Chapter Text
Angel held the squarely folder handkerchief in his hand. His fingertips were just millimeters from the human's.
“I’m surprised you came close to me, since your lifespan will shrink if I touch you.” Said the devil.
Angel looked up at the tall devil hunter. He was handsome by human standards. And Angel’s. Which was odd, most humans all look the same. And in his field of work specifically, they were always covered in scars, wore solemn faces, and didn’t live very long. So he never cared to look at them long enough to notice any discernible features.
“I figured it wasn’t an issue through a cloth.” His voice was fairly deep, it suited his black hair and deep blue eyes very well.
Movement in the corner of Angel's vision caught his attention. And the devil hunters, too, apparently as he turned just in time to see the bullet blocked by Angel’s wing.
“Ow,” Angel felt the uncomfortable pang shoot through his nerves. Bullets weren’t enough to do any major damage to his wings, but they still hurt like hell. They were like rubber bullets to a human, they are not ‘non-lethal’ they are just ‘less-lethal.’
The human was quick, he was able to subdue the shooter in only a few short steps. Angel would be lying if he said was not impressed. However, should anyone ask him about his first impressions of this devil hunter, he would simply ignore them.
He was handsome and fast and apparently not afraid to approach him. Angel actually had hoped for a brief moment, he might live longer than the rest.
“Devil,” the tall man spoke at him, “take this guy outside.”
So it was going to be like that. He was just going to boss Angel around, like everybody else.
Whatever, “…it’s better than fighting at least…”
Angel later learned his name was Aki Hayakawa
And he was assigned as his new patrol buddy. And, naturally, Angel overslept on the first day.
Whoever was assigned as Angel's buddy was always given a key to his cell government-issued apartment. Most of the devil hunters would barrage in unwanted and unannounced and keep their distance as they ordered him to get to work. However, this particular late morning, there was an annoying knock at the door.
Not wanting to wake up, Angel rolled over and buried his face into his comfy white sheets to hide from the sun which rudely invaded his bedroom.
His phone rang too.
He answered his phone with no words to greet the wake-up caller.
“…”
“Come out. It’s time to work.”
“Don’t wanna,” Angel yawned as he stretched his back flat across his bed. He stretched his arms above his head too, no doubt the sound of rustling made its way through the phone.
“I will come in and get you.”
“That’s why they give you guys keys.” Angel ended the call and tossed his phone to the other side of his bed.
A few minutes later, not seconds, the human actually waited, Angel heard his front door click unlock. Unfamiliar footsteps walked through his apartment and stopped at his open bedroom door.
Angel didn’t look up, still not ready to face the sun. Or work. He nestled his face into his pillow again and brought his comfy clean sheets up higher.
Footsteps approached his resting place and, with a heavy sigh from the human, his comfortable covering was stripped away.
“Get out of-” The human paused.
Right, Angel prefers to sleep naked.
“Sorry!” The covers were tossed back on him in an instant. “Just! Uhh, get up!”
Angel finally sat up and looked at the devil hunter. Aki Hayakawa. Angel had mixed feelings about his jet-back hair in his usual top knot. He didn’t know if it looked stupid or attractive.
“No,” Angel spoke honestly. He didn’t care enough to work. And he was also curious about just how much he could get away with with his new ‘buddy.’
Aki ran a hand over his slightly pink face as he turned back to look at Angel. Then the pink in the human's face turned a few shades redder.
Angel was sitting upright, the bed sheets pooled around his legs. His chest was bare and his hips and upper thighs were exposed. His genitals were still covered but he supposed humans still found it inappropriate and gross if one’s pubic hair was visible. Angel wasn’t a particularly hairy person, he liked his hair long in a secret attempt at covering more of his body. Several pink curls and the creases where his torso met his thighs were also exposed to the sunlight. Angel reached for the sheet to cover himself. It was an unusual act. Usually, he didn’t care what people thought. He was already used to weird looks and wandering eyes. He knew he had an androgynous appearance airing on the side of feministic. He had seen all the looks. But maybe not this one. Aki’s face was different. He was obviously blushing. But at the same time, his dark eyes look hateful. Angel was used to people's disgust, fear, or hate. But for some reason, the complicated mix of emotions he saw in Aki, it scared him.
He covered himself up to his shoulders with his bedding and looked up to meet Aki’s eyes again. Then looked over at the door. A silent request for privacy. And the devil hunter understood. Aki walked over to the door and stood in its frame, half in the room and half out.
“Hurry up,” Aki commanded, breaking the lingering, tension-filled, silence.
Angel complied. He usually wouldn’t do as commanded so easily. Most humans were afraid of him. But this human, it was obvious he was not.
Angel shuffled out of bed, his naked skin exposed to the cool air of his room and the tingle of the sunlight that filtered in multiple directions, through his window and the door Aki stood in. He looked back to make sure Aki wasn’t watching as he walked over to his closet. He was only somewhat disappointed to see that the devil hunter never looked back. Not until after he had quietly slipped into his uniform and cleared his throat.
“Ready, I guess.”
Aki turned only for a second to get a glimpse of Angel's now-dressed figure. Probably just to make sure he was in fact ready.
“Let’s go,” Aki walked away from the bedroom doorway and continued informing Angel of a devil sighting on the farthest side of the city.
Completely uninterested in the mission details, Angel wondered if there would be any ice cream shops along the way.
It happened again the very next morning. Mostly out of spit. His new babysitter, or ‘buddy,’ absolutely refused to buy Angel an ice cream cone before the encounter. Instead, Angel was forced to wait until after Aki killed the tiny devil for his ice cream. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. The little devil was nothing. It didn’t even kill any civilians, just major and minorly injured half a dozen or so.
The steady knocking at his front door was eventually followed by his phone ringing. And again, after rejecting the call twice to be petty, Angel answered without any greeting.
“…”
“Get dressed.”
“No.” Angel hung up.
Only to answer his phone again when it rang a half second later. It was actually amusing.
Angel's giggle must have made it through the phone.
“If you’re awake enough to laugh you can get yourself dressed and come out.” Aki’s cold tone reflected his irritation.
“Hmm,” Angel arched his back in a big stretch, his bare stomach pressed into his comfortable bed and his shoulders kissed by the early sunlight. “How’d you know I wasn’t dressed?”
This time Aki hung up the phone.
Angel just wanted to sleep. He thought it would be funny if he sent the human a text message to keep him out of his apartment.
Angel: Don’t come in. I’m not wearing any underwear.
Angel got no ice cream that day and a very irate patrol buddy.
A few days later, the two were walking down crowded streets. There were no devil sightings so their pacing wasn’t rushed for once. Too tired to continue, Angel flopped down on a beach. His wings rested with him. Humans would never understand that it also takes effort for him to keep them upright all the time. Could they even imagine carrying 20 pounds of dead weight on their shoulder blades at all times? He couldn’t just let them drag on the ground. He preferred being clean, including his wings that he honestly found to be the only beautiful thing about himself. Only when he was in his bed or at times when he could sit and rest his back against an uncomfortable street bench could he actually get a good breath.
“Get up.” Dark blue eyes looked at him with indifference.
“No,” Angel replied with no emotion in his voice to reflect how tired he really was. The sun was hot and walking around with a human who kept a stick up their ass was exhausting.
Said human with the stick, scrunched his face into an ugly expression. His eyes were dark and wide and full of irritation. Angel wanted to giggle. Instead, he decided to tease.
“Buy me an ice cream first,” he pointed his thin pale finger to the stand a few steps away.
“Why would I do that?” The human talked down to him coldly.
“I dressed myself this morning,” Angel replied bluntly.
“That should be a given. You don’t deserve a treat for that,” Aki used his fingers to air quote the word and stepped closer to the devil.
“Oh,” Angel raised his voice with an idea. He was a devil before an angel after all, “would you prefer to see me naked in the morning?”
A woman passing by turned her head to look at the two men in public safety uniforms.
“You’ve given me a treat before,” Angel mimicked Aki’s cadence around the word. “The only time you’ve done that, is the day you saw my body. And my peni-”
“Stop!” Aki’s hands suddenly hovered centimeters away from Angel's mouth. As if he momentarily forgot he was not to touch and attempted to silence him by force.
The sounds of, ‘oh my’ and ‘in public’ were whispered by passersby. A few teenage girls could be heard giggling off in the distance too.
Angel could feel the heat from human’s hand that covered most of his vision. His calluses and fingerprints had so much detail. He could even feel the devil hunter's angered breaths escaping between his figures. If that were the case, there was no doubt Aki could also feel Angel breathing as well. The thought made him, blush.
“Fine just,” Aki straightened himself and reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and his pack of cigarettes. His steady hands removed one from the pack and placed it on his pink lips. After the flick of his lighter and a short inhale Aki continued, “just shut up.”
He walked off. And Angel was still blushing. Blushing, he never blushed. He hardly showed emotion. Hell, he didn’t even laugh, smile, or fucking giggle around people. Why now?
He tried to school his thoughts while Aki stood in line at the ice cream stand just a few steps away. He was just having a bit of fun in his mundane life. His new buddy was entertaining, that was all. None of the ones before him were so easy to play with. They didn’t give two shits if he wanted ice cream or walked in on him still asleep. They always kept their distance. They never really looked at him.
Aki returned with an ice cream cone in one hand and his cigarette halfway burned out in the other.
Angel took the ice cream, again, his fingers just millimeters from the human's bare hand.
This will be the first of many, Angel thought to himself and smiled. If he were referring to ice cream cones or near touches, Angel wouldn’t mind if it was both.
The next time Angel slept in, he didn’t answer any of his calls. He actually slept through them. He woke up to the human’s footsteps entering his bedroom. Angel yawned and stretched his arms above his head as the devil hunter walked over to his closet. Angel’s bare skin chilled at the cool air and small bumps appeared across his arms when he sat up to look at Aki.
The man grabbed a uniform from his closet and tossed it on the bed.
“I need underwear.” Angel remarked, looking at the laid out black and white fabric.
“Get it yourself,” Aki crossed his arms and stared at Angel with annoyance.
With a sigh, Angel threw the covers off of himself this time. Revealing his nakedness to his regular morning home invader. He had hoped perhaps his naked body would get some kind of embarrassed reaction from his buddy like it had in the past, but, when Angel turned to look, Aki just continued to stare at him with the same annoyed expression.
In the end, Angel's plan backfired as he was the one to feel embarrassed under the others gazing eyes. He hurried to his dresser to look for a pair of clean underwear. But there wasn't any.
“Ah,” too lethargic to remain embarrassed at this point, Angel turned around to face Aki head on, “do my laundry for me? I'm too lazy.”
“No.”
“Ahh,” Angel hit his bed with a flop, “I can't work then.”
“Get the fuck up.”
“You don't have to be rude.”
The devil hunter stepped towards Angel, from the look in his eyes, Angel was convinced he was about to get manhandled.
“Don't touch me!” Angel used his wing as a barrier to separate them, they were much larger when he spread his feathers. Though he preferred not to, they were meticulous to control so they used energy. Not a lot, but considering his natural slothfulness, it was much more than he preferred.
Aki grabbed his wing with his bare hand, pushed it down, and leaned over to look Angel in the eyes. Their faces were just inches apart.
“I’ll do what I want with you, devil,” his tone was harsh, nothing like the man who bought him ice cream a few days ago.
Angel swallowed, hard. His heart pounded in his chest, and while there was no skin-to-skin contact, the human’s hand burned on his feathers. His entire right wing felt like it was throbbing, radiating out at the contact.
“Why would you touch me,” his wing shivered, instinctively trying to escape the hunter's hold beyond Angel's conscious control.
“I figured hair and feathers are like cloth.” His grip tightened a minuscule amount, but the felt amplified to Angel. “Some fabric comes from wool, how's this any different?” he jostled Angel's wing like it was nothing.
“S-stop!” Angel was afraid of this new feeling, no one intentionally touched his wings before. It was terrifying. And thrilling. “I still have skin under there!”
Aki huffed and let go. Both of Angel's wings retracted behind him and his body curled in on itself in a feeble attempt at hiding. He was still naked on the bed. His sheets were thrown to the floor on his own accord. Angel had never felt so naked before. The devil hunter's eyes looked at him with foreign human feelings. Angel had never felt this much shame, nor excitement, at being looked at in his sadistically long life.
Seconds passed, which felt like minutes. They just kept staring. Angel didn't realize how heavy he was breathing until he regained control of it. He looked over at his uniform at the edge of his bed. He reached over for the shirt, trying to position his body where hair and wings could provide the most cover from the hunter's menacing gaze. He rolled the itchy fabric between his fingers, he would really hate wearing it without underwear. He slipped on the button-up shirt, pulling at it urgently to cover his chest and lap. Then he looked up at the sound of Aki walking towards his closet again. The tall man grabbed his loaded laundry basket and turned around.
“You’re a real pain in the ass.” He also picked up the bed sheet that was on the floor as he left the room.
Stunned by the unpredicted action, Angel remained still as he listened to the sounds of movement and rustling in his apartment. This man was really about to do his laundry. Which included touching his underwear.
Angel laughed silently to himself. The smile felt weird on his face.
He should really sleep in more often.