Work Text:
Candles? Check. Red paint? Check. Spellbook? Check. After making sure you had all the supplies you needed, you sat yourself down in the middle of your now empty living room. The couches and rugs pushed out of the way to give you enough room. Briefly, you wondered what decisions in your life led you to this moment, but no matter what it was, you were past the point of backing out now. That’s right, you were going to finish this regardless of the consequences.
Once the seal on the ground was painted, you read through the spellbook again, making sure you were doing each step perfectly. You weren’t about to come this far just to mess it up with some stupid beginner’s mistake. Hours were spent just trying to memorize the chant and it wasn’t the easiest thing you did in your life, especially considering the stupid chant was in Latin. The jar of salt was located just outside of your demonic circle, y’know, just in case, to provide a shred of comfort.
Taking a moment to breathe deeply, you gathered up the courage and began the ritual. The candles were lit, engulfing you in the warm yellow light they gave off while you followed along with the book’s chant. You tried desperately not to be nervous as you recited the words. Unknown results made your hands shake, would this work? Would you really summon a demon? Would you die? Only time would tell, but you were determined to get answers to those questions.
When the ritual was finished you held your breath, waiting for something, anything, to happen. After a few agonizing minutes passed you were convinced the whole thing was a flop, a failure. You groaned, all that time wasted and began to get up, heading to wash the paint off of your hands. While the water ran over your hands, red filling the sink, you heard a loud noise come from the living room. Quickly you dried your hands, leaving a stain of pink on the white towel, and sprinted into the room where you held the ritual.
There in the middle of the room was a man, or at least, something that looked like a man and the blond figure grinned, “Aye! You the one that summoned me? Not every day I get summoned by a cutie.”
His grin was going to haunt you and you rolled your eyes, of course, you would get stuck with the playboy demon, “What kind of demon are you?”
“Damn, straight to the point, huh? Can’t blame ya I guess. Ehhh, I’m just a low-level demon. Big guys don’t exactly care for a beginner’s ritual. But hey, lucky for you I was bored!”
“So…,” you paused for a minute, not about to insult a demon no matter what level they were, “What can I do for you while you’re on the mortal plane?”
While you waited for the demon to respond, your mind wandered to everything he could possibly ask for, holding your breath faster you thought of the more deplorable options, “You know a good burger place?”
If you could see your face right now you probably would have laughed your ass off. Your mouth hung open as you stared blankly at the demon in front of you. Did he really just get summoned, have you at his disposal, and ask for a burger? It was so absolutely bizarre that you could barely process the request. After a moment, you shook yourself from the shock and nodded vigorously.
“Uh, yeah I know a good burger place. Is that… Is that really all you want? Just a burger?”
“Well fries and a coke too, duh.”
Duh. You nodded and quickly started gathering your things, getting ready to head out on the town. As you slipped your jacket on and began walking down the sidewalk, your new companion began to talk your ear off. Every now and then you were able to sneak a word in, rationalizing that it must get lonely in the underworld. Therefore, now that he had a buddy to talk to he wasn’t going to shut up for the next hour or more.
At this time of night, the burger shop was nearly deserted, save for some theater geeks and insomnia stricken college students. You sat down in a booth and the blond man sat across from you. The cheery waitress took your orders, the demon happily ordering the coke along with a milkshake. After she left a silence finally fell over you two before your curiosity got the better of you.
“What should I call you? Like, do you have a name?”
“Call me Alfred, way less of a mouthful than the official demon name, y’know?”
“Uh, yeah I suppose. I mean if that’s what you want to be called it’s fine.”
“How about you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Does my name matter?”
“Touche. Call me (y/n).”
Alfred nodded and a smile spread across his face. You swallowed a bit hard and were silently lucky the demon you summoned just happened to be a total heartthrob, and apparently a bit of a dork. His blue eyes sparkled under the fluorescents while he babbled on about how happy he was to be out of the underworld. The comment made your head tilt and again, curiosity took over you.
“So, when or what makes you go back?”
A sly grin replaced his smile as he sucked at his milkshake, “Wouldn’t you like to know, sweetheart.”
“Hey, you haven’t killed me yet, I was just curious,” you couldn’t help but laugh while you placed your order with the waitress.
Once she was out of earshot Alfred leaned closer, “I go back when I want to. Which means your ass is stuck with me. I’m your problem now, babe.”
Hm, that didn’t sound too bad. Briefly, you found yourself succumbing to the demon’s charms, silently hoping that maybe he’d decide to stay forever. It wouldn’t be the worst way to end the rest of your days. The charming smile across from you definitely helped in persuading you. Even as he unceremoniously chowed down on his burger he still managed to look good. Life just got a lot more interesting.