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As you exit through the doors of R.A.D. for the final time, a wave of nostalgia hits you. Just one year ago you were trembling on the threshold of these same doors, convinced you were going to become some demon’s lunch before the end of the day. The constantly overcast sky that once felt foreboding now seems normal, almost welcoming. You smile as a chilled breeze tickles your skin, smelling of dead leaves and rainstorms.
Your original plan was to go straight back to the House of Lamentation, but as you gaze out across the campus, the pull of memory tugs you toward the gate leading away from the main street. You saunter across the courtyard with an unhurried step and admire the grounds, taking them in carefully and trying to remember what it was like the very first time you saw them.
The gate has just swung closed behind you when Asmo materializes at your side, still dressed in his school uniform. His appearance is so sudden you wonder if he had been waiting for you by the gate.
“Look who I found! It’s my favorite human,” he chirps. He links his arm with yours and tugs you close. “So what’s up? Heading home now?”
You raise an eyebrow and give him a teasing smile. “I might be. What about you? What are you up to?” you ask.
He squeezes you against his side, so close that his perfume makes you dizzy. “Me? Well, I’m glad you asked!” he says. “I was about to ask you out on a little date, actually.”
Your face quickly flushes. A date? Admittedly, you’ve had a crush on him pretty much since the first day you arrived in the Devildom, and he’s always been sweet and flirtatious around you. You’d just assumed that was his personality. And, okay, a small part of you is angry at him for waiting until the day before you’re supposed to go home to properly ask you out... but a much bigger part of you is internally leaping for joy.
“So, how about it? You’re game, right?” He throws his arms around you before you can answer. “Okay, it’s settled!”
You roll your eyes even though your skin is on fire wherever he touches you. “Alright, if I have to...”
He lets go of you and takes a step back, though his hands linger on your arms. His honey-bright eyes burrow into you with an intensity that you recognize as him trying to charm you. Even though his power doesn’t work on you, the way he’s looking at your face, like all of his attention is focused on you, makes butterflies swirl around your stomach and your face grow hot.
“You know,” he coos, his lips sliding into a seductive smile, “I love how you pretend to be all grumpy and unhappy when you’re really too embarrassed to admit how much you adore spending time with me!”
You open your mouth to protest, but he continues, “The way you’re all prickly on the outside to mask your sweet, adorable center...” He closes his eyes and releases a shuddering sigh. “It makes me want to do things to you... pleasant things- so pleasant that you’ll be forced to drop the facade!”
If possible, you blush even harder and your mouth goes cotton-dry. Before you can sputter out a response, Asmo continues, in a cheery tone as if he’d just been discussing the weather, “What do you say? Sounds like fun, don’t you think?”
You stifle the thunderous YES! pounding in your heart and manage a casual, “Sure, I’m game.”
He squeals with delight and drags you into another bone-crushing hug. “All right then, let’s go! I already have a place in mind I want to take you.”
After a quick stop at home to change into casual clothes, it’s a few minutes’ walk to the bar Asmo had picked. You had expected him to bring you somewhere flashy and filled with drunken revelers grinding to ear-shattering EDM, but the little pub is actually quite quaint. There are a few other patrons drinking and chatting softly, and in the background some kind of folky guitar plays over the speakers. You might even go so far as to call it charming, in its own way- kind of like your partner.
Asmo leads you to a booth at the back of the room and slides into the seat opposite you. Before you’ve even picked up the menu, a server deposits two steins of glittery amber liquor onto the table before scurrying away.
“This is one of my favorite places to come drink! What do you think? Nice, huh?” Asmo chirps. “It’s got a good atmosphere, and the drinks are good as well, of course.” His expression turns mischievous. “But it also has private rooms in the back, you see. They’re useful for when you really hit it off with someone, and you’re looking for a more private spot to... do things you maybe shouldn’t do ...”
You snort. “Is that so? You visit these rooms often?”
He sticks out his tongue at you. “Once we actually rented out this entire place for a private party. The entire bar was like our own private room. We did such naughty things...” His eyes slide half-closed and he gets a dreamy smile, like he’s sinking into a pleasant memory.
He quickly straightens up. “Ooh, sorry! Am I talking about myself a little too much?”
You shake your head with a small grin. “I want to hear more about you,” you reply.
He giggles in a manner that could almost be described as bashful. “You really do say the sweetest things, don’t you?” he sighs.
After a couple drinks, he leans his arm on the table with his chin in his hand and regards you with an inscrutable gaze. “Hmm, I’m feeling a bit tipsy right now,” he hums. “I was really hoping we’d get the chance to spend some time alone together like this, you know? I mean, someone’s always interrupting us when we’re at the House of Lamentation, aren’t they?”
You shrug and glance down at your drink to hide the warmth creeping into your cheeks. “I suppose. Why, do you want to spend more alone time with me?”
He giggles and takes a long sip of his drink. “Darling, I’ve wanted to get you alone all year ,” he sighs. “That’s why tonight feels special. It’s like I’ve finally got you all to myself.”
Your heart stutters at the mischief radiating from his smile. You’re not entirely sure this isn’t the most wonderful kind of dream, but even if it is, fuck it- the boy you’ve had an enormous crush on for a year invited you on a date and is basically confessing that he reciprocates your feelings. You’re going to enjoy yourself, dammit.
You lean toward him and do something so bold you’d never have dreamed of it before today. You place a hand on his arm, the one propping up his head, and stroke your thumb over the exposed skin above his sleeve. “Well,” you hum, doing your best to be alluring, “we’re alone now.”
His expression grows- not brighter, but it seems to glow with a different light, something more devious. He straightens up a bit and twines his fingers with yours. “We’re not really alone, though. There are other customers around,” he laments. He squeezes your hand and gives you a not-so-subtle wink. “Also, we’d need to be in bed to do the things I’d like to do.”
Oh god, oh god. Warmth rushes so violently over your skin that you feel dizzy. You instinctively try to pull your hand back, but he gives it a squeeze and wraps his other hand around it as well.
“Up to now, I’ve always loved myself above everyone else,” he says. “But ever since you arrived, something’s been a little off... Sometimes I find myself wanting to put you first, even before me.”
Your eyes are rooted on the table, but something in his voice makes you glance up. He doesn’t look flirtatious or silly; his expression is almost somber. It reminds you of how he’d looked the day Belphie had attacked you- a memory you try not to dwell on too often.
He swallows hard and squeezes your fingers. “What do you think about that? I want to hear your opinion.”
You chew on your lip, considering your words carefully. “That doesn’t sound like you, Asmo,” you say softly.
“Exactly! I agree.” He lets go of your hand and immediately you feel like crying. He grabs his glass and sucks up the final dregs of his cocktail.
Even though he’s no longer touching you, your skin feels tingly as he rakes his eyes over you. The atmosphere is different, now; there’s a charge in the air between you that wasn’t there before.
He tilts his head. “It isn’t like me at all to think like that,” he murmurs. His voice is quiet, like he’s thinking out loud.
He glances down at his lap and you notice for the first time how pink his cheeks are. It’s probably from the alcohol, but a tiny part of you hopes that it could be something else- perhaps he’s feeling just as shy about discussing his feelings as you are...? But then the moment is over far too soon, and his usual pep returns.
“I’d really like it if you could look at me and tell me that you love me more than anyone else. If you did that, I’d feel safe knowing that I really am the best!” He tilts his head and grins at you. “So, here’s my idea. Get ready, because it’s a good one: you and I should have a drinking contest!”
You narrow your eyes. “A drinking contest?”
“If you lose, you have to say, ‘I love Asmo more than anyone else.’ And if I win, I get to kiss you over and over to my heart’s content,” he chirps. “Sounds good, right?”
Your face floods with warmth and you stumble over your words. “Wait, I- what?”
“Oops! Did you notice that there’s no reward for you if you win?” he giggles. “Even so, there’s no need to sweat minor details like that, now is there? It’ll be fun!”
A server approaches your table and sets down a tray of unfamiliar drinks, and Asmo clasps his hands together in delight. “Look, they’ve brought out two extra-large horns of Demonus for us!”
Though it’s been served at every party you’ve attended in the Devildom, you never got the guts to try the drink yourself. Asmo pushes it toward you and you stare at the viscous, greenish liquid sloshing around. An odd bittersweet smell rolls off of it, like cotton candy and hot tar.
Asmo raises his drink to you in a toast. “Let the competition begin!” he chirps. “And just so you know, I’m not about to let you beat me!”
Forty minutes later, Asmo is doubled over the table and swaying dizzily, and you don’t even feel buzzed. He frowns down at his glass.
“...That’s weird,” he mutters. “I don’t get it. How can this be happening...? I’ve never lost a Demonus drinking competition... never ever! How can you still be fine after drinking all of that...?”
You shrug. “Maybe because I’m human?”
He gasps. “Wait, whaaat ? So you’re saying humans don’t get drunk off of Demonus?”
You squint at the strange green liquid in your glass. “Seems that way.”
Asmo sniffles, then lets out a tiny sob that he tries to muffle behind his hand. “It’s not faaaaaaair!” he whines.
You’re about to scold him for getting so upset over a silly drinking contest, but then he cries, “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you going back to the human world!”
He climbs into your booth and throws his arms around your waist, burying his face in your shoulder. You rub his arm gently and he looks up at you with wet, red-rimmed eyes. Mascara stains his skin and his cheeks are flushed with sorrow, but he’s still the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen.
“Don’t do it, don’t go,” he sniffles. “Stay right here, forever...”
He’s gorgeous, and he wants you, and his lips are right there ... so you do what you’ve been dying to do all year and kiss him.
He moans into your mouth and tilts his head, returning the kiss greedily. His arms tighten around your waist and tug you to him, trapping you against his body. You can feel his tongue pressing against the seam of your lips and you open for him, an invitation which he eagerly accepts.
When he finally breaks the kiss, he sighs happily and leans against your shoulder.
“Oh, wow,” he whispers. “All you did was kiss me, and I feel like I’ve died and gone to the Celestial Realm...!”
He sits up straight so he can look at you properly. “I love you,” he gasps. “I love you more than anything! Don’t go... Don’t you dare go anywhere.....”
He lays his head back down on your shoulder, and in seconds you can hear him let out a delicate snore.
“I knew it.”
When you glance up, you see Satan standing over your table. “I figured I’d find the two of you here,” he sighs.
You give him a bright smile. “Are you here for a drink too, Satan?”
“No. Don’t be ridiculous. I waited at home, but neither of you showed up, so I went out looking for you,” he scoffs. “I take it Asmo challenged you to a drinking contest, huh? I’ve never seen him lose one before. Are humans immune to the effects of Demonus? Is that it?”
“I just have an especially high tolerance to it,” you reply.
“Huh... well, if you’re that confident, I might have to challenge you to a drinking competition myself sometime,” he says with a smirk. “Well, whatever. Come on, we’re going home. I’ll carry Asmo.”
He heaves his brother’s sleepy body over his shoulder with ease and you follow him out of the bar and onto the street. Neither of you says anything during the brief walk home. When you arrive at the House of Lamentation, Satan pauses outside.
“I’ll put him to bed. Why don’t you wait for me in my room?” he says.
You put a hand on his arm. “Actually...” He turns to look at you curiously. “Could I put him to bed? I want to give him a proper good-night.”
Satan’s expression is unreadable. After several seconds of looking at you, he shrugs and helps Asmo to his feet. “He’s all yours,” he says and heads off to his own room.
By this time Asmo is a bit more awake, and you help him put an arm around your shoulders as you guide him to his room. He doesn’t walk so much as hang off of you like a wilting primadonna. It’s a pain getting him upstairs, but finally you arrive at his room and shuck him onto the bed.
“I’ll get you some water. Don’t go anywhere,” you tell him.
He grabs your shirt and tugs. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll be good,” he whines.
You gently shake him off. “I’m just going to get some water and be right back. Don’t worry.”
By the time you return with his water, he’s shrugged out of most of his clothes and is struggling to get his skinny jeans off without standing up. You roll your eyes, place the water on the side table and put a hand on his shoulder. “Sit still, I’ll help you.”
“Ooh, my human is undressing me. What naughty things are you going to do to me?” he giggles.
You roll your eyes and yank his pants off his legs without ceremony. “Don’t be a weirdo. I just want you to be comfortable when you sleep.”
He suddenly sobers at that and sticks his lip out in a pout. “Are you going to leave me now? I really don’t want you to go.”
You glance at the door and consider your options. You could just go back to your room and go about everything as normal, then leave the Devildom tomorrow wondering what could have been... or-
“Do you want me to sleep with you?” you ask.
His face lights up and he claps his hands excitedly. “Yes, please! I’ll behave, I promise!”
“Okay, but you have to drink some water first,” you tell him.
He grabs the glass off his table and gulps it down in seconds. He gives you a blinding smile before yanking the blankets back and patting the spot next to him.
You climb onto the bed and get underneath the covers, careful not to get too close to his personal space. He apparently has no such qualms as he immediately throws an arm over you and tucks his head beneath your chin. “Good night,” he sighs, and seconds later he’s snoring daintily.
You fully plan to sneak back to your own room as soon as the opportunity arises. You do your best to ignore how warm and soft he feels curled up against your body, or the gentle wisp of his breath against your neck, or the way being in bed with him like this is making your heart beat so loudly you’re sure it will wake him up.
You are trying so hard not to dwell on any of these things that you don’t notice when you yourself slip under the blanket of sleep.
The next morning you wake slowly, the vague memory of your dreams fading into the gray morning light slipping past the curtains. The bed is soft, so much softer than your own, and your body feels warm like you’re cocooned in a blanket of sunshine. You shift against the satin sheets and feel an unexpected resistance, like there’s someone else in-
And then the previous night comes flooding back and your eyes shoot open. Somehow, the two of you had moved in your sleep so that you’re spooning Asmo, his lithe body curled against your front and one of your arms thrown possessively around his waist. Your mind starts racing from mortification to affection to terror when, in perfect sitcom-style timing, Asmo stirs from his sleep.
He moans softly and wriggles against you like he’s trying to bury himself deeper in your warmth. You have to bite your lip to stifle the answering moan that tries to spring from your throat. He doesn’t seem in any hurry to finish waking, and you hold your breath in anticipation.
When at last he looks over his shoulder to see the source of his pleasant awakening, you can see your own emotions mirrored in him: recognition, embarrassment, fear, and then joy.
“Well, well,” he hums as he settles onto his back. “I would say thank you for last night, but I can hardly remember it. A shame.”
For some reason unknown even to yourself, you blurt, “We didn’t have sex.”
You hope you didn’t imagine the disappointment that flickers across his face. It’s instantly replaced by a wince of pain as he tries to sit up.
“Ugh. I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but I may have overdone it last night,” he groans.
You disentangle yourself from the sheets and lean over him to grab the empty glass from his bedside table. You start to climb out of the bed to fill it, but he stops you with a hand on your shoulder, staring at you with a somber look. You shift awkwardly under his gaze. “What?”
“I’m glad,” he says.
You frown at him. “Glad for what?”
“That we didn’t have sex.”
You almost choke on your own saliva. Your face flushes hot and it takes everything in you to calmly reply, “Thanks, I guess?”
“Not that I don’t want to, of course. I just would rather remember it, you know?” His eyes trace the contours of your face like he’s committing it to memory. “I want something happy to hold on to when you leave.”
Your heart melts. “Asmo, it’s not like you’re never going to see me again. We can visit each other often!”
“But it won’t be the same as living in the same house as you, and going to school together,” he sighs. “I won’t get to look forward to seeing you at meals, or ask you to help me study, or play with your hair, or go shopping...”
Crystalline tears well up and slide over his cheeks, making pale tracks in the remnants of last night’s makeup. His chin trembles but you can see the tension in his jaw, like he’s trying very hard not to break down in front of you.
You wrap your arms around his shoulders and bury your face in his hair. “I won’t ever leave you, Asmo. Not in any way that counts. Doesn’t matter if I’m here or in the human world, I’m always with you.”
He sniffs and trembles in your arms. “People say that, but it doesn’t really mean anything,” he huffs. “If you’re not here, then I can’t really be with you. I can’t talk to you, hug you… kiss you…”
You pull back and he’s staring at you with naked emotion shining in his peach-colored irises. “I can’t get that kiss from last night out of my head,” he whispers. “I thought it was a dream, but now I know it was real. And I really want to do it again.”
He places a hand on your waist, tentatively, like he’s afraid you’ll bolt if he moves too quickly. Your thoughts are racing to catch up with your heart, caught in the thrill of waking up in your crush’s bed and knowing he returns your feelings, that he wants you the same way you want him.
You’ve spent too long without the joy of his love to deny yourself any longer.
You throw your arms around his neck and pull him to you in a bruising kiss. His lips feel like heaven, soft and perfect like they were made precisely for you. He wraps his arms around your waist and releases a feathery moan as he reciprocates the kiss. Your bodies move toward each other like magnets, desperate to be connected at every possible surface point.
You break apart with a soft gasp. Asmo presses his forehead to yours and closes his eyes, taking a slow, shaky breath.
“I meant what I said last night,” he whispers. “Don’t go back to the human world. Stay here with me, forever. Never leave my side.”
“Asmo-”
“The thought of being apart from you feels like a knife in my chest. Please don’t go,” he whimpers.
Fresh tears slide down his cheeks and drip onto your shoulder. You pull Asmo toward you and he buries himself in the crook of your neck while your fingers comb through his silky hair. “I have to go back, Asmo. I have a life up there. Family, friends. Responsibilities.”
He squeezes his arms tighter around your waist. “What about your responsibility to me ? I love you so much and it’s all your fault. Take responsibility for that.”
You giggle and gently coax his head up so you can see his eyes. “Trust me, I’d love to. But what would I even do here? I can’t stay at R.A.D. forever.” You stroke a hand over his cheek and he nuzzles into it like a cat. “I’m a human; I won’t be this young forever. There are still so many things I want to do on Earth before I die-”
“I won’t let you die!” He clasps your face between his hands and tugs you nose-to-nose. “I’ll never, ever let that happen. I’ll find a way-”
“Asmo.”
He drops his hands into his lap and fixes you with his best pout.
“This is a lot to think about. For both of us,” you say. “I’m going back to the human world today, but there’s plenty of time to discuss what happens after.”
“You mean you’ll come back and live with me?” he squeals, his honeyed irises sparkling.
You give his forehead a quick peck. “Maybe. We’ll see. But for now…” You snake your hand back into his hair and give it a testing yank. “Why don’t we just focus on the present, hm?”
His lips split in a mischievous grin and a pleasant flush colors his cheeks. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
“Mm, I could stand to hear it one more time.”
He presses his cheek to yours and whispers, his breath ghosting over your ear, “I’ll make sure to tell you every day from now on. Forever and ever.”