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“Memo census vito ... cum laude—” Purple flames burst into Midoriya’s confused face. “Ah screw it.” Throwing the tome on to the ground, Izuku put his hands out and scrunched his eyes shut as the apothecary's floor lit up with a glowing pentacle.
“Hey there ... demon? It’s ya boy, Izuku.” His voice wavered. “My troupe and I need a bit of well ... help. King Kachan has taken over the Yuuei Kingdom, kidnapped Kirishima, and won’t let anyone near the bridge ‘Terabithia’ to challenge him to a duel.” Sighing, the young mage dropped his arms and opened his eyes to check on the summoning circle. Still filled with a small slice of hope, Izuku fiddled with his cloak’s collar as he continued to contact a spirit of any sort.
“I know summoning demons is ... wrong, I mean, that’s what Iida told me and he’s always right when it comes to ethics ... though he also made everyone hug each other when Shouto and Tsuyu argued about the ethics of eating frog legs for dinner and I’m not sure if Shouto only did it to make him happy or if he did it bec—”
Seconds ago the room was silent except for the occasional demonic chanting. Now, there was a loud captivating sound, encompassing everything within its calming grasp. Focusing on the noises within, it almost seemed familiar ... actually, if he wasn’t crazy, Izuku would almost say it sounded like a cat’s meow.
“This is how you summon demons.” A ghostly, almost ... exhausted voice growled into Izuku’s ears: he whimpered, frantically looking around as the meowing only grew louder and louder. Seconds passed, but to Izuku it seemed like hours. Someone suddenly seemed to just...be there. There was a presence in the room, one that had seemingly appeared from time itself. One second it was Izuku and the meowing gregorian chants, and the next, a demon stood before the shaken summoner.
“By talking and interrupting their nap.” The demon yawned as he called out the summoner for malpractice. Izuku found himself more intrigued than offended.
The being in front of him was ironically angelic in a way. A purple mist originated from the demon, filling the room. His body appeared humanoid, at least to Izuku, and his hair was the messiest most enchanting fluff of lavender that Izuku had to suppress the urge to mess with it. Two spindly curled horns protruded out of the mop of hair as though they were protected by the purple locks, shining like obsidian in a mess of cotton candy. “Damn, his jaw unhinged with his yawn. And his hair, it looks so soft ...!”
“This is where you either freak out, or tell me what you want.” The satyr interrupted Izuku’s thoughts. Startled, he looked over to meet the enchanting lazy eyes.
“Uh — yeah.” He mumbled, rubbing his head to pull his act together. “My name is I-Izuku.” The Demon teen raised an eyebrow at the mage, impressed that the human would give away his very real name to a occupant of hell.
“I ... I mean. My troupe needs help! We’re trying to fight King Ka—”
“King Kacchan, yes, I know. You said it before.” Stepping closer to Izuku, his hooved steps echoed. The being from Hell smirked a bit as he caused the younger sorcerer to whimper in both fear and awe.
“What I mean is this: what can I do for you, and what are you willing to sacrifice for my help?”
Hearing Hell’s offer gave Izuku reason to reflect upon how messed up he really was. First he had summoned this demon here and here he was, listening to him speak what had to be a standard offer for such a species, and yet he found himself ... enchanted by his voice. It reverberated deep but was gentle, sounding both tired and bored, yet lacked hints of aggression and mockery.
“Can I have your name first?” Izuku scrambled to inquire as the Demon’s eyes widened shining bright scarlet, snarling at the novice sorcerer. “I mean, I just need to know what to call you, instead of just ‘demon’! It’s not fair if I can’t call you anything.”
His rambling explanation appeared to work a little, the tension in the air disappearing as the hellion’s shoulders slumped further over.
“That’s ... okay, I guess. Sorry for uh, the flashing eyes. Names are normally a big deal for us, as it’s our source of power. So I can’t tell you my real name.” Explaining this alone would put him in danger, though it seemed this little green ... sunshine ... boy was too earnest and trusting. He expected cowardice and scheming from the people who brought him forward, but none of that had yet to happen.
Even to a demon such as himself.
“So, I can’t have your name?”
“I don’t have a name to give you, but you can give me one if it means that much.”
“Hmmm ... ” Izuku pensively bit his lip, looking over to his counter full of tomes he had amassed over the years.
“Shin-chan!”
The smile aimed at Shin-chan could have instantly purified the demon’s soul.
“Shin..chan?” Rolling the name on his tongue, it felt both innocent and ... nice. Dare he, a demon, call it nice? “Alright then ... Izuku, what do you wish from a demon of Hell, and what are you willing to sacrifice for it?” His voice echoed in the room’s void of darkness, but it was no match for the sunshine smile of the mortal growing from ear to ear.
“Please, help us stop King Kacchan, stay with my group till the end of our journey, and I’ll give you ... ” His cheeks flushed, his smile brightening from a small spark to a flame in a mere second.
“My heart.”
.......
“That is not how it happened.” Shinsou, or ‘Shin-chan the Demon’, snorted as Bakugou obnoxiously gagged in the background while Momo and Ashido awed at the tale. He downed his coffee before looking around at the group. A few of them had stayed late to continue Kaminari’s D&D campaign; Ashido and Momo had just joined as new players, unaware of the previous campaigns. So Izuku had just finished explaining everything in the vivid storybook babbling he was infamous for.
“You just don’t remember!” Izuku pouted at his boyfriend in mock hurt. “You were too busy looking up cat videos while I tried to summon you!”
Kaminari nodded sagely in response to Izuku’s callout. “You were pretty distracted dude. Izuku spent almost five minutes trying to bullshit a chant till you replied in-character.”
Feeling betrayed, Shinsou chose to glare at his partner instead of admitting to even knowing that the statement was true.
“The only reason you even summoned me was because Tokoyami’s character bet that you’d be too scared to try a summoning. It took you three rolls before you rolled a nat 20 for talking a demon into being summoned.” Everyone looked amused at the revelation; even Izuku giggled as he remembered the origin of ‘Shin-chan’s Summoning.’
“Fine, but it still worked! You still came to me.” Caught up in the moment of sticking his tongue out at Shinsou, he jumped in surprise as a hand slide into his own.
They were students: small time nerds who, after classes, began their own campaign after hearing about another D&D group in the school. They were heroes-in-training who only sought a few nights to escape into their imaginations, just as they had when they were little kids.
Looking into those doe-like eyes as he locked his fingers with Izuku’s own, Shinsou knew he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else
in the world.
“I always will.”