Work Text:
It hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time. You and the brothers were all out to dinner together when Mammon did some thing and like usual, was teased for it. It seemed so minor of a thing to you, that you didn’t even consider the possibility it could be upsetting to him until you looked up from your plate and saw Mammon staring at you. You had never seen him look as hurt as he did in that moment.
On the way home, you tried to walk with him so you could talk, but he made up some excuses and hurried on ahead. His brothers told you not to worry about it, that he’s just pouting and will be fine after a few hours. But that didn’t sit well with you at all, which is why you were now standing outside his door trying to figure out what exactly it is you were going to say.
You knew you needed to apologize. But you also weren’t sure what you were apologizing for. Was it just because you laughed that he was hurt? Or was it because he expected you to stand up for him? Or had you missed something else entirely?
Eventually you decided that it was best, for now, to just show up and be there for him. You wanted him to know that you knew you had messed up, and that you were worried about him, even if you hadn’t quite figured out what to say yet. You didn’t want to make things worse by letting him think you were ignoring him or didn’t care how he felt.
“Mammon? It’s me,” you said, knocking on his door. When he didn’t answer, you sighed and let yourself inside. Heavens knows he’s let himself inside your room often enough without knocking, he shouldn’t get to complain about you doing the same.
“Hey! Whattya doin’! Ya can’t just come in here!” Mammon yelled as he quickly sat up on his sofa, wiping at his face.
Great. I made him cry, you thought.
“We need to talk.”
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say to you.”
“Mammon, please. I know I messed up,” you said as you walked over to where he was and took a seat beside him on the sofa. He crossed his arms, turning his head to the side away from you. Seeing as his hands were unavailable, you decided to settle for gently resting your hand on his knee and giving it a small squeeze. He flinched under your touch, but made no moves to get away or chase you off.
“I’m...I’m not sure what exactly I did wrong…” you started, keeping your head lowered as you rubbed his knee with your thumb in a soothing motion, “But whatever it was...I’m sorry for it…”
“How can you be sorry for somethin’ when you don’t even know what it was?!”, Mammon snapped. He couldn’t believe you were sitting here trying to give him that crap. Did you think he was just going to be pacified because you said sorry? Did you even care how betrayed he felt, watching you laugh and joke with his brothers at his expense? You were supposed to be the one person he could rely on, the one person always on his side, except for tonight…you weren’t.
“Because I never want to hurt you. So whatever it is I did, I know I had to have messed up by doing it,” you replied. Maybe you should have spent some more time preparing for this talk, you thought. This was just going to keep going in circles at this rate if you didn’t manage to figure out a direction to steer the conversation. All you needed was a single thread, just a single thread you could tug on and start to unravel why Mammon was so upset.
Mammon didn’t respond. He continued to sit there, head turned to the side, refusing to look at you. But you felt his leg relax a bit under your hand, which gave you some encouragement that you might be making at least a little progress.
“I know I laughed at Satan’s joke...but was there anything else…?”
“Does there need to be somethin’ else?! You gonna say I’m overreactin’ just cause that’s all there was?” Mammon spat out. He was feeling just so frustrated right now. Part of him wanted to just give up and tell you everything...but another part of himself refused to allow that. That part of him was screaming at him to protect himself, to pull back, to be strong, to not show any weakness. It had been so long since Mammon had felt that way around you, he wasn’t even sure what to make of it.
“No! Not at all! I just want to make sure I’m not overlooking anything. I don’t want to hurt you again,” you had turned to face him now, with one leg crossed under you, and the other hanging off the sofa. You noticed a few of his fingers peeking out from under his arm from how he had them crossed, and reached out to gently hold them with your own.
The sudden contact surprised Mammon, causing him to uncross his arms, and turn towards you just enough that you were able to adjust your grip so that you were now holding his whole hand. He sighed at your persistence, but again, he made no moves to pull away, instead he simply sat there and let you hold his hand and run your thumb over his knuckles.
“I’m sorry, Mammon. I’m sorry for laughing. I shouldn’t have done that. I know how much it bothers you, and I should have known better. I should have been on your side. I should have made them stop. I just...I didn’t realize it. I messed up. And...I’m sorry,” you had started to sniffle as you spoke, fighting off tears of your own. You didn’t want to cry. Not now. Now was supposed to be about Mammon and making him feel better. You knew if you started crying, he’d switch into “guardian mode” and end up comforting you, and that wasn’t what he needed.
“...here. If you wanna hold my hand, at least hold this one. It’s kinda awkward sittin’ like this,” he said, offering you the hand closest to you, palm up. You looked up to smile at him, but he still wasn’t looking at you. You did however notice a faint blush on his cheeks as you threaded your fingers together with his own and pulled his hand into your lap so you could hold it with both of yours.
Mammon could tell you were trying. He wanted to give you credit for that much at least. It’s not like anyone else tried to understand him. But you cared enough to follow after him and sit down and talk things out, even when he was being a brat and refusing to talk properly. His heart still ached though when he remembered why he was in this situation in the first place.
“Umm...there is one thing I really want to say,” you said, looking to Mammon for permission to continue. Noticing your silence he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.
“I just want to make it clear that I’m not saying this to dismiss how you feel or anything like that. I messed up. And I hurt you. I know that. But….” you paused, trying to be sure you had the right words and hoping that what you were trying to say would make sense to him and not hurt him further, “but...I just want to make sure that you are mad at me for the right reasons I guess? So I feel like you should know why I laughed.”
You hesitated a bit, anxiously running your thumbs along the back of Mammon’s hand. This would all be so much easier if he just knew your heart and you didn’t have to put it into words.
“Fine. Well, why’d ya laugh then?”, Mammon wasn’t sure if he really wanted to hear the rest of this. He couldn’t think of a possible explanation that would make things better, only worse.
“I didn’t laugh because I thought you were stupid or anything like that. I wasn’t trying to mock you or hurt you. I laughed because...well...because I thought you were cute,” you said, carefully lifting your head so you could sneak a peek at Mammon’s face. He was now staring at you head on, completely baffled. He couldn’t decide if he should be embarrassed or insulted. Cute? Him? A demon?
“Don’t go callin’ me cute! I ain’t cute!” he said with a huff. But the deep red blush that had taken up residence on his cheeks and now tinted even the tips of his ears told you plenty about how he was feeling.
“Well that’s too bad. I like it when you’re cute. It makes me want to kiss you,” you responded, a sly grin creeping across your face as you teased him. Somehow he managed to blush even deeper, which honestly warmed your heart to see.
Mammon was struggling to string together a single coherent thought at this point. He wanted to reply, but he had no idea what to say. He knew if he started talking now he’d just be a blushing stuttering mess and he really wanted to avoid that. But he could see that mischievous grin of yours out of the corner of his eye, and he wanted nothing more than to return your teasing with some of his own.
If what you were saying was true...then that kinda changed things. Ok, who was he kidding? It changed everything. Knowing that there was a moment, even while surrounded by all his brothers, that you were looking at him and thinking to yourself ‘Man, I wish I could kiss him right now’ left him feeling all sorts of ways that were anything but hurt. If you were going to want to kiss him every time you laughed at him, then you could laugh as much as you wanted as far as he was concerned.
“Well...where’s my kiss then?”, he finally managed to ask, fighting off the smile that was tugging at his lips. He figured he deserved at least a little more of your comfort after all you had put him through.
You couldn’t help but laugh as you watched Mammon try to stop himself from smiling. He was failing miserably at it, but he seemed unaware of that fact himself, which made him look even more cute in your eyes. And hearing your laughter only made it all the more difficult for him to keep a straight face. You decided to tease him a little bit though, and raised his hand that you were holding to your lips, kissing the back of it.
“What?! Is that it?” he said, shocked, as he turned his head towards you completely again, causing you to only laugh more at how flustered yet disappointed he was.
“No, babe, that wasn’t it. This is it,” you answered, climbing into his lap, taking his face in your hands before kissing him tenderly on the lips, pouring all the love and affection you could manage into that single kiss.
When you pulled back, he was smiling at you again, as he rested his forehead against yours.
“I don’t think that was enough.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, ya laughed a lot. So that means more kisses, right?” now it was Mammon’s turn to tease you, and you were loving it. There were plenty of times when he wanted you to just spoil him rotten, which you were more than happy to do, but you lived for the times when he’d flip the tables on you and leave you hungering for more.
“Right,” you agreed, pressing another kiss to his lips, this one a little needier than the last.
“I love you. I want you to know that,” you said, as you pulled back and looked into his eyes, “And I really am sorry for hurting you.”
Mammon smiled at you softly. He loved it when you looked at him like that. He could feel the sincerity in your eyes, and it melted away any lingering doubts he may have had. You really were his person. His human.
“I’m sorry for not givin’ ya a chance to explain yourself. I shoulda had a little more faith in ya I guess,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, and then cupping your face with one of his hands and caressing your cheek, while the other slipped around your waist.
“It’s ok. It’s not your fault. I messed up. I should have been paying more attention.”
“Well, now that that’s cleared up. Less talkin’,” he said, pulling you towards himself, “and more kissin’.”