Chapter Text
“Mammon? I’m coming in.”
You didn’t even give Mammon a chance to reply after knocking on his door. Instead, you just let yourself inside, knowing that if he had replied he probably would have just told you to go away. And you were not going anywhere.
Mammon was laying on his bed, his back to the door, as you approached. He didn’t make any moves to greet you or even to chase you out. If anything, he tried to make himself look smaller, like he was hoping he could just fade away.
And that’s because that’s exactly what he was hoping to do. Even though his jaw had started healing already, it still ached. Every throb of pain another reminder of how he had hurt you and how much he deserved to be punished for it.
Almost as soon as he hit his room, he had started crying, ashamed of himself for how he had behaved. He hadn’t been expecting you to follow after him, and now that you were here he was having a difficult time calming himself down again. He didn’t want you to see him like this. He didn’t want you to feel bad for wanting to be rid of him, not when it was his fault in the first place.
Seeing Mammon curled up as he was, made your heart ache. You didn’t hesitate as you walked towards him and climbed into bed alongside him, spooning him from behind, hugging him to you. You felt his body stiffen under your arms, but you didn’t let go, you just held him closer.
“I’m sorry, Mammon,” you whispered, “I’m so, so sorry.”
Mammon didn’t know what you were apologizing for. He knew he should push you away. That he should distance himself from you. But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had missed you so much. And he wanted to be comforted. Even if he didn’t think he deserved it.
“Levi told me why you were upset. He said you thought I didn’t want you around anymore,” when Mammon didn’t object, you continued, “I’m sorry for making you think that. But that’s the last thing I ever wanted.”
You hugged him tighter, wishing he could feel how sincere you were.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted you to let Levi alone for a bit. That’s all.”
“How’s that any different?” he snapped, turning over part way to face you. Tears already stained his face while anger, hurt, frustration all flickered through his eyes.
“Mammon,” you sat back a little and cupped his cheek with one of your hands, gently stroking it with your thumb (careful to avoid where he’d been hit earlier), as you held him in place so he couldn’t turn away again, “I have two sides you know?” You gave him a small grin, hoping he’d pick up on what you were hinting at.
“I know that. I ain’t stupid.”
You chuckled at his response, “All I was asking is that you let Levi have one side. You can chase off whoever else is on the other side. That’s all. I want you on one side, and Levi on the other.”
“Oh.”
That’s really all Mammon could say. He blushed deeply as he became more aware of just how badly he had misunderstood you. He also realized how terrible he had been to you, and all the trouble he caused you. How much he must have hurt you. But you didn’t seem to care about all that. You were just staring at him and smiling that bright smile of yours. All you cared about was the fact that he now understood.
Seeing that Mammon’s confusion had finally cleared, you wrapped him up in a tight hug as best you could from your awkward position, giving him a firm squeeze, “I do want you around. I promise. I don’t know what I would do without the Great Mammon to keep me company.”
“Probably be pretty borin’ without me,” he replied, laughing a little.
“Oh, definitely,” you pulled back, smiling, giving him the opportunity to turn over the rest of the way to fully face you. From his new position you could easily see the nasty bruise on his cheek, which you could only assume was from Levi, “He got you pretty good, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. My fault though. I kinda egged him on,” he winced as he tried to give you a small smile, “It’s already mostly healed. Demonic power and all that.”
“Still, it looks like it must hurt.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I deserved it anyways…” Mammon’s voice trailed off as he remembered all that had happened this week, “I’m…umm...I’m sorry. I jus’...I didn’t know what else to do...and I was…”
“Hey, it’s ok. It was a misunderstanding. You were hurt. But we got it all figured out now, right?”
“Yeah,” he replied as he embraced you again, pulling you closer and burying his face in your chest.
“I’ll always want you around, Mammon. Always,” you replied, hugging him tightly in return, “Please don’t forget that.”
He nodded against you, tightening his grip. He was so happy you had come back to him. Even though he had been so incredibly stupid and jumped to the worse possible conclusion. You still wanted him. You still needed him.
And he needed and wanted you too. It had been longer than he could remember since he last had a friend he could be this close to, someone he could rely on and be open with. But with you here now, he knew he could never go back to the way it was before.
You had only been involved in his life for several short months, and you had already turned it upside down. You showed him kindness and understanding when no one else did. And no matter what mess he got himself in, you were supportive and would help him get out of it. You never held it against him when he made mistakes either. And he made a lot of mistakes, he was sure.
You didn’t see it that way, though. You knew exactly how hard he tried. And you were always grateful when he showed up to help you out, even if all his plans fell to pieces. Just having him there was enough. His friendship had become so unbelievably precious to you, you couldn’t imagine not having him around. And you didn’t want to either. And as Mammon continued to hug you, you made a silent promise to yourself - you were going to make sure he never had a reason to doubt you again.