Work Text:
"I know they say 'third time's a charm', but you can't have a "third time" without a second.."
For a basically once in a lifetime moment, The Devil was spending all day at the casino. He rarely ever did, but he'd met his soul quota for the month, and Stickler had nothing to nag at him about, so he decided to go to the casino to spend the day working and overlooking the other workers. This made Henchman very happy; he barely ever got to see his other boyfriend/boss work a full day at the casino, and was very excited to be working alongside both of his boyfriends. He'd never been that good at gambling, which is why he spent most of his time serving drinks. Most days were normal, but some days, like today, things would happen that were… not normal.
They were doing what they normally would: gambling, bartending, that sort of thing. A lot of the other employees got a little nervous with their boss working with them, but they acted like everything was fine. Henchman was pouring a woman her drink, and at that very moment, the door to the casino swung open. In came a man with a face all too familiar, wearing this ugly orange lipstick. The Devil and Dice knew exactly who it was. He made his way over to the bar. When Henchman finished giving the woman her drink, he looked back up to give him his.
"D'uh, what can I get you?" He asked. Devil and Dice kept a very close eye on this man.
"Oh, please. You remember me, don't you?" Henchman suddenly realized after hearing his voice who he was talking to. Kevin. The man who'd hit on him just months ago.
"D'uh, yes, I remember you."
"Good." Kevin ordered his drink. There was something about that lipstick that Dice just hated. The color was pretty and all, and maybe he was exaggerating thinking it was ugly, but it really didn't work with his face. He hadn't been wearing lipstick the last time. Strange. Maybe he was going for a change of pace. Another thing he noticed was that he wasn't with his friends. Henchman must've noticed, too. He looked around.
"Weren't you with people before?"
"Ah, yeah, but they said I was crazy for coming back here after what had happened. I just came back to see you." He winked at Henchman, who looked disgusted. Dice started to walk over to put an end to this, but The Devil put his arm out in front of him to stop him.
"As soon as something really bad happens, we'll intervene," he told him. Kevin just sat there and said nothing, drinking his drink and letting Henchman serve other customers. It felt nice to not have Kevin trying to flirt with him.
About 30 minutes later, Kevin told Henchman he would be right back and that he was just headed to the bathroom. Henchman nodded, not really seeing why he would tell him this. Henchman never gave it another thought. Suddenly, someone yelled from another room.
"FIREEEEE!" They never showed their face; only their voice was heard. All of the customers went the opposite direction of the fire, and all the casino staff ran over to put out the fire. All but The Devil. He didn't trust Henchman to be alone with a chance that that creep could come back. He stayed there with him until he felt his pitchfork sliding out of his hand. Someone must've stolen it from him.
"HEY!" He called out. "YOU GET BACK HERE!" He turned into his dragon form and slithered the complete opposite way of the fire to go catch whoever stole his pitchfork. Coincidentally, Kevin returned.
"Where did everyone go?" He asked.
"To stop a fire," Henchman informed him, oblivious.
"Oh." Henchman started to leave to help them, but was stopped by Kevin taking his hand. "Well, now that we're alone.." He took him back behind the counter.
"D'uh, you're not supposed to be back here."
"Says who? Who follows the rules at The Devil's casino? He sure doesn't."
"Why are you even here?" Kevin started getting closer to him. Henchman just kept backing away.
"I told you already: to see you." At this point, Henchman was backed up against the wall. Both their ears perked up when they heard footsteps. Henchman sighed a breath of relief.
"Guess they've contained the fire." He took Henchman's chin. "Didn't take long. I'll be leaving in a few minutes." He planted a kiss on his cheek. Henchman just froze. "It was nice to see you again. I've been thinking about you, and I'll keep thinking about you. Till we meet again." Before anyone could see, he made sure he did what he came there to do.
He kissed Henchman.
Henchman couldn't do anything in the few seconds their lips were together. When Kevin pulled away, his orange lipstick was stained on Henchman's cheek and lips. He left from behind the bar before anyone noticed him. Henchman pinched himself to make sure this was real, and winced when it hurt. It wasn't a dream, even though he really, really wished that it was. He couldn't move. He let out a small, quiet squeal. He wanted to cry, but he was working in a professional space, and couldn't cry or he'd be weak or unprofessional-
"Henchman!" He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Dice. "Are you okay? Why didn't you come with the rest of us?" Henchman covered his face with his hands.
"D'uh, I just thought you had it under control." Dice could barely make out what he was saying through his muffled voice. "I need to go use the bathroom!" He ran off to the bathroom. The Devil came back after stealing back his pitchfork.
"Something's wrong with Henchman," Dice told him.
"Go check on him," Devil requested. Dice went to the bathroom to check on him. From the closed door, he heard what sounded like Henchman splashing himself with water. Dice knocked on the door.
"Henchman, honey, are you alright?" No response. Dice wasn't sure he heard him. He put his ear against the door. He could hear Henchman softly sobbing and mumbling to himself something he couldn't make out. Dice decided to open the door. He saw Henchman, gloves soaked with water and tears, trying desperately to wash something off of his face.
"Henchman! What's wrong?" Henchman couldn't face him. "Henchman?" Dice took his face in his hands. That's when he saw it: Two orange lipstick marks, one on his cheek, one on his…
This made Dice very, very upset. He let go of Henchman's face.
"Oh, that son of a bitch!" He sped out of the room to The Devil and told him what happened. The Devil. Was. Furious. He flew with Dice over to Kevin and two of his friends that weren't there before.
"YOU!" He boomed, his voice low and threatening. His friends bolted out as quickly as they could.
"What?" He asked, acting like he didn't know.
"You will pay for what you've done." He took Kevin's arm and shoved it against the wall. Kevin started worrying. The Devil took his pitchfork and stabbed it through his arm, his face completely blank. Kevin screamed. The Devil just dug the pitchfork in deeper, causing blood to spill from his arm. Dice and Henchman watched in horror.
"PLEASE STOP! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Devil removed his pitchfork.
"Never. Return. If you do, you will barely make it 5 feet in before getting burnt to a crisp. Got it?" Kevin nodded vigorously. He held his arm, occasionally wincing at the pain as he staggered out the door. The Devil turned to face Henchman.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ANYBODY ABOUT THIS?" He exclaimed. "THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS MATTER!" Henchman started to cry again.
"I'm sorry for everything!" He apologized.
"What do you mean?" Dice asked.
"I-I cheated.."
"What? Oh, no, no! Henchie!" Dice hugged him. "Henchman, you did nothing wrong! Everything that happened was because of him! Is that why you were crying and didn't tell us?" Henchman nodded.
"Oh, Hench.." Devil came over and hugged his other side. "We know you would never do something like that. It isn't your fault."
"I'm just too weak!" He complained. "I could've done something if I wasn't so dumb!"
"Stop calling yourself dumb!" Dice insisted. He knelt down to look at him. "We both love you, Henchman, and I don't think there was anything you could've done in that situation." He gave him a quick kiss on the nose. "You're our favorite imp, and we love everything about you." Henchman smiled.
"Thanks, Dice. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower." With that, he left for Hell, leaving Dice and The Devil alone.
"What are we going to do about Kevin?" Dice asked.
"Oh, I don't think we'll need to worry about him coming back soon."