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Tsukishima Kei has never been a desperate man.
Even in high school, when he’d had to deal with the two biggest boneheads on the entire planet, he’d never reached the level of what he refers to as true desperation. But now, staring at the red errors in the code in front of him, his hands poised to rip out his own fucking hair, he’s pretty sure he’s become pretty damn desperate.
And this final project is due tomorrow.
Cursing under his breath, he makes his way over to the mirror and stares at his reflection. He’s the picture of stress: dark circles, mussed hair, a wild look in his eyes, and decides maybe it is time to go with his last ditch plan. And his last ditch plan, after overdosing on coffee and scouring the depths of Google, is... to summon a demon.
Well, he’d never claimed it was a good plan.
After a quick trip to the grocery store and a lot of research, plus a quick pros and cons list, he decides to give it a shot. He completes the entire ritual based on some article he’d found: candles, pentagram painted on the floor and all. It's more intense than he thought it'd be, but he still figures there's no way it's actually going to work, right? But then, when he’s done, there’s a loud crash, a bang, and then...
And then, there’s a creature sitting in the middle of the floor.
He takes a step back, the breath knocked from his lungs. Shit. He hadn’t expected it to actually work, for God’s sake - or Satan’s sake, he supposes. He stares at the creature, his eyes wide.
What the fuck are you supposed to say to a demon at your first meeting, anyways?
“Hi,” is what he settles on.
The smoke clears a little more, making the creature sitting in the midst of it visible. But he’s not exactly what Tsukishima would think a demon would look like. He’s - well, he’s cute, however much Tsukishima loathes that word. Big eyes, freckles, a human-like appearance except for the horns on his head and the vaguely red sheen on his skin. “Hi,” he says, sounding slightly nervous.
Hm, Tsukishima thinks. Interesting. “Are you a demon?”
“I mean.” The guy - demon? - motions to the smoke around him and then his ears. “Yeah? Shouldn’t that be obvious?"
“You don’t seem like a demon.”
The demon sighs. “I’m in training still. Y’know how angels have to earn their feathers? Well, like them, we have a training system where we have to earn our scales.”
“Ah.” Tsukishima examines him. “Are you capable of doing human homework?”
The demon stares at him blankly for a minute, but then starts to dissolve into weirdly adorable laughs. “You seriously summoned a demon to help you with your homework?”
“More like a final project,” Tsukishima says dryly. “I was desperate.”
“I can tell,” the demon wheezes.
“Shut up. Just answer the question.”
The demon grins. Tsukishima thinks it’s far too nice-looking to be the grin of a demon, and then hates himself for it. Had he managed to summon a fucking succubus or something? “I guess I could try? I don’t know. Never attempted human homework before,” the demon says.
“Fine,” Tsukishima says, pushing the computer over towards the demon. The demon just stares at it, his eyebrows narrowing, and Tsukishima asks, “Do demons even know how to use computers?”
“Some of us do,” the demon shrugs. “We try to stay up to date on the newest stuff on Earth. So I bet I could give this a shot too.” He scrolls through Tsukishima’s code until he reaches about halfway down the page and points at the screen. “Oh, here you go. You have a typo here. And there - you don’t have an object for that…”
The demon is incredibly intelligent, Tsukishima learns quickly. He helps Tsukishima sift through his code, pointing out all the errors and assisting him in fixing them. Tsukishima’s never really been a fan of accepting help from others. Still, there’s something about the way that the demon helps him that’s… almost enjoyable, somehow.
Once they finish fixing his code, he breathes a sigh of relief upon watching the code light up green, and turns back to the demon. “God. Okay. Thank you, uh… do you have a name?”
The demon grins. His eyes scrunch shut. It’s fucking adorable. Tsukishima hates himself for even thinking that word, much less in the context of describing a demon, of all things. “My name’s kind of impossible for humans to pronounce, so you can call me Tadashi.”
“Tadashi,” Tsukishima repeats. “Thank you, Tadashi. I guess I never told you my name. It’s Tsukishima Kei.”
“Tsukki,” Tadashi says, a little bit of a smirk on his face, and although Tsukishima hates that nickname with a fiery passion, he can’t find it within himself to correct Tadashi. “Hey. I have to get back soon, but if you need more help, you should summon me again.”
“Hm, what? You’re eager to get back down here and hang out with a lowly human again?” Tsukishima asks dryly.
“Well, you’re an interesting human!” Tadashi says. “Most humans I’ve seen wouldn’t go so far as to summon a demon just to help with their homework.”
“I was desperate - and I didn’t summon you here to make fun of me.”
“I’m not! I’m just stating the facts. But I meant more of like, I liked hanging out with you. And your homework is pretty cool, actually. It’s fun to get to work with computers.”
“Fine, then,” Tsukishima relents. “I guess I could summon you again.”
And so he does. He doesn’t just summon Tadashi when he’s desperate, either; he summons him any time he struggles with his homework, if even a little bit. He has to buy a lot of fucking paint and candles, but every time he sees Tadashi’s beaming face and listens to Tadashi explaining the errors his code and how to fix them in his bright and cheery tone, it feels like it’s worth it.
On his tenth visit or so, Tsukishima asks him, “Is this normal?”
“Is what normal?” Tadashi replies.
“For a demon to keep coming to earth, visiting the same human over and over,” Tsukishima says. “And not even torturing them or anything. Isn’t it frowned upon for demons to be assisting humans?”
“Oh, yeah, it definitely is,” Tadashi says.
Tsukishima stares at him. “Then what? Are you just a shitty demon or is there something else going on here?”
Tadashi laughs. “I guess you could say that. But I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind torturing most humans.” He bares his sharp teeth, which Tsukishima somehow simultaneously finds endearing and terrifying. “But like I said before, you’re different. You’re an interesting human. And well, I get each of these visits down as part of my ‘training,’ so it’s not like this isn’t benefiting me too, you know!”
Tsukishima doesn’t know why his chest feels a little warmer at hearing Tadashi describe him as “interesting”. He couldn’t give less of a shit about the opinions of most people, but for some reason, he’s suddenly invested in the opinions of a demon?
Or maybe, he thinks as he stares at Tadashi, who’s looking back at him with his wide, sparkling eyes - maybe, he has a little bit of an idea as to why.
“Just out of curiosity. Am I an interesting enough human for you to kiss?” he asks flatly.
“I’d definitely consider it,” Tadashi says brightly. “Just as long as you’re okay with kissing a demon!”
He leans in towards Tadashi reflexively, lets Tadashi take the initiative of pressing their lips together, of twining his hands into Tsukishima’s hair. Shit, Tsukishima thinks as they kiss, as Tadashi scoots closer to him and Tsukishima feels the cold of Tadashi’s skin pressed up against his.
It looks like he’s going to have to buy a hell of a lot more candles and paint if he’s going to be summoning Tadashi even more, even when he doesn’t necessarily need homework help at all. But somehow, regardless, he can’t bring himself to mind.