Chapter Text
The apartment was perfect. It was in one of my favorite parts of town. My neighbors were nice and there was a true sense of community in the little suburb. My favorite cafe was a short walk away and I had the loveliest view of the city skyline from my new place. The best thing was how affordable the rent was. A cheap rent generally meant that there was a terrible smell in the area or that you'd get broken into every few days. But everyone had assured me that none of those were true and the apartment and area itself was perfectly safe. The catch, I soon found, was not an expected one.
You see it turns out the apartment already had a tenant. He just wasn't one anyone knew about.
I was the new flatmate of a freeloading demon who went by the name of Anti.
"Anti what?" I asked curiously while adjusting the box in my arms. The flickering entity that had appeared out of nowhere stopped snarling suddenly at the question.
"What?" His lilting accent made him seem even more incredulous.
"You said you're name's Anti, so what are you Anti? Are you against pasta or the government? Both of which I can respect, you know." There was a moment of static filled silence. "And are you making that noise, or is it the satellite again?" The demon drew himself up to his surprisingly underwhelming height and puffed out his chest.
"I'm Antisepticeye!" His voice was oddly stuttering as his bright green hair flashed momentarily.
"I too, am against septic eyes." I nodded sagely and watched, fascinated as his body... glitched and shuddered before he appeared much closer than before.
"No! I'm Anti-" His head twisted at an odd angle and he continued to glitch closer and closer to me as the sunshine began to dim in the previously sunlit space. "~/īøãß gñçœ#¶°°/why årèñt yøū afraid/" His teeth were unnaturally sharp and I could feel the heat that spiked in time with his glitches. His unintelligible voice made my head hurt and I squinted at his flashing face.
"Please stop that, you're giving me a headache." The lightshow stopped and the warmth he emanated settled to a comfortable range. His sharp eyebrows were furrowed as he stared at me with an actual pout. "If you were a purely malevolent demon you would have killed me and the other people in the area straight away. This neighborhood would be a dump not this oasis. So I'm guessing you want it to stay that way?" Internally I was praying that I was right and I hadn't just pissed off a dangerous individual. Anti nodded slowly and I sighed in relief.
"Look this is my dream apartment and I already paid the first month's rent, I've already moved all of my stuff in here and I really like this place. I don't wanna enter a fight for territory with a supernatural being because I will probably lose." I put my box on the kitchen counter and faced the demon again. He stared at me suspiciously, as if expecting me to haul a priest out of one of my boxes so that an exorcism could begin.
"You're not handling this like the others." Anti murmured and tilted his head to the side inquisitively. He reminded me of a cat, a very homicidal cat.
"Well I've had a roommate that tried to sacrifice me to Satan so that she could pass her finals. And she always ate my food, so my standards are really low." I admitted offhandedly and Anti definitely smiled in amusement before confusion twisted his lips into a frown.
"/Yøû wænt tö bê roømmãtēs.._/?" He glitched in surprise and I let out a loud laugh.
"Yeah, you only seem mildly murderous and I noticed the way you keep on rearranging all my stuff. You want to stay here too and an empty home is kind of sad. So what do you say, Anti?" I held out my hand with a friendly smile. His dark eyes blinked several times and I noticed the bright emerald shade of his pupils. He shifted nervously on the spot as he thought over the offer. Had anyone ever spoken to him?
"You won't try to /ēxørçisē/ me or any of that shitë|•/?" He asked with a glare and I snorted at his question.
"Not unless you try to kill me or something." I answered with a shrug and he took that as good enough and grasped my hand, the faint glitching felt like a soft tickle and I had to stifle my giggles as I tried to be serious. I wasn't successful judging by the arched eyebrow he directed at me.
"And don't eat my blueberries."