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Sulfus was pissed.
Infuriated, even.
Oh, by the low spheres–this day was supposed to be FUN.
Sulfus kicked the walls again and balled up his fists. The jars full of odd entities, like eyes and snakes with two heads, rattled and clinked together. The dungeons were damp again, and the smell of mold angered the young demon.
“Agk! Of course, this happens!” Sulfus whipped around to make another lap around the old classroom. His eyes felt hot, and his head hurt. He wrapped his arms around his body, trying not to punch the wall. That would hurt.
“What a fool I was to expect anything different. She promised, but–AGH!!”
He kicked the wall again, and this time, a jar full of spiders fell out onto the floor. The loud shattering of glass spooked Sulfus.
He stopped his pacing, staring wide-eyed at the now broken glass. His mouth twitched, and he tried to suppress a grimace.
He looked away to stare at the gray brick walls surrounding him. Some parts of the walls were now burnt, and the shelves were hanging precariously from their hinges. A lone incandescent light hung from the ceiling, pale and cold.
Sulfus’s tail twitched. The light flickered. He felt exposed, even though this dungeon was never used and the small light was barely enough to see the other end. Sulfus was afraid that someone would walk in and see what he had been desperately trying to hide.
Breathe in…. Breathe out….
Sulfus squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth.
Don’t knock over another jar, Sulfus… you're already on Professor Temptel’s hit list. You don’t need to be moved further up on the list.
Sulfus leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to rest upon the floor. He wasn’t just mad because of the moldy smell permeating throughout the dungeons. No, it was deeper than that. After a whole week of not being able to ‘breathe’ and be open about the recent… developments… he had started to go stir crazy.
Sulfus leaned his head against the wall. He missed Raf. A lot.
Oh, if past me could see me now…
Sulfus chuckled a little, imagining the absurd face he would have made if he learned that he had been dating the angel for around a month now.
A month. He smiled freely. A month full of hidden kisses and hiding behind trees to hold hands. Leaving discrete gifts of daisies and other small trinkets on her desk and in return, getting small note cards with sickly sweet love poems.
The most recent one, from a week ago, was still in his pocket. He knew it was risky, leaving such a condemning piece of evidence on his person, but he couldn’t bring himself to hide it along with the rest. Especially since they were about to go on fall break, and feared that communication would be too risky.
Long black hair, I see,
Bright eyes that look back at me,
See you soon, my love <3
Sulfus opened his eyes and stared in surprise. At some point, the small light hanging from the ceiling had burnt out, casting the room in a dingy darkness. Sulfus could feel himself relax. Even if someone came in now, they wouldn’t see him on the ground. They wouldn’t see the broken jar or the new scorch marks, that sure as hell weren’t there before.
Sulfus closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.
It was late in the night, and the golden school’s students had just returned from their well-deserved fall break. Raf and Sulfus had agreed to meet up after they had settled back into their semi-permanent dorms.
However, Raf still wasn’t here.
Raf was never late. Never—unless, of course, he had put a bucket of water on top of the doorwell, and she had to go back to change. Or if he put gum in her hair, and she had to go brush it out with peanut butter. Or if–
Needless to say, Raf being late wasn’t something she enjoyed.
But here he was, waiting in a dark room for at least an hour after their agreed meeting time, and still no Raf.
Sulfus took another deep breath. The image of his past self popped back into his head, with its stupid expression. If it were his past self here, waiting in the dark, moldy room just to meet up with an angel, oh, how he would have lost it.
Sulfus relaxed further. Classes didn’t start till late the next day, and the rest of the demons were busy pulling stupid pranks on their angel counterparts, so he had nothing he needed to worry about.
He could wait for as long as it took.
Sulfus could hear the human school's generator kick on, probably being used by janitors to vacuum the library or clean up the gum on the undersides of desks. It was a low rumbling sound. One that quickly lured Sulfus into a half-conscious daze.
It was still moldy, but the heat from the returning demons almost made the air seem cozy. There was no light escaping into the room from the cracks in the doors, and no light was seeping in from the small, blurry windows. He could almost imagine he was in his bed. Curling up… getting ready for a new day full of chaos…
“Psst-!”
Sulfus’s eyes snapped wide open, and he twisted quickly to the sound of the voice. He snarled but stopped, surprised at the sight of what was in front of him.
The overhead light was still out, but now there were candles on the floor, casting the gloomy classroom in a warm, welcoming glow. There was also a soft blanket laid out in the middle, with a red and white checker pattern. On the blanket, there was a basket, and with his keen sense of smell, he could tell there was a delicious meal prepared.
However, the most beautiful of all was Raf.
She was crouched in front of him, and the candlelight reflected through her wings and halo like sunlight through leaves. She wore a small smile and a beautiful light blue jacket. She also wore jeans with small red strawberries decorated on the ankles.
Her hair, which a week ago had been long enough to hit her lower back, was cut. It now rested a little under her shoulders and was curled into delicate spirals.
He had apparently been staring for too long, because she started to giggle, making her hair bounce elegantly.
“Hello, Sleepy head,” Her bright eyes gleamed. “I hope I didn’t disrupt a good nap, but–.” She giggled a little more, her eyes filled with adoration.
She turned behind her, and the light made her eyes sparkle impossibly more.
“I made dinner? I hope you like picnics.” She glanced over to him, blush high on her cheeks.
Sulfus was stunned. Am I dreaming? He thought. Is this real? Am I really dating this sweet of an angel?
Before he knew what he was doing, he reached carefully to caress her cheek. As always, a small zap echoed throughout their bodies, but they had grown used to it at this point. The veto didn’t scare them anymore. If anything, it excited them.
Raf stilled, but let him reach up with his other hand, twirling a delicate curl between his fingers.
They stayed like that for a few moments, soaking up each other's presence.
It had been hard to go from seeing each other every day for an entire year to not being able to even talk to each other.
Sulfus was suddenly reminded of his impetuous nature, as he gently grabbed Raf's shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.
He could smell her vanilla perfume, and the veto once again buzzed throughout his body, but he didn’t care.
Raf was back.
Raf wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. She pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, right between his horns.
He pulled back and leaned up, meeting Raf in the middle to give her a proper kiss.
Her Chapstick was cherry-flavoured and slightly sticky.
When they pulled away, he could feel some of the Chapstick residue still on his lips. He licked it off and grinned widely at Raf.
She was so beautiful…
“Sulfus?” Raf waved a hand gently in front of his face. “Is my hair really that distracting?”
Sulfus shook his head.
“No, no, it's gorgeous! I’m just… a little mad.”
Raf pulled back in surprise. Not too far, of course. Sulfus held onto her elbow and gently pulled her closer.
“Why?!” Her eyes widened, and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Do you actually hate picnics?!”
Sulfus snorted, pulling her hand from her mouth to lean in again and press a gentle kiss to her cherry-flavoured lips.
“No,” He smiled, love-sick, at her. “I’m mad because I thought you were standing me up!”
Raf looked surprised before she burst into laughter.
“Hey! Don’t laugh at me!” Sulfus frowned at her, but from the way she started laughing harder, he failed greatly.
Sulfus could feel the corners of his lips curling into a wide smile, but he fought it down.
“I waited for hours in this dusty, mold-infested room, and you had the audacity to be late? I should leave right now–” As he moved to stand up, Raf threw her arms around him and pulled him back into a loose hug, laughing hard.
“Hey, it-it’s not that funny–” Sulfus burst into laughter, too weak to stop the elation filling up his body.
Together they laughed, loud and unafraid. Sulfus’s wicked and cruel cackles mixed with Raf's boisterous and joyful howling. It was music to Sulfus’s ears.
When they had settled down, giggles still shaking their bodies, Sulfus rested against Raf, leaning his head against the crook of her neck.
“Wh-why are you laughing-” Sulfus tried to ask, but the only thing he accomplished was setting them both off into another fit of giggles.
Raf threw her arms around his shoulders and snuggled into his head, pressing her forehead against his horns.
“I-I’m sorry-” She sniffled, having laughed herself to tears. “I-well, I wanted-”
She balled her hands up.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
Sulfus looked up at where she was perched above him. She had a bashful look, and her eyes were a little glassy from laughing.
“We angels are so very-” She furrowed her brow, searching for the right words. “-measured. We don’t like pranks or surprises much. We plan everything down to a T, and I like that! I like predictability and a stable place to land, but–”
She broke his gaze, turning to look at the picnic she had made.
“It gets to a point.”
Sulfus licked his lips, and suddenly, the room felt a lot more somber. He reached over, cupping her face in his hands and pressing his forehead to hers.
Raf continued.
“I wanted to try and, well. Break that mould?” She shrugged. “I got here a little late, because I was sneaking out a huge basket of food and Dolce really wanted one of the cookies, but I planned to come here right on time and set up a huge picnic, and then when you would walk in, I would jump up and scare you, but for once in your life Sulfus you were actually on time and I just–”
He pressed a kiss to her cheek. She chuckled wetly.
“I just froze. I thought it would be awkward to walk in and have to have you set up your own surprise.” He didn’t notice before, but as he started unabashedly into her eyes, he could see blue eyeliner traced around the tops and bottoms of her eyelids. It looked divine.
“Raf.”
She nodded, not breaking eye contact.
“I would have loved setting up this picnic with you, darling. You could never make anything awkward. You make everything better, just by being there.”
Raf’s wings fluttered, and she bit her mouth.
“Y’know, for being a devil, you’re a sweetheart.” She wiggled her eyebrow teasingly.
Sulfus scoffed, but didn’t argue.
“Wanna actually have the picnic now?” He asked, jerking his head towards the candlelit blanket. “I wanna try these cookies you snuck down.”
Raf chuckled and stood up, offering a hand.
Sulfus took it, letting the jolt of sacrilege run through his body.
He stood up, and his knees crackled from disuse. Raf laughed, delighted.
“Oh, shut up. You literally waited till I took a nap to set up a picnic instead of doing the sensible thing of just having me help.”
“Oh, get out.’” She shoved him away, beaming widely at him.
Sulfus chortled, but sat down on the blanket.
I was right, Sulfus thought, as Raf sat down next to him and began unloading the picnic basket. I really did miss Raf.