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Avior was startled by a loud bang not too far away. The sarcastic demon stopped staring at the random doodles he was drawing in the sand in front of him and stood up.
"Human?" his voice slightly condescending, hiding concern, as he turned around the corner to his hell-companion's little corner.
"Would you stop calling me that, demon ." they huffed. They were standing in front of one of the obsidian walls, brows furrowed, grinding their teeth, hands in fists. A small flame in a different corner was the only light, painting shadows over their features.
"You are a human. I am therefore factually correct in calling you one." He would've hidden his concerned look if they had looked at him, but their focus stayed on the wall before them.
"And apparently you are of the species of human that likes to-", he looked at the wall, only now noticing the scorch marks all over it, "-pick fights with inanimate objects?"
"I'm fine with you calling me a human." they took a step back, turning to look at him, hands still in fists. "But you always sound like you are disgusted at the word alone." Avior was taken aback by their sinister tone. He put his hands behind his back: "Yeah well. I guess I'm not-"
"-that fond of my species? Yeah, I noticed, thanks." They rolled their eyes, turned back to the wall, and threw a large flame of fire against it. Avior almost jumped back but instead just flinched away from the sudden light.
"Um. I fear my words have not conveyed their true joking intent." Another flame hit the wall. "But I don't think that's important right now." This time they stomped their right foot down, leading a small earthquake to move through the obsidian. Now Avior had to take a step back to steady himself against the movement.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, his hands trying to hold onto anything they could but only grasping thin air.
They turned their head, confused at the sound of complaint. When they saw his expression of slight annoyance but also worry on his face, their shoulders dropped. In one motion they sat down on the ground and buried their face in their hands. One ball of a person on the floor, their back rising and falling as they tried to calm down.
To say the demon next to them was unsure about what to do would be an understatement. Every magical cell of the inchoate's body felt out of place as he watched the freelancer in front of him start to shake ever so slightly, but it was still noticeable.
Following an instinct he couldn’t quite understand yet, he sat down in front of them and put a hand on one of their knees. He almost expected them to flinch at his touch but they remained as they were, still trying to manage their breathing.
“Do you want me to talk to the wall?” he kept his voice low, barely rising over the volume level of the small flame in the corner cracking and popping. He liked that flame, even though he had not admitted that to the freelancer yet. It felt like a small piece of normalcy that they had tried to add to their corner of this hellscape. The tiny bit of warmth and its beautiful light creating the illusion of their control over the place that they had chosen to call theirs. Both had decided to stay close to one another but not too close, still weary of each other.
The hunched over person chuckled just a little bit at his question, not enough to lift their head but enough to paint a smile on the inchoate’s face. “You’re so stupid.”
“ I am stupid?” Avior huffed, “I’m not the one who just picked a fight with a mineral, am I.” Feeling like the mood was lightening, he laughed but they didn’t join in. Instead, they lifted their head and locked eyes with him. The laughter got caught in his throat when he saw the tears running down their cheeks, cutting paths through the thin layer of ash on their face.
“I want to get out of here, Avior.” it was almost a whisper. Their voice didn’t crack, it didn’t waver. They just kept eye-contact with the demon as the tears fell silently.
He couldn’t help but marvel at their expression. So full of desperation, yet so determined. They weren’t pleading, they were demanding. He knew it wasn’t directed at him but something in him twisted painfully. He wanted out too. Yet he couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was his rift that brought them here, cutting them off from their life for who knew how long.
Suddenly, he became aware of how fast his heart was beating, so he looked down. A voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to look back up, to keep staring into those beautiful eyes, no matter how much they felt like spotlights searching for every secret he might be hiding.
“I know. I do too. I want to get back to Aria and-” he swallowed, “I’m sure you want to get back to the people in your life.” his eyes shot back up to look at theirs and he saw their head tilt slightly to the side. Their demeanor changed, seemingly no longer aware of their recent outburst, focusing only on him.
“The people in my life?” They both just kept staring at each other for a few seconds before they asked again. “The people in my life? Why did you phrase it like that? Why not say I want to go back to Terra?”
Avior’s shoulders got tense. He felt like a deer caught in headlights. “Well, uhm.” he put his arms in front of his chest, creating a rather useless shield against their questions.
The freelancer tilted their head to the other side in an almost slow-motion-like movement. To the demon’s surprise, a small but very noticeable smirk appeared on their face, distorting the drying lines their tears had left behind. He furrowed his brows in response. “What?!”
“Are you trying to figure out if I’m single?” their tone was mocking, almost snickering.
A dramatic scoff came from the inchoate’s lungs. “What, no. I-”
“Oh yes, you are.” Now they were actually laughing and Avior’s mind went quiet. Their laugh felt like shooting stars across his skin, and the magic inside him seemed to glow brighter at the sound. He watched them absentmindedly wipe away the ash and tears from their cheeks as they kept giggling.
“Will you stop that.” he heard himself say, surprised at his own restraint to still be able to talk. HIs insides were screaming at them to never stop. Never stop laughing, you insufferable, beautiful starlight.
He shook his head, pretending that the gesture was directed at their chuckles when in reality he was almost choking at his own thoughts, at what his mind had just called them. He was pushed back into the present moment when they spoke again.
“Admit it. You are interested in me.” They were untangling their legs now, patting their clothes down to let the red sand fall off of them before they stood up again. “The closed off demon who hates humans asking me that. Who would have thought.” Even though their words almost stung him, they still offered him a hand to get up. He hesitated for a second, then took it and a few seconds later they were facing each other again, both now standing.
But Avior didn’t let go of their hand.
“You misunderstand me.” he sounded serious, yet his eyes were twinkling. The freelancer wasn’t quite sure why, which almost made their head tilt again.
“I don’t hate humans. I don’t-” his breath hitched slightly. “I don’t hate you.”
The demon’s fingers were softly moving over the human’s hand, his grip loosening, yet he still didn’t let go. Their eyes watched as his thumb slowly traced over a line in their skin on the back of their hand. The sensation sent electricity down their spine. The feeling made them wonder what his touch would feel like when his hands were holding his face.
They smiled a devious smile at him. “Yeah, I figured, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me if I was single.” Avior groaned at their teasing and rolled his eyes. Yet he couldn’t help but notice that they were now holding his hand a little tighter too.
“Yeah, well.” he reciprocated their smile. “You still haven’t answered that question, human .”
“Oh, I don’t mind giving you-” they took a step closer, “- an answer.” Their eyes shot to his lips for a second and Avior could feel the anticipation radiating off them in waves. He could also feel his own mind spinning at those words.
However, the freelancer didn’t give his thoughts the chance to spiral for long, as they closed the distance and kissed him with a hunger that almost threw the inchoate of balance. His body was quicker than his mind and kissed them back with an equal thirst to feel them, to hold them, to drown in their light. Their arms were around his neck now, his arms pulling them into him.
They broke contact for a second. “Damn, I didn’t actually think you would let me do that.” they sounded slightly out of breath, yet eagerly continued to kiss him. He was smiling against their lips then pulled back just enough to respond: “Yeah, well, maybe I let you kiss me, because I finally decided I believe you.”
He leaned in again, a faint taste of salt and ash on their lips, his hands moving up and down their back. Their normally so focused mind was barely able to hear him through their own thoughts. When they realized what he had said they chuckled. “Wow, so romantic, I’m impressed.” the sarcasm practically dripping from their words.
“Yeah, well.” he sounded out of breath now too. “I can think of a lot of worse reasons to let you kiss me.” A blush ran over their features. “Oh, I-” they stuttered. He chuckled and kissed them again.
“What can I say. Kissing you makes me think lots of things.” The moan they gave in response shook Avior to his bones. His arms tightened around their waist as their kisses grew even more hungry.
He pulled back again. “Some of them are even nice.” The human made a groan-like sound as they grabbed his chin and pulled him in again. “Then keep kissing me, you idiot. Before my thoughts expose how desperately I’ve been wanting to kiss you.”
Avior chuckled as one of his hands moved to rest on the side of their face. He grinned, noticing a small shiver come over them. “Well, I won’t tell if you don’t.” They both laughed and kissed again. This time, the demon couldn’t suppress a moan escaping his lungs, as he leaned into their touch.
They let their forehead rest against his, winding a hand through his hair. “You are really good at distracting me, you know that?” Their eyes were closed but they opened them when they heard him laugh in disbelief. “Excuse me? I have no such ability, you pedantic questionnaire." They both laughed.
“Well, the wall would disagree. If you hadn’t diverted my frustration, I would still be throwing flames at it.” they felt a small stab of embarrassment at their earlier outburst, but Avior’s expression let their heart drop to their stomach. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his hand cradled their neck.
“How about I distract you a little more then.” they had never seen a smile that wide on his face before. Their fast heartbeat almost made them feel dizzy, but they leaned forward to kiss him again. After softly biting his lower lip, which gained them a groan they wanted to bottle up and never let go again, they tilted their head down slightly, their eyes on his.
“You’re on, demon .”