Chapter Text
Finding a book that represented your greatest fear was not easy. Not many things scared you. Sure the standard things that should scare anyone were on the list, but that was boring. Fear of the dark, the deep depths of the ocean, or the enormity of the universe were just your standard fears. No, you wanted it to be something more personal. So you were taking your time choosing the perfect book this time.
Another quiet day at the small cafe saw you reading an option for that answer at the counter. It was mid afternoon so you weren’t expecting too many customers for at least an hour. However, that’s when the bell on the front entrance jingled. Tearing yourself away from a very good part of the book you looked up to see a familiar group of brothers entering. A kind smile settled in place as you carefully put the book under the counter.
Beel was first to enter, followed closely by Belphie. You had learned quickly that these two were generally inseparable when they came together. Asmo bounded in after them with a bright smile waving happily at you. A blonde followed him in, looking rather grumpy. You assumed this must be Satan, the only brother you hadn’t met yet. But he also looked familiar somehow. Levi, whose eyes were glued to his phone, shuffled in next. Finally Mammon was shoved through the door by Lucifer.
“Hey guys,” you greeted. Several greetings were returned as Lucifer stepped forward.
“We’ll need a table for seven,” the raven haired man said.
“Sure! Let me get some tables moved together.” You started to move toward the back where there was room to shift the tables.
“I’ll help,” Beel offered as he followed you.
Giving him a smile in thanks you started to move chairs away from one of the tables. With Beel’s help you quickly shifted the furniture around to provide one long table for the family.
“Go ahead and sit. I’ll grab menus and water for everyone,” you stated as you walked over to the counter again.
The group was rather rowdy, which shouldn’t be surprising based on what you knew of them from your encounters and the stories they told. You had given them some time to figure out their orders before returning to take them.
“I’ll take one of each sandwich,” Beel ordered with a smile.
“Not going to clear out the kitchen today?” you teased as you wrote down his request. He just smiled and nodded in response.
“I’ll take a bowl of whatever the soup of the day is,” Belphie mumbled as he rested against Beel.
“I would like a short stack with strawberries on top, please cutie!” Asmo had the most adorable sparkling eyes as if he was trying to convince you to do some important favor.
“Of course, Asmo,” you replied with a chuckle and shook of your head. “And what can I get for you?” you asked, turning to the blonde next.
“I’ll have the garden salad with grilled chicken. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing, please,” he responded. You gave him a nod and smile in return. Then, before moving on to Levi you also introduced yourself to him. “Ah, yes. My name is Satan. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said with a smile.
Moving on to the last three you took their orders; pizza for Levi, steak for Mammon, and pasta for Lucifer. Once finished collecting all of the menus you left the family alone to have their time together. As you conquered small tasks around the cafe you found your eyes drifting over to the table, specifically landing on Satan. Currently he was reading a book as his brothers conversed around him. On more than one occasion you had also caught him glancing at you. You knew it would be inappropriate to insert yourself into their group to speak with him, so you just went about your business around the cafe.
When you approached the table to check on everyone to see if they needed any refills on their drinks you noticed the mischievous glimmer in Asmo’s eyes as he glanced between you and his blonde brother.
“Hey cutie, don’t you think Satan here is very handsome,” he asked with a little smirk.
A quick glance at the blonde told you that he did not appreciate the sudden attention. His eyes stayed glued to his book, but his cheeks slowly turned red. Not wanting to embarrass him, or yourself, you turned back to Asmo and gave him the best diplomatic response you could.
“I think all of you are handsome, Asmo.”
That was obviously not the reply Asmo wanted. His lips formed a thin line as he looked at you with disappointment. A quick glance at Satan though made you feel better as you saw a small smile on his lips. Asmo grumbled something under his breath that you didn’t catch, but you weren’t going to ask him about it either.
“Your food should be ready any moment,” you said instead as you stepped away from the table.
As the meals started arriving in the window you started arranging them on a tray. With the amount of food you knew you’d need to make several trips so you decided not to wait for everything. Some arguing could be heard from the table with the brothers, but you paid no mind. It wouldn’t be surprising for brothers to argue from time to time. Once the tray was full you carefully lifted it to set it on your shoulder. With your free hand you grabbed a stand and started to make your way over to the table.
The shouting was growing in intensity as you approached the table. Now that you were so close you realized the two involved were Satan and Lucifer. The rest of the table was silent as they watched the heated argument between the two brothers. For a moment you considered hanging back so you didn’t accidentally get in the middle of it, but the tray was rather heavy. So instead you decided you maneuver around the table to the opposite side just to stay out of the way.
This decision proved to be the wrong one. As you stepped behind Satan’s chair, the man rapidly stood up. His chair flew behind him, directly into your path. There was no time to react. “Satan!” Asmo’s panicked shriek was heard just as your feet entangled with the chair. Feeling yourself losing balance you tipped the tray away from the table. If you were going to drop the food you weren’t going to let it fall on any customer.
Everything happened in a split second and an eternity at the same time. The stand clattered to the floor as you tried to bring your other hand up to balance the tray. Unfortunately it was too late as the tray tipped too far over. Plates of food smashed to the floor with piercing shatters. At some point, realizing it was pointless to try to save it, you dropped the tray completely in favor of using your hands to brace yourself for the impact with the floor. However the impact never came as a set of toned arms wrapped around you.
Silence followed, as if even the universe needed to take a breath. Slowly your eyes opened, not realizing you had closed them, to find yourself being righted by whoever caught you. Six pairs of eyes stared at you with various expressions; indifference from Lucifer and Belphie, concern from Beel, Mammon, and Levi, and finally anger from Satan. Those beautiful green eyes held a rage you had never seen. While you didn’t think it was directed at you it still made you retreat slightly into the arms of your savior; Asmo your mind helpfully supplied based on the information provided in front of you.
Satan’s eyes narrowed at you before he quickly turned away. You saw something in that look that didn’t quite fit the anger. Pain? Hurt? Guilt? You couldn’t be sure and you didn’t have a chance to ask as the blonde suddenly walked away from the table.
“Satan, you come back here!”
Your eyes followed the blonde as he marched toward the exit. As he flung the door open you flinched worried the door would rip from its hinges. The soft jingle of the bell was in stark contrast to the heavy energy that stormed out of the cafe.
“Are you okay?” Asmo finally spoke against your ear.
“Yeah,” came your soft reply. As far as you were aware there were no injuries to your physical body, thanks mostly to Asmo’s fast actions. “Thanks for catching me.”
After confirming you were ok and stable Asmo slowly pulled away from you. Taking a deep breath you looked down at the mess below you. Shattered plates and food were scattered all across the floor. Emotions started to well up as the whole incident overwhelmed you, but you refused to let anyone see that.
“I-I’ll get a broom…” you said quickly as you scurried off hoping you could get your embarrassment in check before returning to the scene.
However, the angelic voice of your boss halted your escape. “Don’t worry about the mess. Go sit down in my office until you calm down. I’ll take care of the clean up.” You wanted to argue, to say it was your responsibility for making the mess, but Simeon’s gentle smile could not be argued with. So you did as you were told and headed into his office.
As you sat in the chair you realized you were shaking. The whole ordeal had really overwhelmed you. Nearly falling flat on your face, in the mess of dishes and food no less, had shaken your system. And that look in Satan’s eyes had scared you. It almost felt like there was some other being of rage buried deep inside him, one that wanted to claw its way out to lunge at you for having caused such a scene. But that look in his eyes when he turned away was completely different. The more you considered it the more you realized what that look was. Shame.
“Satan, you come back here!” Lucifer bellowed.
Satan of course had no intention of following that instruction. Instead he lifted his hand and flipped his brother off as he stormed out of the cafe.
Satan was furious. Lucifer had ruined everything. Satan was supposed to go to the cafe alone so he could meet this interesting book loving employee of Simeon’s. Instead his stupid older brother had to demand that the family go have a meal at the cafe together. Now he made a fool of himself in front of someone who could have been a friend. This was all Lucifer’s fault.
Back at the house Satan slammed the door to his room open. There was probably a new dent on the wall behind it again but he didn’t care. Why did Lucifer always have to make a fool of him, especially in public?
A stack of books tumbled to the floor when Satan kicked it as he went by. The memory of the stunned and fearful look of that server’s eyes flashed across his mind. Satan growled in disgust at himself. That would be yet another person that would fearfully avoid him and gossip about his anger issues.
He let out a breath as he reached the back of his room with no other outbursts or knocked over books. The damage was limited this time, maybe he was getting a grip on himself after all.
“You’ll never get anywhere with that attitude.” Lucifer’s voice and words echoed in his mind.
“Gah! Shut up,” he screamed as he swiped his hand across the table next to his bed. A lamp, a few books, and several small pieces of paper went flying off the table. Satan froze as he watched the papers flutter down to the floor. Before all of them made it all the way down Satan lunged to grab them. Carefully he scooped up the notes hoping none of them had been damaged.
After a quick once over he was assured to find no damage to these precious notes. All his anger instantly subsided. A sigh left him again as he slowly laid across his bed with the notes securely held in his grip. He glanced over each note reading their contents, questions and riddles again.
It had been a few days since he’d gotten a response from the Curious Stranger. He didn’t want to admit to himself just how lonely that suddenly made him feel. It wasn’t as if they had a deadline to give the next note. Still, he’d grown to enjoy this game they played. It had made him happy.
As his fingers brushed along the small piece of paper Satan decided he would head to Solomon’s book shop to inquire if My Life in France had been returned yet. Not even realizing how quick his anger had vanished once the notes were in his hand Satan set them carefully down on his nightstand. The next moment he was out the door again to see his friend.
“Hello Satan,” Solomon greeted him as he walked through the door. “Before you ask, no the book has not been returned yet.”
Satan’s form slumped slightly at that news. It would have been nice to have the distraction of the note to take his mind off the earlier events. His feet shuffled across the floor as he made his way over to his friend. With a sigh he rested his elbow against the counter and settled his head in his hand.
“Rough day?” Solomon asked.
“You could say that. I don’t suppose you acquired any new books lately?”
Solomon shook his head. “The next shipment should be here in a few days.”
Another heavier sigh left Satan as he started letting his fingers draw shapes on the counter. “I need a distraction.”
“Why don’t you pick up a better hobby than cooking,” Solomon replied cheekily. Satan gave him a disapproving look. “What? I have plenty of books that could offer some suggestions. You could do knitting, woodworking-“
“Oh yes, I should absolutely start a hobby that involves using a sharp object…” Satan finally replied with a roll of his eyes.
“-scrapbooking, candle making, painting,” Solomon continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.
“I get it!” Satan threw up his hand to stop his friend. He wasn’t exactly annoyed, just exhausted. “I don’t want to learn anything new,” he said more quietly. “I just… I want a quiet place where I won’t be disturbed. Where I can be free to be me without anyone judging me.” A loud sigh slipped from his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. “Somewhere where Lucifer can’t bother me.”
“Well, you are welcome here any time. Lucifer won’t step foot in here,” Solomon replied, plastering on a smirk half way through.
“Of course he won’t, you’re here,” Satan confirmed as he relaxed a little.
“Exactly! Stay as long as you want, Satan. I enjoy your company.” Solomon’s smile turned gentle and genuine as he looked at his friend.
Finally a small smile crossed Satan’s lips. He was glad he had at least one person who didn’t shun him. Even if the entire town hated him, he at least had this small space. The events of today slowly faded from his mind, even if he couldn’t quite forget the look in that server's eyes before he walked out of the cafe. He’d have to go back to apologize someday.
“Thank you, Solomon,” he said with a smile back at his friend.