Chapter Text
You groan, flopping backwards onto your bed and letting your eyes slip shut. Classes were over, and you couldn't be happier— today had been terrible. In Devildom Law, there was a surprise test, and you're incredibly certain you got more in-depth and complex questions. This was followed up by being tripped in the hall and fell on your face in front of a huge, human-hating crowd. Face burning, you'd scrambled to get away.
It's been one bad thing after the other with today, and you're more than ready to sink into your mattress and never be seen again.
A soft caw forces your eyes open and your head to the side. A crow is perched there, head tilting occasionally as it watches you, a small bag held between it's beak. You smile softly, sitting up slow and offering out your hand. The bag is dropped into it as the crow hops over for affection, which you lovingly shower it with.
Mammon's crows were always a joy to see, accompanying you almost everywhere you went if the demon wasn't able to. You aren't entirely sure when you discovered this knowledge, but it fills your heart with love when you see a crow, whether with a present or not. The bag is more of a pouch and, opening it, your face glimmers with the gold reflecting off of grimm.
You chuckle, setting it aside to shower the crow with more attention. You knew this was a courting process which all demons in the Devildom abided by. You supposed he only sent crows so, on the off-chance you rejected his gifts, he had something to blame. You never have, though.
In similar fashion, the brothers would show their affections in some way or another. You knew that the next ‘stage’ was more personalised gifts, tailored to your specific interests, and then the showing off.
You don't mean that in a bad sense, but from what the book described, it was the stage where they were the demon would provide proof of their skill and capacity to care, love and cherish the other they were courting.
The crow gently nips at your fingers to rouse you from thought, realising you had stopped petting it. As it hopped up onto your lap, careful not to dig it's claws into the skin of your thighs and cause harm, you resume the petting.
No need to worry about this kind of thing now, at least.
- - -
That last stage seemed to be closer than you thought. Slowly but surely, while around the brothers in public, the air was spiked with silent threat. Not aimed at you, of course!
The possessiveness, which had been manageable at first, had grown to be almost suffocating. Now, you almost rarely had moments to yourself— the seven clamoured for your affections at a constant basis, and was wearing you out faster than anything before. You could barely even sleep without someone there, awake or not!
Then, you hit the breaking point. Your room was totally tipped, ransacked and hardly cleaned. You had been speaking with Diavolo over some tea, including Barbatos of course, about your stay here and, feeling heavily drained, you looked forward to relaxing on your bed and taking a nap.
And then you found this. Infuriated, you open your D.D.D and demand everyone meet up in the living room, now. Having typed this while on the way there, you now stood in the room, tapping your foot impatiently and frowning.
Each brother slowly filed in, the air growing more tense the longer they were under your glare. “What is this for?” Lucifer asked, trying for a softer tone he tended to adopt around you most of the time.
You shake your head. “Listen, I don't mind following along to your courting rituals, or whatever,” the seven seemed to flinch at the harsh tone and you feel a twinge a guilt, but you needed to set some ground rules. “I don't just accept them because I think I have to, I do it because I want to.”
Mammon seems to perk up the most at this— he relies on fake confidence to get where he wants more often than not, and to pick at something he holds dear causes some of the insecurity to flood his brain like a swamp. You know he finds it comforting when you aren't judging with what he's accustomed to.
Through this train of thought, you barely catch the words flowing from your mouth. “However, I draw the line at destroying my room.” Lucifer's eyes go wide a slight amount, stunned momentarily before he turns on his brothers, expression thunderous. “Who entered MC's room without permission?”
His siblings cower, and you sigh. Attention is on you, though Lucifer's anger is still coursing through the very tense, heavy air. It weighs on your chest like a too-tight hug you can't wriggle away from, and you know it's got to be cleared somehow.
“I just wanna know who went in my room and why. I would also like that same person to help me clean, because I cannot do all of that by myself.” there was some anxious shuffling, averted eyes, but no confession. Beel raises a hand, timidly, and you note that his other arm is occupied with a half-asleep Belphie, only still awake because you're here.
The thought makes you feel a tad more guilty, Belphie was obviously super tired... well, he's always tired, but it's much more obvious here. You raise an eyebrow, gesturing for Beel to go on. In the end, Belphie speaks. “You could spend the night with me and Beel, since it's late...” the mood changes as esch brother is spiked with jealousy, which you're quick to diffuse.
Getting better at that, you think proudly. “How about we have a sleepover here, and in the morning, we sort my room out?” The idea has everyone settled in some way, for now, but you know they'll be at each other's throats for who gets to sleep where.
But, for now, you bask in their joy with what you knew was a love-sick grin spread wide across your face.
You can only hope that it stays this easy.