Chapter Text
"Decoration syndrome": a phenomenon where flowers blossom on the skin of one whose love is requited.
The blossoms—playfully dubbed "decor"—appear when the host, due to insecurity or a personal flaw, finds themselves unable to correctly express their feelings in a way that their crush can understand.
The longer the host puts off a confession, the bigger the flowers will grow. They'll grow and grow until the host can't hide the blossoms peeking out of their sleeves and collar.
The flowers cannot be removed till either the mutual affection is acknowledged, or the love stops being requited.
(Should either condition be met, the blooms let go of the host and discard themselves; this is called "shedding".)
"Decoration syndrome". Having been glorified across the three worlds for literal millenia, it's in everything from normie stuff to anime. It's common for couples who get together after one (or both) developed decor for the other to pick the largest fallen blossoms, dry the blooms, and preserve them in picture frames. Teens swept up in puppy love dream of waking up to decor on their skin.
(It's highly romanticized.)
— Devilpedia, "Decoration Syndrome."
Day 1
Sunday Evening
Leviathan had—and was still having—a terrible weekend.
Yesterday, Mammon nabbed a pricey figure from Levi's room. Levi socked him in the jaw, so Mammon put him in a chicken wing hold. Asmo heard them brawling and went to get Lucifer, so Levi was eventually freed (but of course Asmo took photos first, because why wouldn't he and oh god he's never gonna live that down, is he? Definitely not).
Plus, he rolled three dupes in an event gacha he'd saved his vouchers for; a game he'd anticipated had its release date pushed back because a natural disaster ate the company building that held several analog drafts, fancy equipment, and the team's mojo; one of his cosplays somehow ended up on the front page of Devilcari; and Beel ate the pizza he was saving for later—box and all.
...Worst of all, his bestest (human) friend in all three worlds has been avoiding him since breakfast—and he has no idea why.
"This is so unfair," he glooms. "Right, Henry? You think so too, don't you?"
「…」Henry ignores him, and swims off to check out an especially funky bit of gravel. He plays with it.
"…Et tu, Henry?" Levi flops backwards onto his favorite anime-watching couch. Propping his arms up on the back of the seat, he rests his head on his hands and gazes at his beloved fish. "Come on, can't you offer some words of encouragement?"
「…」Henry drops his gravel; he swims up to the glass and bobs his head once, twice.「Suck it up, Master.」
"H-hey—!"
「Come in. Play with the gravel.」Henry sways.「You will feel better.」
"You think so?"
「Yes. The water is nice today, Master.」
Levi combs his fingers through the gravel on the aquarium floor, watching the stones sift through his fingers with absentminded fascination.
(Henry's right; the water is nice today.)
.
.
.
"Henry," he starts. "Have you heard of 'decoration syndrome'?"
Henry bobs his head.「Didn't Asmodeus get it once?」
"I-it was a while ago, but…yeah. Twice, actually." Scowling, Levi grabs a fistful of gravel; he watches the pebbles slip through his fingers…
「You were jealous.」
"…"
「He might get it again.」
"…" Levi hugs his knees to his chest and squeezes his eyes shut. "Yeah."
「So, if you and Asmodeus happened to like the same person…」
.
.
.
Levi looks away, face warm.
「I see.」Henry does an idle lap around his owner's head. 「You worry the human you have feelings for will fall for Asmodeus.」
"Eh—huh!?" Levi sputters. "Wh…n-no? I-I…"
「Master.」Henry swims up close; he brushes against Levi's cheek playfully. 「You are terrible at keeping secrets.」
"…Ahaha."
.
.
.
「Well? Why the sudden fixation?」
"…"
「…」
"It's…" Arms splayed, Levi flops backwards onto the gravel; it doesn't hurt, because the water slows his fall.
(The water will always slow his fall. If nothing else, he can trust the water.)
…
「Take your time, Master.」Henry circles above him. His movements are soothing, almost hypnotic; Levi follows him with his eyes.「I am listening.」
.
.
.
"I had a bad dream," Levi starts, then stops. He opens his mouth to continue, and falters…
「What was the dream?」
What was it, again? Levi squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them again, then squeezes them shut…
He opens his eyes again and sits up. Clasping his hands together, Levi says nothing—he just breathes.
(Rinse. Repeat. There's something about breathing water that Leviathan finds soothing.
…
Maybe it's the way it forces a rhythm.)
…
"Flowers. I dreamt about flowers, Henry." Levi covers his face with his hands and peeks at Henry through his fingers. "Ugh… They've been really close with Asmo lately, too, haven't they!? Like—like, he even invited them to take a bath with him!"
「Was that part of the dream?」
"No! Real life! And they said yes, because I accidentally summoned Lotan and broke the hot water—again." He hugs his knees to his chest. "I-I'm such a—such a, a—"
「I'll play dead.」Henry starts floating belly-up.
"Nooo! Stop!"
「Then, as the normies say, 'calm your tits'. And get back on topic.」
"O-okay! I'll calm my, my—" Levi wheeze-laughs bubbles. "Why would you say tha—"
Henry flips belly-up again.
"Aughhh! Okay, okay, just—don't do that!"
「Sorry.」Right side up, Henry dances over and nudges Levi's cheek in apology.
Levi giggles.
.
.
.
「So, what sort of flowers were they?」
"…I don't know." He genuinely doesn't; Levi slides his fingers under a layer of gravel and tries to remember. "All I remember about the dream is that there were flowers—and I didn't like it."
「I see.」
"It was pretty vague, actually." Levi wiggles his fingers; the gravel over his hand shifts and rolls. "All I remember is—orange. They were, orange. Probably."
…
「How very specific.」
"Ugh, I know."
「Still, it was only a dream.」Henry boops Levi's nose and circles away. 「Take some melatonin and go the frick to sleep.」
"Mmn…okay." Now that Henry mentions it, Levi is pretty tired. "And, um. Thanks, Henry." A pause. "You're the best."
(Fish or not, Levi swears Henry smiles back at him.)
Itchy. Itchyitchyitchy.
Levi's asleep, and also not; a painful half-consciousness characterized by tossing and turning through the awful sensation of phantom things crawling over his skin.
He raises a hand to his chest to scratch at a bad spot. His hand comes into contact with—something. He rubs at it with clumsy fingers; the itchy feeling subsides just barely long enough for him to fall into a deep, sweaty sleep.
.
.
.
His dreams are warm, like a lit fireplace. Something smells sweet; he can't tell what it is, only that he wants to hold it close…
(In his sleep, Levi hugs himself; he stays that way for the rest of the night.)