Chapter Text
"That will be all for today's lecture. Dismissed. Do not forget your writing assignments are due tonight, by 11:59p. Make sure to have everything submitted. I am willing to take in missed work from the last 2 weeks only. Anything later on will be given only half of what you would have gotten so get your stuff turned in!" The professor said before dismissing his class with a wave of his hand. He gathered his own items as students slowly shuffled out, leaving only one person left.
Matsu Reeves finished writing what was on the board before he placed his stuff in his bag. He had recorded the class as well so he could go back later and upload it to get some automated captions later. With his hearing aids, he could somewhat hear if the person was loud enough, but none of his professors ever were. They'd probably have to be screaming to get him to even hear anything given where his desk was in comparison to where the his professors stood. He was not born deaf, but when he started losing his hearing as a child, his parents made him learn sign language so he knew before going fully deaf. When he signs, he does his best to speak the words as well so he can remember how to talk. As of right now, he could still somewhat hear voices, but only if that person is right next to him and he has his hearing aids in. As in leaning to his ear. If they were loud enough though, he could hear them. But most people didn't talk loud enough.
Standing up, Matsu walked out of the classroom and headed to his dormitory. Deciding to skip dinner, he passed the on-campus cafeteria, going up the concrete steps. His hand gently caressing the rail till he reached the top and proceeded on the sidewalk to his dorm building. As he walked, he tried to remember what certain things sounded like, and tried picturing them in his head. "..." Watching the way peoples mouths moved, talking too fast for him to comprehend what they were saying. If they talked slow and loud enough, he could somewhat make out what they were saying by reading their lips, but still made mistakes often as it is hard to do. Especially if they weren't close enough to him. Knowing he was going to be completely deaf within the next couple of years for sure, he wanted to remember as much as he could. The sounds of everything around him before he would never be able to hear it again.
Once back at his dorm, he set his backpack down on his chair before taking out his laptop and setting it on the desk. Moving his bag, he took a seat and opened his laptop. Going to the documents page, he huffed. Determined to get this all done before his deadline. Matsu was usually on top of his assignments, but this semester has been one Dr. visit after another, so he was a bit behind. It made him wonder if he should take the next semester off, worrying about how many lessons he would miss then too. Thankfully, most of his professors understood and gave him a little extra time. Just not his English professor, apparently, even though he provided proof. He had to write a 10 page essay on some book chronicles that he couldn't care less about, but read anyways when he had the time. Mostly pertaining to history. Starting a new blank page, his fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few minutes before he sighed and closed it. He sat there for a moment, opened his laptop again only to stare at the blank page. Deciding he wanted to nap first, he once again closed it, knowing he wasn't going to start it yet.
He went to the mirror first and carefully removed his hearing aids since he didn't really need them in right now. He rarely wore them when he was in his dorm since he didn't need to, plus he intended to take a nap. The world around him became white noise almost, mostly static sounding, though very faint. He set the hearing aids in their charging case on his desk.
Going to his cabinet, he opened it and dug through where he had his basket of "dirty" clothes which were just clothes he didn't wear often and couldn't be bothered to put away properly. Fishing out his grinder, lighter and bowl from under some clothes, he went to his window and cranked it open a few inches. Since he was on an upper floor, his window wouldn't open much to prevent students from being able to jump out. Sitting on his knees, he opened his grinder and put some of his grinded bud into the bowl before lighting it and taking a big hit. Too big. He started to cough when he exhaled, ducking down as he tried to get his breath. After coughing for a few minutes, he was finally able to get control of his cough. Taking a slow breath of relief, he went right back at it and continued smoking. He only took a few more hits before he stood up, kicking off his shoes and collapsing in bed.
Within minutes, he was out while still wearing his day clothes. No alarm set, which was just his phone vibrating a bunch right next to him. A risky nap. When he awoke, the first thing he noticed was his light above the mirror was still on. He fell asleep without turning it off. The second thing he noticed was how pitch black outside looked. It was just after 7pm when he got back to his dorm due to having a few afternoon/evening courses this semester. "..." He blinked a few times as he pushed himself up on his elbows, definitely still feeling high. It then dawned on him as he checked the time on his watch. "Fuck!" He jumped out of bed, almost tripping in the process, and quickly sat at his desk to open his laptop. It didn't shut off, showing the blank document he had opened. His eyes glanced down to confirm the time, seeing it was indeed 9:57p. He had 2 hours to type 10 pages. Challenge accepted. He cracked his knuckles and then started to type away at record speeds. He was going to have to really bs his way through this on only what he remembered. His eyes moving across the screen as he typed sentence after sentence, hoping he could finish in time. His grade depending on it, as did his scholarship.
Seven pages and many minutes later, the clock read 11:30p on the dot when he glanced at it. It was haunting him. Scratching his nose, he groaned. His high wearing off as he continued to type. Reaching for his pen, he accidentally knocked it over which caused him to curse under his breath, eyes burning from staring at the screen for so long. Worried he broke the cart, which had happened in the past, he glanced around his floor till he saw it had rolled towards his bed. Getting up from the chair, he stretched out his arms, bending over to stretch his back. Feeling rather sore from sitting for so long without moving much. As he bent over to pick up his pen, a strange white light suddenly surrounded him.
"Eh..?" His eyes shut from the brightness, wondering what the hell just happened. When he opened his eyes again, he was shocked to find himself in some courtroom. Large windows adorned behind some chairs. There appeared to be flags hanging between the windows, 7 of them, with different animals on them. The sky from outside the window looked entrancing, the moon looking rather large with many stars visible as well. It was then that he noticed people were standing at the chairs, some red haired male at the top chair spot. Blinking twice, he looked down at his pen before tucking it in his back pocket. Maybe he didn't need it hit it again. He clearly had enough. It was only then did he realize the nicely tanned, red haired.. man? was talking to him.
"Welcome to the Devildom, Matsu." The man smiled, wearing what looked to be some kind of red school uniform. His golden eyes staring directly to Matsu, who just stared back in confusion, shock, and thinking he was just totally zooted or something. Seeing the confused expression, the man continued. "...Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we? Well, that's understandable." He continued to talk, but Matsu was rather lost. The man was standing too far away for Matsu to read his lips, and without his hearing aids, well... He could only hear the static white noise.
'What on Earth is this guy even saying.. and where the hell am I?' The brunette thought to himself, taking a quick glance around the room at the other men before looking back to the man who was talking.
"As a human, it will probably take a little while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom."
"..."
The red head chuckled as the bewildered look on the humans face, crossing his arms. "I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me. And someday soon, I will be crowned king of the Devildom." He said with a grin before going on about the Royal Academy of Diavolo, or RAD, not that Matsu could hear him at all.
"You're standing inside the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is whe--"
"Um.." Matsu raised his hand as though he was in school, cutting Diavolo off, which seemed to tick off the blacked haired male who was near him. He didn't have his hearing aids in, so even if he had a loud voice, it was no use. "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying." He said, signing as he did.
"I will explain everything to you." Lucifer, the black haired male, said. Looked rather pissed off, probably because a human interrupted Lord Diavolo in his presence.
"Matsu, this is Lucifer. He is a Demon and the Avatar of Pride. He is also the Vice President--"
"Umm!" Matsu once again interrupted.
"Stop interrupting Lord Diavolo!" Lucifer yelled, only to notice the human was not fazed at all. Either courageous or stupid. He would make his decision later.
"I can't hear anything you're saying, rather," Matsu said, his voice was a bit raspy but soft. His hands moving as he spoke, signing out what he was saying. "And my hearing aids are at my dorm, uh wherever that is, not that they help much. I'd just hate for you to go on a long, unnecessary, tangent when I can't even hear you." His face was a bit dead panned as he said that. He was confused on how he even got here and just wanted to go home.
"..."
"..."
Silence seemed to have fallen between the 2 males. How had they missed that? Was that information that they even had when they were picking the exchange students? They glanced to each other before Diavolo made a quick call on his phone, placed his phone in his pocket and smiled at the human.
"Mm, that does kind of ruin the speech I had planned, but no worries. I'm sure we will work things out!" Diavolo laughed, rather amused at the exchange student who got picked. Dealing with Lucifer and his brothers may be a bit more difficult now, but could also prove to be rather entertaining.
"Um.. If you talk slow enough I might be able to read your lips." Matsu then said, signing with his hands.
"Well.." Lucifer sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. Perhaps he should have chosen differently, but he knew Diavolo would want to see this exchange program through until the end. "You, Matsu, have been chosen as an exchange student." Lucifer began, trying to talk at a slow enough pace for the human. Hoping they would be able to grasp what he was saying. "It is a one year stay, and at the end, you will have to write a paper about your time here."
Matsu followed along to the best of his ability, understanding that he was an exchange student, somehow; somewhere, and he had to stay a year and then write a paper. Gross. His face cringed at the thought of another paper. Paper. His assignment! He didn't have time to waste here on this stupid crap!
"Can I please go home now? I have college classes to attend and a 10 page essay I need to turn in by.." He glanced at his watch, disappointment showing on his face as he saw it was past midnight now. Had it really been that long though? Did time work different here? "Midnight.." He mumbled out the last word. Since he was looking at his watch and not them, he had no idea when they were responding to him. It wasn't until a red phone was suddenly in his face that he looked up, seeing Lucifer was holding it.
"This is a D.D.D., you can use it here to communicate with us. I am going to have one of my brothers look after you, his name is Mammon."
"... Ban Bon?" His head tilted in confusion.
The few men in the room seemed to have stifled their laughter when Matsu said Mammon's name wrong. Did he misread his lips? Matsu took the phone and looked down to see it say Mammon, which caused his to blush a bit at his mistake. Was he supposed to call him? He couldn't actually hear the guy over the phone, but he hit the call button anyways.
"Yoooo." To his surprise, someone answered and somehow, the phone had captions to what the male was saying. How was that possible? It was translating as the person on the other side of the phone talked. Incredible. He needed one of these for the human world. If only he knew what this person sounded like. His hand moved up to rub his left ear.
"Um.. hello."
"Are ya foolin' around? Who the hell are ya?"
"Uh.. a human?" He hoped his voice didn't sound too weird, or was at least comprehendible. Noticing he was getting stared at by some of the demons, he decided to just stare at the phone to avoid their gaze. Assuming his voice sounded weird, his mother usually told him so. She hated when he talked, but never bothered to learn sign even though she made him learn it.
"Whaaa? A human? Geez, I was gettin' all chilly here thinkin' it was Lucifer again. Ya should've told me right away." The text made it seem this man was annoyed now. But at least he was understood. "So, what does a human got with THE Mammon?"
"Well, you will be in charge of me, or whatever." Matsu's voice trailed off, still unsure any of this was real. Maybe his weed was spiked. No, this was not just him being too high. This was real apparently. He knew his high had worn off a bit ago when he was still writing his paper.
"No way! There's nothin' in it for me. Whaddya even mean by "be in charge of you"?" There was a brief pause. "AAH! I get it now, you're the other human-the new exchange student!"
'Other?' Matsu wondered, but said nothing. Sure they would explain that further later.
"G'luck with that, and see ya." It seemed the male was going to hang up, so Matsu just said the first thing that came to mind to get him to stay on the phone.
"Lucifer called for you, he's standing right by me." He said, remembering that name has popped up before in the conversation. That was this black haired male, right? He had read his lips properly earlier? Lucifer, what a peculiar name. Like the fallen angel.
"You've got 10 seconds.. 9.." Lucifer then said from right beside Matsu.
"YESSIR!" The call dropped then, leaving Matsu utterly confused. Who even was this guy, who were any of these guys?! And how was he chosen for an exchange program? He didn't even apply to any. Being deaf meant he was missing out on a lot of valuable information. Maybe he could ask for a sheet with all the info he needed, or at least to be texted the info since he had the D.D.D. now.
Looking over, he watched as Lucifer spoke, trying to catch everything he was saying. He wished he could get his hearing aids from his dorm at least.
"Sounds like you had a nice chat. Our phones here will be able to translate calls to you to make it easier to chat, much like that conversation with my idiot brother, Mammon."
"He seems.. reliable."
"You really think so?" Lucifer's brow raised as he wondered if that was true. He then looked to Diavolo, which caused Matsu to do the same. Jumping a bit when he saw how close, and tall, the man was to him.
"Well, I imagine you must be at least a little anxious, being surrounded by unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place." It seemed he was trying to talk slowly, but Matsu was still having a hard time processing it. "However, Mammon isn't the only one to help you out."
Matsu tilted his head a bit, looking over to were the few other men were at. Not catching what Lucifer and Diavolo were saying as he was distracted by one of the men who had gotten up in his face. This man, err.. demon, rather, was quite handsome. Cute too. He could tell by watching this demons lips move that he seemed to speak somewhat softly. Was that on purpose?
"Oh, come now. Really? You should be honored that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!"
"This one here," Lucifer motioned, "is Asmodeus. He's the fifth eldest." He spoke, watching as the human kept looking back and forth to try not to miss anything. As amused as Diavolo seemed, Lucifer had a feeling this was going to be quite troublesome and annoying. But he could not refuse Diavolo's request. "He's the avatar of Lust."
Before Matsu knew it, he had been introduced to everyone who was in the room. Diavolo also had everyone who was in the room text Matsu so he would know who was who and their ranks. He took note that they seemed to be based on the 7 deadly sins. Not being the religious type, he did his best to keep up with that information. Doing his best to recall who was who. Satan was the blonde haired one who seemed to have a rather sly smile, like he was plotting something. Asmodeus, who Matsu learned was the attractive one who got in his face moments ago, was Lust. Which explained the way he was acting. The grumpy looking ginger was Beelzebub, and Matsu found him to be rather attractive as well. Were they all this hot? Learning he was gluttony, it made sense that Matsu had thought he read his lips saying "I'm hungry" several times already.
They had sent in texts more information on why he was there and what his purpose was. He found out he was going to be here for a year, that other demons would try to eat his soul so he had to rely on the brothers to protect him, he had to attend class for the whole year which was worse than college, and there was no way he could go back to the human world currently. He would have to see if the "Future King of the Devildom" would be able to at least go get his hearing aids. However, that seemed to have already happened when a black and green haired male walked to him and opened his left hand. Signing something with his other hand. "These yours?"
Matsu's eyes lit up as he grabbed the hearing aids from the demons hand, wondering when he went and grabbed them. He also hoped the charging case was grabbed too. He wondered if this demon was fluent in sign language or not since he was able to sign just now. However, he didn't get the chance to ask before the demon had left.
Carefully, he started to put them in when a tanned white haired male came in, seeming to be shouting. As he got them in finally, he wiggled it gently to ensure it was in properly. He could faintly hear the voices now, as the white haired male was indeed yelling. Though his voice sounded a bit faint even with the hearing aids since he was shouting from across the room where he came in from, walking towards them.
"..Gonna say this once. If you value your life, then you'll hand over all your money now! And anything else of value, too!" He said as he now stood a few feet away from Matsu.
"Bold of you to assume I have money..." Matsu retorted rather quickly, which caused the white haired guy, who he recognized as Mammon from the photo ID on the D.D.D. call he had earlier, to get more annoyed at him being broke. The other brothers seemed to find this entertaining.
"Mammon, shut up or I'll punch you." Lucifer said as he proceeded to punch Mammon on the head.
"GAH, OWW! Hey, what's the big idea?! I thought you were actually gonna give me a chance to shut up before punching me!" Mammon cried out as he rubbed where he was just punched.
The blond haired male tapped on Matsu's shoulders to get his attention, which worked. "Matsu, Mammon here is the Avatar of Greed. He governs and oversees all forms of it. Whenever he takes a liking to someone, they suddenly find themselves awash in money. But from what I hear, if he decides to break it off with someone, that wealth evaporates. They're left without a Grimm to their name."
"Grimm..?"
"The currency here," Satan answered.
"Ah, okay."
"He's also a masochist. That part's important." Asmo chimed in, smiling as he did.
"Indeed. And it just so happens I have a job for my masochist of a brother." Lucifer crossed his arms.
"Y'all, stop telling lies! I ain't asked for that punch, and I A'INT a masochist!"
"Mammon, you are going to be in charge of seeing to this human's needs during the whole exchange. I expect your full cooperation." Lucifer said with a stern look in his eyes.
At this point, Matsu had zoned out a bit. Trying to process all of this information at once was a lot. His hand moved up as he rubbed his ear, adjusting his hearing aid. He could faintly hear them since they were all a few feet away. Satan's voice was more clear since he was right next to Matsu, and Mammon was yelling again so Matsu could hear him pretty well too.
"What?! Why me?!" Mammon seemed irritated, which made Matsu feel a little guilty now, not that he had a choice in this either. He made a mental note to try not to cause Mammon too much trouble.
"Aww, lucky you, Mammon! I'm so jealous..." Asmodeus pouted.
"All right, then why don't YOU do it, Asmodeus?" Mammon, said, not wanting to have to do this. He wasn't a baby sitter, dammit!
"What? Hell no, too lazy." Asmo answered quickly, shrugging as Mammon's eye twitched.
"I thought you said you were jealous of me?!"
"Just give up, Mammon. There's no getting out of this." Satan said, his hand on his hip as he had a smirk. Enjoying watching Mammon's reaction to this.
"Umm.. I will do my best not to be a disturbance." Matsu spoke as he signed, already feeling very exhausted from all of this.
"Eh? What are you doing with your hands?" Mammon looked confused at him. "Ahhh, whatever, I don't care! Why does it have to be me?! What about Beel. Why can't he just do it?!"
"We may as well ask him to eat this human." Asmo sighed.
"Mm, yeah. I can't promise I wouldn't." Beel admitted innocently.
Even with his hearing aids in, Matsu was struggling to pick up the whole conversation from the ones who were further away. Doing his best though, he kept looking between them as they spoke. At this rate, he worried his hearing was going to be gone for sure by the end of the year instead. Or maybe his hearing aids were just dying on him, though he knew he had them in the charging box.
"Mammon." Hearing Lucifer speak, Matsu was brought out of their thoughts.
"..wh-what?"
"Surely you're not going to tell me that you object to this arrangement, are you?"
"Ugh... I hate you guys! Every last one of ya! Fine.. FINE! I'll do it, okay?!" Mammon yelled before he looked to Matsu, stepping closer so he was right in front of him. They were almost eye level while Mammon was in his human form, Matsu being 1 inch taller at 5'11. He noticed just how handsome this tanned demon was though, his yellow and blue eyes were rather alluring.
"All right, human, listen up!" He said, going on a small tangent on how Lucifer was making him do this and that he was too important, but Matsu was hardly paying any attention. Having a dead pan expression on his face as this guy was quite loud at talking, which was more distracting than when he couldn't hear him too well. Guess his hearing aids were working just fine.
He was quite unamused, but the guy was hot, they all were, so he was willing to cooperate for now. But wanted to go home sooner than a year, wondering if it was even possible. Though, it wasn't like he had a better life at home. At least this place was entertaining.
"Got it?!"
"..."
"Hello? Earth to human! Seriously, what's wrong with this one...?"
"He's deaf, for starters." Satan answered as if it was a well known fact.
"Eh? But he was responding to us! We spoke on the phone, too! He doesn't look deaf." Matsu cringed at that, having been told that a lot by his peers in school.
"Your stupidity knows no bounds, does it?" Satan then said before Lucifer started to talk again. Something about tasks, but Matsu was a bit distracted by noticing how everyone seemed to be fond of bullying the white haired male. Interesting.
"Your task is to polish up your soul nicely and to acquire the power to resist demons."
"Going off this group, I don't think that'll be hard." He mumbled, or hoped he did, anyway.
"Demons like humans with nice souls."
"..."
"Let me put it another way. Nice souls look like shiny jewels. Do you understand now?"
"Sure.."
"Demons will use their wisdom and abilities.." Lucifer could tell that Matsu was zoning out and having a hard time concentrating on everything he was saying. With a resolved sigh, he decided he would just give him a sheet with his responsibilities later, or text it. "You don't have magic like the other human exchange student, so we will be certain to help you with your tasks while here, and protect you from other demons."
"Thanks.. I think."
They then went on to explain where Matsu would be staying, the House of Lamentation, with the 7 brothers. Sounded luxurious in a way, but Matsu really just wanted to go home more than anything. When asking again, Lucifer shot him down about it and sent him on his way with Mammon to go see the house he would be staying at. Of course, first thing to happen ended up being another bicker fest between the brothers it seemed...
'Can I please just go home now...' He thought as he rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long year if the brothers bickering was already like this on day one.