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Everything hurts. Your head hurts, your shoulders hurt, your back hurts, your hips hurt, your knees hurt… hell, even your toes hurt. It’s cold, your large comforter is blocking out most of it, but you can still feel the chill in your bones. You’re exhausted - enough that when your alarm goes off, you roll over, grab your DDD, hit the off button, and roll back over. You know that eventually, Lucifer will send someone to get you and when that happens you’re probably going to throw a pillow or something at them. It’s a school day, but there’s no way in hell you’d be able to trudge through a full day of talking to people, walking up and down stairs, trying to stay awake, and just existing in general.
Eventually, it’s Asmo who shows up, knocking and calling out to you in his sing-song voice before opening the door without awaiting an answer. You grumble that you can’t go to school, that no, you’re not sick, and yes, you’ll be fine on your own. After a bit of questioning that you’re only half listening to, he accepts your less-than-adequate explanation and gives up, blowing you a kiss and telling you to rest up before leaving. The second he does, you bury your head under the covers and try to return to sleep. Remarkably, no one else comes to pester you, and you manage to drift off.
It’s just as cold as before when you wake back up. You check the time on your DDD to find that it’s only been an hour since you last checked. Groaning, you pull yourself into a sitting position, cringing as multiple joints take the opportunity to crack. You somehow feel even stiffer than when you woke up, though that might be your brain exaggerating now that you’ve sat up. Your head hurts a little less, but suddenly sitting up did make you a little dizzy. You swing your legs off the side of your bed and yawn. You blink a few times, letting the dizziness leave your head before sliding off your bed, your bare feet hitting the rug.
You make your way to the dresser and grab a pair of socks without even bothering to check if they match. It’s not like anyone’s around to notice. You sit back down on your bed and pull them over your feet. They do absolutely nothing for the cold but then again, your body heat will probably warm them up in a second and it’s definitely better than going barefoot on the wood floor. You stretch and more joints pop somewhat painfully.
You’d like to go back to bed, but alas, you have medication to take (not to mention your stomach is going to start growling any minute now). You yawn and reluctantly stand back up. You walk over to your desk and open what you have lovingly dubbed “the pill drawer”. You pull out several bottles. Vitamin D, ibuprofen, etc etc. You grab a water bottle from your (now fixed) mini-fridge and down your pills one by one before continuing on your journey.
When you open the door to your room, you’re met with a rush of warm air that immediately makes you feel a bit better. It makes sense, with all of the torches lining the walls the hallway. You shut your door and enter the kitchen, which is (predictably) empty. You look through the shelves for a second before deciding on having some Devildom-brand cereal that tastes vaguely of chocolate. The milk might give you a stomachache, but it’s not like you have many other breakfast options. You grab a bowl from one of the higher cabinets, having to stretch your whole body to do so. As soon as you set the bowl on the table you sit down, your head suddenly swimming from, well, nothing really. You rest your head on the table, waiting for the sudden faintness and ringing in your ears to pass.
When the ringing finally clears up a bit, you pick up your head and blink a few times to reorient yourself before standing back up. You grab the cereal box and pour some into your bowl (less than you'd like because you suspect that if you eat much more than the bare minimum you’ll make an already bad day even worse.) You then head to the refrigerator to find some milk.
While you’re digging through a collection of Devildom-brand tupperware and various drinks, you hear movement behind you, causing you to stop what you’re doing for a moment. You assume Levi is home like usual, but he’d probably be holed up in his room until lunchtime, so you doubt it’s him. You stand up and look behind you to see Belphegor, probably half asleep, staring into a cabinet. You aren’t sure if he’s even noticed you.
“Belphie?” You call out to him. You can’t help but giggle when he jumps, whipping around to see you.
“What are you doing here?” he asks groggily, barely concealing a yawn.
“Getting cereal, what are you doing here?” You counter before returning to your previous task of finding milk.
“That’s not what I meant,” Belphie says, and you hear him moving around. “Why aren’t you at RAD?”
You manage to reach through the clutter of the fridge to grab an almost empty carton of milk. You stand back up, ignoring the vertigo that apparently is here to stay, and go to pour the milk into your bowl, careful not to add too much. “Woke up feeling like shit, so I didn’t go. Why aren’t you at RAD?” you ask, looking up at Belphie, who’s found a box of crackers to eat.
He yawns again before answering, “Same as you, I guess.” He sits at the table across from you and you sit down as well. You take a bite of your cereal and almost immediately realize you’re probably not going to make it through the whole bowl. You stifle a yawn and look up at Belphie, whose eyes have already closed. No wonder he stayed home.
You let him rest as you continue eating your cereal. It takes you a while, but you manage to get everything down. You stand up and go to the sink to pour the remaining milk down the drain and rinse out the bowl. As you do so, you realize that while you were eating, Belphie had begun to snore softly. You set your bowl into the sink and walk back to him. You put your hand on his shoulder and softly shake him awake. Fortunately, he’s not too deep into his nap and he wakes up fairly easily. He looks up at you and cocks his head to the side. “I doubt the kitchen table is the most comfortable place to nap,” you explain.
He hums and stands up, rubbing his eyes and yawning again. “Mm, the attic is so far away~” he whines.
“Well I’m not gonna carry you if that’s what you want,” you respond, half-joking. He gives you a soft “heh” in response and stretches. Watching him reminds you of your own stiffness, which has let up a bit, but not enough for you to feel even close to comfortable.
Belphie looks back to you. “Your bed is big enough for both of us, right?” It’s a rhetorical question. He knows as well as you do that your bed can easily fit two people.
You sigh. “You know it is,” you respond, shaking your head. “Come on.”
He follows you back to your room and you let him in. He instantly plants himself on your bed and you reluctantly follow him. You still don’t fully trust the youngest brother, but he’s fallen asleep against you enough times for you to have become pretty accustomed to napping with him (seeing as once he’s asleep, it’s near impossible to get him off of you without asking someone else for help so you might as well join him in napping). You lay under the blanket and stare up at the foliage covering your ceiling. You try to ignore the dull ache in your back that comes from lying down or the minor unease in your stomach. Belphie latches himself onto you, holding on to both his pillow and your arm. You don’t bother fighting him.
You can help but feel a sense of solidarity with Belphie. His fatigue affects him in a way that’s similar to how your own condition affects you. Both of you know the struggle of not being able to do things that other people consider to be second nature. Even though Belphie usually isn’t bothered by things like having to stay home from school like today, you have noticed his subtle frustration when he falls asleep when trying to spend time with you or his brothers, or when he has to sit out on something because he becomes exhausted so much faster than everyone else. You can relate to that frustration - nothing sucks more than being left out because you can’t keep up with anyone else, and the two of you have ended up hiding in the corner on multiple occasions because you were both exhausted and needed a break.
You yawn. You’re a bit sleep-deprived, last night you couldn’t seem to stay asleep. Between aches and anxiety, you could only sleep for hour-long intervals. Now, with the literal Avatar of Sloth clinging onto you, you can’t keep your eyes open, so you shut them.
You wake up covered in sweat. You move to throw off your blanket before realizing that there’s something weighing down half of your body. Your eyes shoot open and all you see is a ball of fluffy purple and white hair. Right, Belphie. You wiggle a bit, but the demon is out cold. A sigh escapes your lips. Between the body heat of the demon latched on to you and the comforter covering you both, you’re practically burning up. “Belphie,” you murmur. Obviously, he doesn’t hear you. “Belphegor,” you try again, louder. Again, no response. You sigh and put all of your strength into sitting up. It doesn’t work very well - Belphie is dead weight and you’re not exactly the strongest, especially with only one free arm. It does rustle him a bit and he yawns. “Hey, cow boy.” You snort at your own joke and shake him. Finally, Belphie’s eyes blink open.
“Get off of me, it’s too hot.” You wiggle your arm again.
“Mmph,” is the response you get.
“Belphie I swear to all that’s unholy if you don’t move I’m going to bite you.”
He finally opens his eyes all the way. “Is that a promise?” He asks with a grin.
You glare back and chomp your teeth as a warning. He laughs and rolls off of you. You throw the blanket off of you and Belphie wraps it around himself like a burrito. “What time is it?” the demon asks.
“How am I supposed to know?”
“You check the time?”
You sigh and reach for your DDD, grabbing it from its place on your bedside dresser. “It’s almost three,” you tell him. “We’ve slept through almost the whole school day.”
“Hm.” He raises the blanket higher, so that it’s covering the entire lower half of his face. His eyes are shut again.
You sit up and stretch. Everyone will be back soon, so you might as well get up for a bit and reassure them that you’re still alive. You stand up and immediately grab the dresser to steady yourself. Belphegor rolls over behind you and your bed creaks. Once you feel a little more stable, you look back at him. “Still sleepy?” You ask.
“Mhm.” His voice is muffled by your blanket. You turn away from him again and spot your water bottle from earlier. You take a sip and contemplate kicking him out of your room. If he falls back asleep, there’s no telling how long it’ll be before you get him out.
“Is it...painful for you to stay awake?” You ask cautiously. The two of you rarely talk about his constant sleepiness - he always seems to get defensive.
“What?” He opens his eyes and sits up slowly.
“I mean, is it bad for you? Like how it’s bad for me to force myself to ignore my tiredness?” You lean against the wall.
Belphie contemplates the question for a moment. “...I guess. It just makes me more and more tired, and eventually my body gives up.” He shrugs casually, but you can see that he’s staring at his hands.
“Guess we’re in the same boat, then,” You respond. Belphie shrugs again and flops back down onto your bed. You decide to drop the subject for now. You walk to your door to go find a snack. On your way out, you hesitate for a moment. You look back to the demon in your bed to see him asleep already. “Sleep well, Belphie,” You say with a soft smile, and shut the door behind you.