You are in hell,” Belphie quipped. 
“You know what I mean.” You turned your head and glanced up, your heart pounding more prominently when you once again realized just how big Beel was compared to you, an otherworldly size. Sweeping away your embarrassment, you started tugging at the blanket to free your legs, moving to leave his lap. “Sorry, Beel.” 
His hand grabbed one of your wrists. “What do you mean?” He tugged at you, repositioning you firmer in his lap. “You didn’t do anything.” His beautiful amethyst irises stared right into yours. “I wanted you here. Meals aren’t the same without you.” He pat the top of your head, letting his fingers scratch gently into your scalp. In most situations, you’d find your open vulnerability to be embarrassing, but right now you couldn’t care less. You leaned back into him, nestling your nose into his chest, using his body to block out the light. Beel gripped the blanket and pulled it back up to settle around your shoulders. 
“Speaking of meals,” Lucifer started. “It’s about time MC had something to eat.” 
Satan spoke up. “Do we even have anything decent enough for sick humans to have?” The brothers went back and forth for a while, bringing recommendations hypothetically to the table about what would be best for you. 
“Belphie knows the most about humans, what do you think?” Beel wondered. 
A lone monotone hum rang out for a moment. “I think it was stew or something like that.” 
A strange bout of irritation drilled in you. You turned your head, addressing the group. “You know you could just ask the human right here. I might be sick but I’m not completely helpless.” 
Brusque tones usually granted you grating glares, but even Lucifer seemed to give you a pass. “So?” The eldest questioned. “Tell us what you need and we can get it for you.” 
Something about that knocked the rebellious wind out of you. You lowered your head a bit and sighed. “Don’t even worry about it, I’m not hungry anyway.” A bold statement to claim whilst sitting in the lap of Gluttony. 
Shaking you lightly, Beel squinted at you. “You’ve barely eaten all day.” The expression on his face turned Lucifer levels of stern. It wasn’t an appearance he took too often. Even now you knew this was a losing battle. A flash of a memory popped up in your mind, one of when Beel had been sick. You pressed your lips together into a thin line. 
“It’s fine.” 
“It’s not.” 
“Beel--” 
“MC. Eat.” His flat tone trembled throughout his body, sending a shudder through you. Lucifer was always strict, so it never caught you off guard, not anymore. But when Beel got this way it pierced through everyone in the room. As if they’d been the one commanded, everyone took a single bite of their meal. 
You gave in, your stature shrinking. “Fine...something light then. Soup’s fine. I’ll go get some…” 
Beel’s arms wrapped around you again, keeping you to him. “No you won’t. Levi.” 
The third-born almost yelped, sinking down into his seat before stuttering. “S-sure, I-I’ll get it…” As he headed to the kitchen you could hear him grumble. “Of course he had to pick me. Why me? It’s always me…” You felt a bit sorry for the otaku as he slunk away. In fact you almost felt sorry for everyone in the room. Even just alluding to the skip of a meal had Beel suddenly tense, on alert. He had you held against him in a guarded manner, his torso bent forward to lean over what he could of yours. He didn’t settle back down till Levi came back in a handful of minutes later, resting a bowl of soup in front of you. It was of human origins you assumed, it looked like regular chicken noodle. The aroma had bits of nostalgia bubble within you. And now that it was here, you hated to admit that you actually were hungry. 
You reached over to try to grab a spoon, falling just a bit short of the table’s edge. Beel’s arms were admittedly much longer than yours, not needing to sit as close as you usually did. Beel grasped a clean utensil for you, getting a decent portion of stock in it’s dip. He held his other hand under the spoon to make sure he didn’t spill any, then he brought it over to you. Did you try to deny it? Maybe a little, but Beel’s spine-chilling glower had you reconsider. You opened your mouth and let him feed you. The hot broth slid down your sore throat easily, relieving some of the pain. As it warmed you up from the inside, Beel finally went back to smiling, everyone breathing in relief. “See, doesn’t it make you feel better?” Beel brought a new spoonful to your lips. 
You swallowed again and admittedly nodded. “A bit.” 
Out of the blue, Beel brought his face down, planting a gentle kiss to the top of your head. Some of his siblings gasped, but if the demon of gluttony heard it, he pretended he hadn’t. His free hand went back to rubbing your back, and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t nice, the many sensations driving some of the pain from your mind. “Good,” Beel beamed. “Remember, your body needs fuel to keep going.” 
“I know…” The parallel between now and when he had been sick was almost perfect. Beel took the bowl in his hands, bringing it over to settle in your lap, keeping it steady in his hold. “Isn’t it hot?” You asked, worried he’d burn his skin. 
“Not to me,” he assured you. 
You sighed, taking the spoon from him so you could eat yourself. “Thank you for always looking out for me, Beel.”
You expected him to be pleased, but he quickly turned downcast. “I couldn’t protect you from this.” Heart breaking, all you could do was stare down into your lap, watching the broth gently swirl in the bowl. This had mostly been your fault. If you had done something just a bit differently, maybe…
“No, Beel, that wasn’t your fault,” Belphie spoke up, pushing his plate with his leftovers on it closer to his twin to finish. “Besides, it’s your job now to take care of MC now more than ever, right?” 
Beel turned his head away from the food, peering down at you in his lap. He nodded once, bringing his head down to press his forehead to yours. “You’re right. Sick or not, I’ll always watch over them.” 
Tumblr media
After dinner, Beel carried you back up to bed, reluctant to let you be free of his arms, but he managed. After giving you one last once-over and another little kiss to your temple, he hurried back down to the dining hall. After all, he was far from having his fill of food. Lucifer had followed the two of you inside, taking your temperature once more. 100.7, still higher than he’d prefer it to be, but glad to discover it had gone down even if just by a hair. He allowed you to take some medicine and urged you to get some more rest. Flicking the light off, he wished you sweet dreams before he left, torn away from you by work he couldn’t ignore. Although, even with the comfort of your bed and the satisfying feeling of something warm in your belly, for the first time, slumber eluded you. It wasn’t that you weren’t tired--exhaustion might as well have been your permanent state at this point--but shutting your mind off, drifting away into peaceful bliss didn’t seem like an option right now. 
You spent a few hours on your D.D.D. scrolling through posts and web-pages, anything to keep you occupied. Although, that eventually bored you after a while. You sat up, trying to not let the loneliness of your empty room consume you. Had everyone gone to bed already? Had you already gotten used to falling asleep with someone beside you? That couldn’t be the case, right? You slowly got out from under your covers, padding over to the door. Maybe if you walked around the House of Lamentation enough, you’d be able to go to bed. You were feeling a bit better, capable of moving around on your own at the very least. You entered the empty hallway, the midnight moon rays creeping across the rug settled across the stone floor. The branches outside the windows cast twisted shadows across the corridor. Some people might’ve found it dreadful, but whether it was your own stranger tastes or the fact that you’d been down here so long, you found it to be serene in a mystical sort of way. 
Drifting through the halls like a weary ghost patrolling the perimeter, you wandered past each of the brother’s rooms. The house was surprisingly still. Before you knew it, you ended up in the music room. Shifting your feet towards the gorgeous ebony piano, your fingers brushed lightly over the ivory keys. Pushing down a low B, the note reverberated through the room, your skin tingling at the broken silence. It quenched some of your boredom. So you pushed another one, the lowest note this time, the deep tone rumbling through you. 
“Having fun are we?” 
You jumped, every hair across your body standing up on end. Swirling around, you met a pair of ruby eyes in the shadows. A string of curses left your lips. “What in hell’s name are you doing, Lucifer? Nearly scared me to death…” You pressed a hand to your beating chest, adrenaline coursing through your veins. You sunk to your knees, the wind knocked out of you. 
He stepped further into the light, arms crossed, almost fuming. “I could ask you the same question. Once again I have to wonder, what are you doing out of bed? Are you that determined not to recover, is that it?” Hair slightly messy, well-tailored pajamas barely creased, you figured he must’ve just gotten out of bed, possibly disturbed before he could fall asleep. It would explain the death glare he was giving you. 
“I...couldn’t sleep,” you answered truthfully, followed by an innocent little shrug. 
With two fingers, he pinched at the bridge of his nose. “And so Levi just let you waltz around on your own?” 
You tilted your head. “Levi?” 
Something dawned on him with your confused question. A terrifying smile arched over his face, the corners twitching as the small amount of light in the room was snuffed out by his menacing aura. “Leviathan…” Yelping at the sudden movement, Lucifer hoisted you over one of his shoulders, gliding across the floor at a ridiculous pace until he was in front of Levi’s room. You wiggled, beating a gentle fist against Lucifer’s back. 
“Let me down!” 
He let you slide off of him, settling you back on your feet, but he quickly grasped one of your hands to keep you to his side. Despite his furious demeanor, he gently knocked on the door, waiting for approximately two seconds before knocking harder. “Levi!”
You heard the otaku approach his door before he swung it open. “What?! I’m in the middle of a very important raid! What could you possibly need--” The entrance to the room cracked open, Levi sticking his head out before all the color drained from his face. The tangerine hue of his eyes flickering from you to his older brother, the demon with paper-thin patience. Levi gulped, the little bump in his throat bobbing.
“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I inform you that you would be keeping an eye on MC tonight?” The higher lilt in his question was laced with hostility. “Or maybe I didn’t make myself clear.” You felt a pang of guilt for the demon of envy. 
“Lucifer,” you urged, tugging at his hand which kept you in a vice grip. “I’ll go back to bed, it’s not an issue.” He was ready to blow a gasket, the weariness of dealing with work and keeping his brother’s shenanigans at bay without your assistance clearly was affecting him. Who knew he’d come to depend on you this much? You reached up, rubbing his shoulder with the sweetest look you could come up with. “Please, don’t be angry.” 
Shutting his eyes, squeezing your hand, he gave himself time to breathe. “MC, rest. Levi, take care of them. And no, I’m not asking.” The dark circles under Lucifer’s eyes almost seemed to run blacker, his irises duller than they should’ve been. 
“Hey, don’t worry about me,” you comforted him. “Go get some sleep yourself.” 
His shoulders sagged ever so slightly. “The sick shouldn't be fussing over the hale and whole, you know, but I will. I shall see you tomorrow.” He brought your hand up, kissing it before he let it go. “And, Levi.” The demon of envy flinched, hoping that he’d been forgotten. “I’ll see you tomorrow as well.” 
Levi hung his head low as his older brother walked away, preemptively sniffling at his possible doom. “...and my raid is ruined…T-this is just the worst.” You were a bit sorry for Levi for being thrown at you like this, but you couldn’t help but wonder in the back of your mind if he...had forgotten about you. You watched the outline of Lucifer disappear into the darkness before you shivered. The temperature inside the house was dropping. “Huh?” Levi snapped out of his pitiful thoughts. “Are you-are you cold?” 
“A little…” 
“O-oh, I guess...maybe...Would it be alright if you stayed in my room tonight?” His stance shifted behind his door, anxiously moving his gaze around to keep from making direct eye contact with you. 
Sighing, you nodded. After all, with the adrenaline crash, you doubted you had energy left to walk back to your room. “Sure.” 
He let you in, shutting the door behind you and locking it with a magical charm to keep the riff-raff out. He scurried over to his tub-bed, pulling out some random plush collectibles, and letting them rest against the floor for now. He spun on his feet for a moment, taking in his room before bringing his thumb up to bite on the nail of it. “Y-you can stay anywhere, I have some blankets I guess...Gah! Why did Lucifer have to make me watch you?” The heart in your chest sank a bit, and you lowered your head, a small “oh” leaving your lips. Clutching his hair, Levi immediately regretted what he said. “No! No no no no, that’s-that’s not what I-I-I--” He stuttered for a good while, unable to grasp proper control of his tongue. “Wait, wait!” Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he picked up one last Ruri-Chan plush from the bed, covering part of his face with it. “I just...I don’t remember the last time I took care of someone sick…Knowing me, I-I’ll somehow make you worse! What-what if I’m forced to make a split second decision that could be the-the difference between life and death?! I’ll end up killing you! Living the rest of my life in isolated drunken regret!” 
He quickly spiraled down a slippery slope of what-ifs, a dramatic fantasy playing out before him where he’d been cast out of the Devildom as your murderer, a disgusting vagabond, living on wildberries and wildlife with naught but his loneliness and shadow to keep him company. His rising anxiety was making him hyperventilate. You had to come over to him, gently take his shoulders and shake him slightly, dragging him back to reality. “Levi, I highly, highly doubt it will come to that. When Lucifer means ‘take care of me’ he mostly means making sure I have what I need.” You gave the sides of his arms a little rub. 
“But I don’t know what you need!” 
“Well, what I need right now is for you to calm down, first off,” you told him, dropping your hands back to your sides, gripping the end of the tub. Climbing into his bed had never really been an issue before, but hoisting yourself over the edge proved difficult a task. You felt his shaky hands come under your arms, hoisting you enough till you could sink yourself into his nest of pillows. You grinned, thanking him as you reached up to rub the top of his head. “See? Stuff like that, nothing too difficult. Fetch quests and escort missions. Easy mode. I’ll be here, just do your own thing.” 
That seemed to ease him enough. He gripped one of his blankets and pulled it over you, moving back over to his desk. Muttering about the raid, he clacked at the keys, his mood steadily improving the more he lost himself in the world of gaming. You felt at the fabric of your pants, remembering with a small moan that they didn’t have pockets...meaning you’d left your D.D.D. in your room. Figures, you thought. So, in your last ditch effort to stay entertained, you moved Levi’s pillows around, making a small wall to prop yourself against, peering over the top of the basin to stare at his screen. You watched his character move around, fighting random enemies. He was completely absorbed, lightly talking to himself as he moved along, humming the victory theme anytime a quest was completed. At one point, he was paying too much attention to a beautifully fleshed out character model to notice what they were telling him, information that he needed to know but missed out on. After that, he was sent towards a boss that ended up instantly killing him when it finished charging up its “claymore of chaos’ move. Levi tried one more time, then three more times, and then about twenty. “What the heck?! How am I supposed to beat you?!” Levi finally shouted, pushing himself slightly away from his desk. 
Speaking up for the first time in a few hours, you shared with him the information he missed. “You’re supposed to use your Mystical Missile spell.” 
He jumped, almost falling out of his chair. “I thought you were asleep!” 
“I still can’t sleep…I don’t know why.” You pulled your blanket tighter around you, peeking at him from your spot. A blush ran over his cheeks, rubbing the back of his head. 
“Oh...Really? Mystical Missile? But it’s a trashy beginner spell.” 
“That NPC lady said it would work, I dunno.” You shrugged. “Try it out, it can’t hurt.” 
So he did, removing one of his high level skills to equip the basic one. Severely doubting success, he entered the boss arena again. It was admittedly tense, keeping you both on the edge of your seat. Once “claymore of chaos” was building, Levi let the spell fly towards him. The boss staggered, a crack forming in it’s armor. “It worked!” He shouted, yelping as a new flurry of enemy spells flew towards his character.  If it was entertainment you were looking for, you found it, cheering him on as he hunched over, focused on his every move. Once it went down, you both whooped and cheered. It had been a bit too much for your lungs, dissolving into some coughs. Levi rushed to his feet, rubbing your back. “You okay?” 
You nodded, letting your body shudder with a few more hacks till it was done. Voice more hoarse than before, you still smiled at him. “You did it!” 
A laugh bubbled out of him. “Victory! Dun dun dun! Legendary item acquired!” Then his expression fell for a second. “Have you just been sitting there, watching me the whole time?” You nodded. He gripped one of his hoodie sleeves. “Would you rather do something...together?” 
You brightened. “Sure!” 
Giddy, he hurried over to the computer, picking up his loot before saving the game, closing the program. “If you’re in the mood for watching something, how about this new anime I found? I’m only a few episodes in, but I can start over! It’s called ‘I Transferred To A New School, But Everyone There Is Part Of The Elite, So I Have To Try And Keep Up With My Classmates Despite Me Being Normal, But I Accidentally Fooled The School Into Thinking I’m A Long Lost Heir To A Forgotten Throne’.” 
Blinking, you stared at him. “You lost me at Elite.” Why the Devildom had anime with titles the length of chapters, you’d never know. 
“It’s good! I promise!” He shifted his monitor so you could see it from your spot easier, turning the anime on with an elated aura, much nicer than the gloom-and-doom one from earlier. This was the Levi you loved to see, the one you tried to cherish as much as you could. He sat in his chair, scooting back till he was beside you so you could watch it together. It was a cute anime, something mostly a slice of life, a normal main character in a school setting surrounded by powerful beings, the plot moved forward with magical shenanigans...something about it sounded familiar. One of the episodes showed the main character fallen ill under some strange circumstance, their roommate they stayed with flustered but determined to take care of them. The friend--and obvious love interest--asked if he could hold the protagonist’s hand. Levi made a little noise. “MC, c-can I hold your hand? I mean, if that’s super weird don’t even listen to me because who would even want to hold hands with me anyway and--” 
“Sure,” you smiled, reaching your hand out from the blanket a little. 
He hesitated for a second and then took it, resuming to watch the show. Much to your amusement, any move the character made, he made as well, taking it as if it were some sort of guide. He brushed the hair from your face, made sure the blanket was tucked gently around you, ensured you were comfortable. Then, the friend in the show made a bold move, snuggling next to the main character as they both fell asleep. Levi went stiff, becoming extremely flustered. You had to admit, the concept was...enticing, and you almost leapt at any opportunity to tease envy. You tugged at his hand, making him look at you with your arms outstretched. If this had been an anime, he would’ve collapsed, his soul flying from his mouth. But even Levi couldn’t resist the temptation. He stepped into his bed, slowly, warily at first. He let you take him into your arms, wrapping his own body around you as you both squeezed together in the tub. “I...I...This is...a dream…” 
You chuckled, settling your head on his chest, feeling his motoring heart pound in his chest. “Let’s watch some more, Levi.” Only, you hardly remembered anything after that. For shortly after he curled against you, the strange barrier keeping you awake completely collapsed. He had draped the blanket over you both, fidgeting with the hair at the nape of your neck. You must’ve turned your head against him, comforted enough by his presence to fall asleep.
Tumblr media
“Medicine?” 
“Right here.” 
“Water?” 
“You brought me like a gallon’s worth.” 
“D.D.D.?” 
“You can see it in my hands.” 
Lucifer went down the list, the actual written list he’d come up. You sat in bed, trying hard not to blush and squirm under the many gazes in your room this morning. “Extra blankets?” 
“I have everything and anything needed to last an entire week in solitary!” You shook your head, a little irate at each of them, but appreciating their concern all the same. Icepacks, blankets, snacks, water, bandages, and many other things were brought in your room in preparation. “You all are only going to a Student Council meeting, not off on some lengthy business trip.” 
“Absolutely right!” Asmo shouted, sitting next to you in bed, hugging you to him and caressing your cheek against his. “It’s some stupid meeting anyway, which means one of us can stay can’t we?” 
Every member of the household was already shouting reasons why they and they alone should have the opportunity to stay with you. Lucifer’s little vein above his eyebrow throbbed. “Enough!” The room went silent. “As much as I would love to permit myself to stay home,” he cleared his throat, “not a single one of us can miss today’s meeting. Which is why I’m taking every precaution. EDP?” 
You gently pushed Asmo off of you, raising an eyebrow. The demon of lust pouted, stroking your head instead. “What’s an EDP?” You asked. 
“An EDP is a short term we use for an Emergency Defense Pillar,” Satan explained. “A popular and fairly new little device in the Devildom, especially for lesser magic users or those who aren’t trained in combat.” 
“I’m still at a loss,” you admitted. “Is it like a baton or something?” 
Rummaging around in his pockets, Mammon brandished a small black object. It was cylindrical, about as big as a lighter, a glowing red button on the side. “I brought it! Now, let me teach you, human. If you’re being chased or cornered, this handy lil’ doodad is going to be essential if you wanna escape. You just push this little button here, and--” 
Lucifer’s chest tightened. “Mammon, don’t!” 
The second born pressed the button, his mistake just now clicking in his mind, chucking it a bit in front of him. Asmo grabbed you and tucked you against his chest, pushing your back to the wall while he shielded you with his body. Every other brother hit the floor, jumping away from the object. A huge pillar of fire sprouted from the object, swirling blue flames emitting intense heat as well as a roaring sound. It nearly burnt your eyes. Asmo tucked your head into his shoulder, waiting until the fire was suddenly sucked back into the small container, rattling against the floor. Your protector pulled away from you, letting you stare at the pitch black circle burnt into your ceiling and floor, a round chunk taken out of your carpet, some fibers still flickering. Lucifer came over and snuffed out the singed pieces with his shoe, the vein in his head more prominent. He was about to shout but you beat him to it. “That’s absolutely unnecessary! In what scenario would I need to use that?! Is there even a safety on that thing?!” 
A little sheepish, Mammon picked himself back up off the floor. “Well, you’ve gotten the best visual example you can get. You’re welcome.” 
“I don’t want it, someone take it with them,” you groaned. “What if I end up accidentally getting flame-broiled in my sleep?”  
Beel closed his eyes. “Flame-broiled hell bats…” 
Lucifer bent down and picked up the EDP from the floor. “Perhaps this is a bit too dangerous.” 
“Glad we can see eye to eye on that one…” You tapped the screen of your D.D.D., noticing that the time to the meeting was rapidly approaching. “You guys have fifteen minutes! Stop worrying about me and get out of here!” 
Many wide-eyed demons scrambled to get out your door, knowing that the punishment for being late was not something they wanted to risk. Even Lucifer was rushed, booking it out of your room. Then he popped his head in. “You’ll call if anything happens?” 
“Yes.” 
He left again, the door shutting. It burst back open, his overprotective nature coming to light. “You have your alerts on, right?” 
You chuckled, you couldn’t prevent yourself from doing so. “Yes, mother hen, now go!” He growled, but this time left for good, the uproar from the group slowly fading away. Once more, you shook your head, staring at the charcoal colored circle against your ceiling. “They’re insane,” you stated aloud. 
“Truly,” someone replied. You yelped, chucking the closest pillow at the sudden voice. Solomon caught it, laughing. “Sorry for startling you. The demons are gone, I’m assuming?” He walked back over, handing you your plushy ammo. 
“They just left. Why are you here?” You took the pillow from him, settling it in your lap as you crossed your legs over your mattress. 
He pulled an upset face. “Why do you sound so suspicious? I’m here to check up on you. I had to make sure those demons were taking care of you properly.” He grabbed a chair from your table, scooting up by the bedside. He spotted the hard-to-miss burns and sighed. “Maybe I should’ve gotten here sooner. Oh well, an easy fix. Spirits of twine and stone, turn back the time to whence this matter was well known, heed the Sorcerer Solomon!” Flowing restorative magic rushed over the floor and ceiling, soaking into the atoms, leaving it as perfect as it had been earlier. Actually, almost better than how it had been before. Not even the smell of burning remained. In a small flourish, he stretched out his hands. “Ta-da.” 
“Thank you.” You couldn’t help but giggle at his theatrics. “And the brothers have been taking care of me just fine. I don’t have a fever anymore.” 
He reached his hand out, thumb brushing across your face, he hummed to himself before pulling you gently, pressing his lips to your forehead. You gasped a little, covering your mouth as your face burned. He sat back, nodding. “You feel much better.” He caught your expression, trying to stifle a smirk. “Hm? I was simply taking your temperature.” 
Composing yourself, you tightly gripped the pillow in your hands. “Kinda an old method, don’t you think?” 
“I prefer traditional practices,” he shared. “But that wasn’t the main reason I came over.” 
“Oh?” You’ll admit, at first the EDP had seemed utterly ridiculous, but in this dreaded scenario, you almost wished to have it in your hands. Solomon pushed back his cloak, reaching behind his back and pulling out a fresh steaming plate of food. Already you felt sweat bead across your face. “A-ah, how nice of Simeon to make me something.” It was more of a personal wish, although you knew that it wasn’t going to be the case. 
“Not Simeon, actually. I made it!” He beamed, completely oblivious. “How long has it been since you’ve had a home-cooked human meal?” 
“N-not too long ago actually, and-I-um-the brothers made sure to feed me before they left so-” 
“Surely you can have a few bites, right?” He pleaded. “I made sure to add all kinds of ingredients I know have some healing properties, so I’m sure it’ll enhance the flavor. Here, no need to waste extra energy, let me feed you. Say ah.” 
Tumblr media
“MC!” The sound of someone frantically calling your name in the distance slowly brought you to. “MC!” Something snapped as you moved, pain coursing through your entire body. You opened your eyes, not able to see much through the leaves. Wait...leaves? The smell of earth and roses rushed to your nose. That and the thorns trapping you and piercing you were enough to tell you what you needed to know. You were somehow entangled in a rose bush. The voice sounded again, closer this time. “MC, where are you?!” 
Audio recognition kicked in, able to place the voice. Tilting your head back, you put all the power you could into your shout. “Belphie!” There was silence for a while, and white hot panic settled in your stomach...or maybe that was. Oh that was right…
Suddenly the leaves were pulled back, Belphie’s head staring down at you. “This is new for you.” 
You tried to move, but your clothes were stuck in the thorn’s clutches, not to mention any movement you made drove the bush’s claws deeper into your skin. “I…I think I’m stuck.” 
“Wow, that really sucks for you.” 
“Belphie!” You tried sitting up, a sharp pain in your cheek causing you to hiss, drawing in breath through your teeth. Something drifted down your cheek, the taste of bitter copper coming across your lips. Blood. “P-please help me.”
“I was only joking. Don’t move, you’ll make things worse.” He tugged at some of the branches, the disruption poking you some more. Tugging at your sleeve, he detangled your shoulder, working on your lower arm next. 
“Ow, ow, ooooow,” you whined. 
“Don’t be such a baby.” Leaning down a bit too far, one of the thorns pricked him right in the thumb. He cursed, threatening to leave you alone once you laughed. “You’re really scratched up…” He frowned as he gestured to many thin red scratches across your body. You whimpered again, reaching up at him to tug you free. Sloth kicked in, his impatience to take his time fluttered away. He basically flattened the bush with his feet, breaking the twigs stuck to you with his hands. His arms wrapped around your torso, tugging you up, the sound of some fabric tearing as he did. He sighed, taking you a few steps away from the bush before letting you slide past his arms, flopping to the soil. He came down to kneel beside you, grabbing thorns and leaves out of your hair, rubbing a thumb over the small wound on your cheek. “When you wonder why we worry about leaving you alone, this is why. How long have you been napping in bushes?” 
“I…” A sudden chill overtook you, your stomach and the food...you remembered the food Solomon had fed you. The taste...torture. You could feel it in your throat. 
“MC?” You pushed Belphie away, scrambling on your hands and knees to another unfortunate set of flora. Without nitty gritty details, let’s just say your body had the smart idea to not keep Solomon’s food in you any longer. Trembling, you coughed up the last of it, cold sweat dripping down your face. Belphie’s hands touched your back. “You’re not going to be sick on me, are you?” You didn’t respond to him, trying to catch your breath. He mumbled, pulling you into his lap. Covered in dirt and sweat, you curled into him, shivering. Then the both of you watched in slight horror as all the plants planted around your...expulsed poison all wilted at once, almost crumbling to dust. “Wicked father of demons…” Belphie breathed. “What the hell did you eat?” 
You only needed to utter one word for him to understand everything entirely. “Solomon…” 
“Dear Diavolo…I’m lucky to have found you alive.” He whipped his head around. “He’s not still here is he?” 
You shook your head, rubbing at the saliva on your lips. “I don’t remember...I don’t remember leaving my room…I don’t remember…” 
Working hard to get to his feet, he lifted you along with him. You wrapped your arms around his neck, your legs against his body, groaning into him. “Alright, I guess we’re doing this now.” He held onto you, sidestepping past the destroyed flora and towards the house. “I’m just telling you this now though, if Solomon is still here, I will leave you.” 
Reaching up his neck, you grasped tightly onto some of his hairs. “I will drag you down with me.” 
“Confident words for someone I’m carrying like a baby,” he snickered, but he let the witty back and forth drop as he entered the house. For a moment, he stood still, taking in the air of the place. “I think we’re good,” he announced, but continuing to take wary steps up the stairs. He picked up the pace in the hallways, sneaking away towards the familiar spiral staircase that led it’s way up to the attic. The doors he pushed open were heavy in more ways than one. Quietly shutting it behind the two of you, he headed over to the bed. A jolting ticklish pain raced down your body as Belphie jabbed his fingers against your waist. “Off, parasite.” You relinquished your grasp as fast as you could, flopping onto the attic mattress. You crawled up, sliding under the covers, planting your face into the nearest pillow. Right when you thought you were recovering, you were back to being bed-ridden. Belphie left you alone in silence for a minute. When he came back, you had to take a moment to realize he had ever been gone. He was stealthy like that. He dropped a small first-aid kit as well as a bottle of water on the blanket. “Come here.” 
“But I-” 
“But I,” he mocked. “But I don’t care. I need to look after some of those scratches.” Huffing, you dramatically threw the blanket to the side, coming over to sit in front of him. Taking the water bottle in hand, you gratefully moved to take a hearty swig to wash down some of the acid. Belphie grabbed it from you before you could. “Not for drinking.” He twisted the cap off and pulled out a small clean washcloth from his pockets. He pressed the fabric against the opening and tilted the bottle up, getting the rag slightly wet. He then pressed it against your cheek. “We don’t want these infected.” Slowly, he dabbed at each of your shallow scratches, making sure they were clear of dirt. Once he was done with that, he shoved the remaining water at you. 
“I don’t want your rag water.” 
“Fine.” 
But the acidity in your mouth was grating against your teeth. You snatched the bottle from him, swallowing some grateful gulps to cease the gentle burning. Belphie had a mild cocky expression, wiping away the blood. Closing an eye due to slight stinging, you watched his concentrated face. “So…” You started, watching him soon open the box and remove a small tube of medicated ointment. “Why’re you home?” 
Squeezing a small amount of the clear gel on the tip of his finger, he started applying it to your cleaned wounds. “Oh, I snuck out of the meeting.” 
“Belphie!” 
“What?” He took one hand, grabbing your face for a second, squishing your cheeks, mimicking the way your lips pursed. You shook him off, trying to keep yourself from being flustered. “Can you blame me? All I could think about was you...nice and warm in bed...and I was sleepy.” He let out a large yawn. “Still sleepy.” 
“Well…” You paused for a second, heat rising to your cheeks. “I’m glad you did.” 
He stopped for a second, looking into your eyes. “Hm? Say that again?” 
Swallowing a lump in your throat, you furled your eyebrows. “I didn’t say anything.” 
“Are you suuuure?” He drawled. “Cus it sounded like you missed me.” One look at your embarrassed face sent him laughing. He poked at your ribs, tickling your sides, singing the words. “You missed me, you missed me.” 
Burying your face in your hands, you kicked him a little. “Stop it!” 
“Fine,” he smirked. “Anyway, I think you’re mostly taken care of. Most of these have dried and scabbed over. They weren’t very deep anyway.” He lifted your arm, turning it to make sure he’d treated you completely. “So now we can do what I came here for!” It was his first excited expression in a while. He jumped into you, grabbing you by the waist against the bed. Both your heads hit the pillows, the blanket following shortly after. Already you could feel his face against your back. A happy hum of his buzzed into your skin, his hands rubbing against your stomach. Pouting a little, you realized that with Belphie stuck to you like this, you weren't going anywhere soon, so you shifted to get comfortable. You relaxed with a heavy sigh. “You know…” Belphie drowsily muttered. “I...missed...you too…” 
Tumblr media
“MC! My poor precious MC! I’m never ever leaving you alone again!” Asmo wailed, clinging to you like if he let you go you’d suddenly die. “I can’t believe Belphie did this to you!” 
Speaking up from the corner, Belphie scoffed. “I actually helped them, just so everyone knows.” Back in your room, each of the demon brothers had returned from the meeting, having found you and Belphie after a while in the attic. Of course, your small wounds, Belphie’s absence, and the strange destruction of a segment of the garden was called into question. 
“And my plants!” Asmo shrieked. “They were such a lovely background for my Devilgram posts! They’re ruined!” 
“I’m so-” you tried to apologize, but Asmo pressed a gentle finger against your lips. 
“Shush! I don’t blame you a single bit, my darling. It’s all these ruffians!” He kissed your cheek in spots around your little wound. 
“Hey! Solomon’s the person responsible, not us!” Mammon shouted. 
Lucifer’s weariness was especially noticeable today. You wondered what he had to put up with at the meeting. “At the very least, we’re glad you’re safe, MC. Knowing what Solomon’s cuisine is capable of…” He pinched at the bridge of his nose. “I’m heading to my office...try not to burn the house down,” he sighed, exiting quietly. 
You tilted your head. “Is he okay?” You asked. 
“When Belphie left, let’s just say Diavolo wasn’t exactly pleased,” Satan explained, a wicked grin stretching his lips wide. “So in exchange he agreed to be Diavolo’s personal servant tomorrow. I hope our Demon Lord has some entertaining things in store.” 
Belphie’s face brightened. “Did I do that? Whoops.” Hardly a glimmer of remorse in him. 
“You guys owe it to him at least to try and make it a calm night,” you urged, hoping to ease some of the shenanigans already being plotted in their minds. 
Mammon shook his head. “Why do we gotta owe him anything? If he’s out for the count tonight, I can hit the casinos without a problem!” He came over rubbing your head. “Give me some of that luck, yeah?” You doubted you had any, but he bounded out the door. 
“Belphie, I’ve got a little idea I’d like to try, but I need an extra set of hands. Care to join me?” Satan curled a little finger around his chin, mischief making his green eyes glow wild. 
Belphie chuckled. “Ab-so-lutely.” With devilish grins, they both sniggered, malevolent whispers drifting between them as they left. 
A rumbling growl echoed through the room. If this had been anywhere else, you would’ve been terrified. But this was the Devildom, and you knew Beel’s stomach when you heard it. “Oh...I’m sorry, MC, but I’m starving. I’ll see you in a bit.” He came over, trying to give you a hug despite Asmo still holding onto you for dear life. He ended up hugging both of you anyway. With more than a little speed, he also left your room, probably heading straight for the kitchen. 
A high pitched ‘bling’ reached your ears. Levi pulled out his D.D.D.. “Oh! The new patch for Sorcerer’s Scrolls has been released! I gotta go!” He moved to run but stopped in his tracks before he got too far. “Do you wanna...watch more of that show tonight?” 
“Sure, Levi,” you smiled, watching him sprint out of the room, a joyful spring in his step. Although, once everyone had left, you couldn’t help but lower your head, patting Asmo’s wrist. “You can leave too, Asmo, you don’t have to stay with me.” 
He made an overly dramatic gasp. “But I do! Don’t sound so sad!” Pulling a bit away from you, he let his cheeks turn a bit pink. “And to be completely honest, I’ve been dying to get some alone time with you.” He squirmed a little bit, but then jumped to his feet. “So! You just sit there and let Nurse Asmo take care of everything, ‘kay ‘kay?” Is that why he had brought that large bag with him when he came in? It was a peach-colored tote bag, settled on your table, a fluffy pink pom-pom clipped to one of the handles. He bounded towards it, rummaging around, looking for something important.
A little--well a lot--guarded against potential Asmo intentions, you tried craning your head to see if you could look inside, but no dice. The end of your nose tickled again as it had the past few days. Grabbing another tissue from your bedside, you tried to blow your nose as quietly as possible. Your poor nostrils were so dry by this point it was bordering on painful. You sniffled, reaching over to squirt some hand sanitizer in your hands. “I thought you hated being around sick people,” you told him. 
“You’re the only exception! Besides,” he grabbed out a familiar tool, one you had no idea how he got his hands on it. A stethoscope. “I want to use all these goodies Solomon got me!” 
The name still almost sent a shudder down your spine. “Solomon? Why?” 
Practically skipping back over, he sat beside you on the bed, strangely excited about this. “Aren’t bodies fascinating?” He touched his own skin, dragging his hand down his neck. “I love to know what makes this perfect body run! And you have absolutely no idea how desperately I’ve longed to know how yours does too!” Taking a good look at him, you could sense that he was truly and undeniably curious as to how your mortal body differed from his. Or possibly just craving a closer look into you altogether. Of course, you still had to close your eyes and deeply sigh. How many times would Solomon be the source of general chaos? Asmo took the end to the stethoscope, looking at it strangely. “Tell me, dear, how does this work?” You let out a light chuckle, and he looked at you curiously. “Don’t make fun of me, that’s just mean!” 
“I’m not! I’m not, I promise, it’s just…” He resembled that of a little kid right now, a rare sort of innocence about him. Here he was, a demon of many millennia, and he just wanted to play doctor for a bit. “Never mind.” Brushing off your thoughts, you took the binaurals, putting the earpieces in his ears. One of his hands gently clutched the diaphragm, so you wrapped your own hand around his, guiding the end of the stethoscope to your chest. 
Listening it to a moment, you could watch the gentle awe cross over his face. “T-that’s you.” 
You brought a hand up to cover your mouth. “Yes, Asmo, that’s me. What, you didn’t think I had a heartbeat?” 
“No, I knew! It’s just…” He closed his eyes, going silent. You didn’t want to disturb his moment, but you felt a sneeze coming on. Grabbing another tissue, you covered your nose, tilted your head down towards your lap, and sneezed. Moaning a bit, you blew your nose again, hard enough to make your ears pop. Sitting up, you chucked your used kleenex into the trash. You were about to apologize, but then the glee drained from Asmo’s face. He brought his hands up to his mouth and shrieked. 
“What?! What’s wrong?!” As soon as you had asked, the answer presented itself towards you. Warmth dripped down your lips, forcing you to close your mouth as fast as you could. 
“Blood! You’re bleeding! Hold on!” Lurching towards the tissues, Asmo pulled five out at a time, pressing it against your face. You pinched your nose, pressuring your hand against the bundle of kleenex. “Look at all this! No, no, no, no, you’ll be alright, darling.” Your gut instinct was to tilt your head up, but Asmo placed his hand on the top of your head, tilting it slightly forward. “Oh, don’t do that, you’ll end up swallowing it. Stay there, I’ll be right back.” He got up sprinting, leaving you alone with the smell and taste of blood. When he came back, he had a cold wet rag in his hands. “Here, use this instead. Give me those,” he softly ordered, tugging at the already blood soaked tissues. You took the rag in your hands, using that to stop the flow instead. He pulled you into his arms, rubbing your back. “Poor thing, it’s just non-stop problems for you right now, isn’t it?” You let him hold you, tilting your head against his as you waited for the blood to stop.  Slowly, he brought his hand up to pet the back of your head, giggling a bit to himself when the action made you shiver. 
After a bit of time, you tore away from him, cautiously removing the rag. You touched just above your lip, sighing in relief when it had stopped. “That was unexpected.” 
Stealing the cloth from you, he started wiping the excess blood off your face. “About gave me a heart attack!” With his free hand, he cupped the side of your face. 
A little idea crossed your mind. “Heart attack, huh? Better check that out.” Reaching for the stethoscope, you cleaned the earpieces before putting them in, pressing the small round medical disc to his chest. It was a bit stunning, you had to admit, how loud it sounded. In the human world before, any mentions of demons or angels were always in an ethereal sense. Whether you believed in them or not, you never really thought about them having hearts. Were they even similar to yours? At least...the drumming beating sound of life was the same. 
He finished up cleaning you off, tilting his head and grinning. “Well?” 
“Undeniably alive...and I’m very grateful for it.” 
He squealed, flopping onto you, pushing you both down onto the bed. Every hint that he had been frightened before was gone. “Aren’t you just the sweetest?! Come here, you!” He littered kisses over your face, sending you into a little flurry of embarrassed titters. 
“Asmo…” 
“Isn’t it a human saying that they can kiss the pain away?” He pecked his lips over your eyelids. “Well, you better prepare yourself...I won’t stop kissing your perfect little face till you feel better!”
The bedroom door violently swung open, the handle nearly making a dent in the wall. Demons poured in, nearly falling over each other. They were all in demon forms, ready to tackle more danger. When they noticed that Asmo was fawning over you, they all puffed up, jealous and irritated. “We heard you scream and thought something happened!” Lucifer roared. Kinda late, weren’t they?
“Hey, why’re you getting all kissy with MC?!” Mammon jumped onto the mattress, trying to pry you from his brother’s arms. 
“Don’t you think I deserve to be embracing them?” Satan attempted to push them both aside. Before you knew it, your room was a small war-arena, everyone climbing on the bed. You were squished between them, passed between different hands. Then something wobbled, the sound of wood and metal groaning before a loud snap pierced your ears. The bed hit the floor, a poof of dust causing you to cough. Your bedframe lay scattered in broken pieces across the ground. 
“My...bed…” You ran a hand through your hair, pinned under the doggy-pile of demon lords. You looked between each of them with stern looks, each of them blushing in embarrassment over their actions. “Well...I guess it means I’ll be using someone else’s bed for the foreseeable future.” 
All at once, their faces lit up, and at the same time they all shouted the same thing. “Me!”
2K notes · View notes