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The biting cold nipped at Tessa’s nose as she walked briskly towards the lake, hellbent on reaching her destination before it got too late and the Avatar of Pride had her hung for missing curfew. Levi had shown her a picture of this stunning lake in the Devildom which had apparently been used as the inspiration for a scene in one of his favourite anime series, and she hadn’t been able to get the image out of her head. A quick search had determined that the beautiful location was a short trek away from the House of Lamentation, and so Tessa set out to find it.
The snap of a twig from somewhere in the trees to her left startled her, and she questioned for the first time if it was such a good idea to be wandering out alone in the Devildom - the last thing she wanted was to get eaten by some demon. She turned slowly towards the sound and scanned the thick trees for any sign of danger. Finding none, she sighed and turned to continue on her way, which elicited a relieved exhale from the trees.
‘Hello?’ she called out, chastising herself for being the innocent girl in every horror movie ever - who was stupid enough to call out to a potential threat?
A curse, followed by some ruffling of leaves as whoever was following her came forward slowly. Tessa relaxed upon hearing the voice, recognising its owner before even spotting his familiar white mop of hair emerging from the brush.
‘Mammon, you scared me half to death!’ she exclaimed.
The demon shrugged sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck in an awkward manner and muttering about how she should be more careful or how Lucifer would punish him if anything happened to her - ‘Which is the only reason I followed ya - I wasn’t curious or anything!’
Tessa smiled fondly at the rambling demon and reached over to slip her hand in his, causing him to stop dead in his tracks and stare at their intertwined fingers in disbelief and awe, mouth agape and cheeks flushed.
‘Since you’re here, why don’t you come with me? I always like having you around.’ At this, Mammon devolved into an even worse stuttering mess, but nonetheless let her pull him along by the hand still grasping his.
After a short walk, the two reached a clearing among the trees, with a view that took Tessa's breath away. The moonlight reflected brightly off of the frozen surface of the lake, which stretched as far as her eyes could see. Silence hung heavy, save for the peaceful rhythm of their breathing.
A delighted squeal stole its way from Tessa's throat, a sound which caused Mammon’s heart to race. His joy was cut short as the human let go of his hand to reach into her bag and pull out some strange looking boots. She unceremoniously plopped down onto a rock and removed her shoes before carefully adjusting the straps on the bladed boots, standing up on wobbly feet once she was done. Her initial unease was quickly replaced by confidence as she strided towards the edge of the lake. She moved with such ease once on the ice that Mammon thought she had been born to do so, spinning and circling with control and elegance, gathering speed and leaping into the air.
Eventually, she circled back around to the spot where Mammon stood shell-shocked, slowing to a stop a few inches too close for his brain to keep up with him: all he could think about was the mirthful smile adorning her face and the way her cheeks had turned rosy from the cold. She giggled and he had to consciously stop himself from blurting out whatever crossed his mind, which was currently just a mantra of 'you're beautiful'. Instead, he pulled himself together and managed to tell her she could have hurt herself on the ice like that.
Tessa smiled knowingly at him, and, thanks to the adrenaline still rushing through her veins, she reached up and pressed a feather light kiss on his cheek, effectively stopping his ramblings yet again.
'You're cute, Mammon.' she mused, noting the puff of his chest and the red tinge to his ears. 'Thank you for coming with me'
'Yeah, well...' he still seemed flustered and took a moment to reply 'Ya should be thankful that THE Great Mammon joined ya, I'm a busy guy'
Tessa nodded along with him, knowing better than to try to call him out on his clearly untrue words when she could see what he really wanted to say in his eyes. 'Would you like me to teach you? I don't have another pair of skates right now but I'm sure we could find some for you and come back!'
Almost too quickly, the demon nodded eagerly, and the human squealed in delight before hugging him tightly. Mammon smiled to himself as she held him close, enjoying the feeling of her face buried in his chest and her arms around his waist. He looked forward to spending more time with her.