Chapter Text
The sun hides behind the clouds, causing the world to look bleak and mute. Cars moved on by other vehicles or people walking on the sidewalks, tires running over left over puddles in the road that splash drops onto the curb, or sidewalk. The traffic was minimal, but still there as it was around afternoon, just where people that worked today were just starting to get off their shifts. No doubt about it that the traffic would slowly start to become problematic, and people would be honking and shouting at each other like animals.
Two men walked in a small group of people- probably from their own work place, or another company- on the sidewalk, each talking to each other about their clients or something else entirely. One remained silent however, uninterested in whatever they were chit-chatting about. The other beside him glanced over to him with a pout on his face before leaning forward, just enough where he could see his face in view.
"Fummy?" The tilted man asked, the pout more clearer in his voice. "What's wrong? You're unusually quiet."
He scoffed, rolling his eyes towards the taller man. "Don't call me that, Satanick. And I'm always quiet, what do you mean unusually?"
Satanick hummed as he lifted himself back up, facing forward as hands move behind his back. His work bag's strip sags down slightly, but not enough to completely come down. "Well," he starts off, the last letter being dragged in a coo, "You do sometimes join in on chatting with your own opinions. You aren't doing that now, though."
"Yeah Fumus," another butts in, overhearing their conversation, "Where's your dumbass opinions?"
Fumus narrows his eyes towards the unwanted person, lips pulling into an annoyed frown. "Nobody asked you to butt in, Elux."
"Oh come on," Elux groans, head tossing back for dramatics before lifting back up. "Yeah, you're reserved like an teenager in his emo phase, but you're even more kept to yourself today."
The other people that were in the group seemed to have gone up further ahead, or already turned towards the parking garage to their vehicles. The three didn't notice, or they did but chose to keep on walking forward with no real designation yet. Fumus glares at Elux's comment, proving their point by going quiet once again, eyes drifting away from both of them.
Suddenly, Satanick gets an idea and his lips form into a grin. Elux turns his head towards the devil, giving a chuckle. "Uh oh, seems like ol' Nicky's got an idea. What is it, huh?"
"How about we go to a café?! There's one nearby that we can head to! I always go there when I'm craving something in the morning! It could maybe relax you up, Fumus!" Satanick exclaims, looking towards his brother after suggesting it, hoping he accepts the invitation.
"Heyy, that isn't such a bad idea now. Come on, Fummy." Elux teases, batting his eyelashes at the nickname, which earns him a hard punch in the shoulder. They let out a cry, holding his hit shoulder. "Hey man!" Elux cries out, frowning towards the other.
"Neither of you should be using that fucking nickname. It's disgusting," he replies, moving past the two of them to try and get away from them. Of course, he expects it not to be successful when he hears their footsteps pick up and trail him. Satanick gets ahead first, rambling about how good it was, and his experiences with it. Elux is the only one who reciprocates the conversation, Fumus once again, remaining quiet throughout it. To tune them out, his attention is focused on his surroundings.
There was nothing interesting to note. The sky has yet to change, suggesting it'll drizzle or pour down for today. The traffic seemed to lift just slighty, with no honking or shouting, much to his relief. It'll save him from major headaches, his colleague and younger brother already causing enough for him. He turns his head to his right, looking at each building, or alleyway, they walk past to get to this café. Small offices of insurance, cheap walk-in clinic, law firms, suites, or unimportant buildings of different sizes are what they walk by. His attention turns back forward, looking at the two men's backs.
What felt like forever was only fifteen minutes before all three come to an eventual stop at a decent sized establishment. A sign at the top of the door read, "Carrion Café". An.. interesting name, to say the least.
"Here we are! It's a really good day to come here as well, considering the atmosphere!" Satanick chimes, taking ahold of the door's handle to open it, holding it open as Elux and Fumus walk inside, the devil following in right afterwards. The door closes as a small bell chimes right above their heads. It alerts some of the workers upahead, one immediately recognizing Satanick.
"Oh, Nick! You've brought some friends again, hm?" They ask with a smile on their face, tilting their head at him. Fumus rolls his eyes while Elux chuckles, both knowing well about the "friends" Satanick brings.
"Yes I did!" he hums, walking over to the counter, leaning himself over it, arms planted over the marble material. The other two remain behind him, looking up to the menu that overhangs the area. "I'd like what I usually get from here, please!" Satanick turns his head to look at the other two behind him.
"Go ahead and order! It'll be on me," he offers, grinning widely.
"Well in that case," Elux hums as he continues to view the menu. He turns his head down to look at the cashier, "Let me just get a herbal tea. Something between a mix of fruity and earthy, if you can kindly do so."
They nod their head, putting in the order into the machine just right beside the register. "Alright," they say before looking to Fumus. "And what about you sir?"
"Black coffee. That's it."
"Ooh, come on Fummy! Order whatever!"
"I'm fine."
The cashier looks back down to put in the order. "Alrightt.. That'll be $17.55!" Satanick nods his head as he retrieves out his wallet to open it and remove a company black card, pressing it against the machine. It dings as it asks for a PIN, to which he bypasses it. The card is tucked back into a pocket within the wallet and put away. Printing out the receipt to hand to Satanick.
"It'll be out shortly! Please take a seat anywhere!"
Satanick thanks them before walking off, the other two falling behind. He chooses a booth near in a corner and by one of the larger windows that shows the traffic and people walking by the shop. Each take a seat, Satanick and Elux seating beside each other while Fumus sits on the opposite side of them. They each take off their bags they've brought with them, Fumus being able to set it beside him. When both talk, he tunes them out once more by unzipping his bag to take out his laptop, setting it onto the table to open and log into.
He hears a groan from behind his screen, looking up to see his brother's sad look and Elux shaking his head. "Fummy really?" He groans, leaning back against the booth's cushion. "You're such a workaholic!"
"Get over it. I've got deadlines anyways, and so do you." He scolds, narrowing his gaze at him before he's focused onto his screen. Opening up the WiFi to log into the free internet the place provided. Thank gods for that. Any of Satanick's complaints go ignored as he gets engrossed into his work. When a few minutes passed, a woman dressed in the shop's uniform came by the table, setting down their drinks onto the surface.
Elux takes his tea and Satanick takes his cold brew, while Fumus didn't need to take his since it was placed right beside his laptop. He doesn't give a glance or anything, the same with Elux while Satanick did.
"Here you are. Your strawberry shortcake will be out shortly, so don't you worry Satanick," she responds, her voice just a little low and ambiguous.
"Thank you, Jassy!" Satanick hums, using a nickname so casually. It earns a kick at his leg from his brother, which he yelps and looks over at him. He doesn't lift his head from the screen, typing away. Satanick huffs and pouts like a child, the woman just chuckling before walking off.
"Guessing you're a regular down here, huh Nick?" Elux questions, tilting his head as he takes a sip from his mug. A delighted sigh as they lean into the booth's seat, a leg overlapping the other leg. "Man, this is some great shit."
Satanick chuckles as he rubs at where he was hit at on the leg, hunched over slightly because of it. "I am, yeah. Their strawberry shortcake is just soo good! It's my most favorite out of the any bakeries here." The two's chattering continues, Fumus having not once looked up from his device. Not like he felt the need to look up from it; he had work and deadlines to meet. That was far important than whatever those two were blabbling about.
He takes his mug blindly to bring it up to his lip, taking a sip from it and setting it back down onto the table. It tasted decent. Not the best he's had, but it's good enough just for today. Footsteps approach the table as the same woman came by, a small plate being put down.
"Here you are, Satanick."
"Thank you," he chimes happily as he retrieves the fork being given to him. She leaves once more, all three being left alone for the time being. As the devil happily eats away at his slice of cake, Elux takes out his phone to start scrolling through emails. What fills in the shop is very quiet talks from the other patrons that sit inside, and the music that plays from a speaker out of view. The music was rather comforting and soft, a melody capable of putting anyone to sleep, or relax their muscles. Despite a slightly horrid name for the café, it seemed like a well taken care of shop. The customer service was good, and they left you alone.
An hour passes, people either staying or leaving, just for some new folk to enter in. Fumus takes a quick pause in his work, leaning back as he cracks his knuckles, which causes both Satanick and Elux to pause what they were doing and look at him, confused. He stares back with same confusion.
"What? I can't crack my knuckles?"
"You usually crack them when you're ready to beat the shit outta someone," Elux replies, shrugging his shoulders. Satanick nods in agreement on his fifth slice of cake. "Don't blame us."
Both went back to what they were doing as Fumus rolled his eyes, sighing as he reaches into his pocket. He rummages inside to retrieve out a cigarette and lighter. "I'm going outside to smoke," he informs them as he gets up from his side of the booth.
"Oh," Satanick responds fast, covering his mouth as he quickly swallows down the piece in his mouth. "There's a smoking area in the back! They allow both employees and customers there."
He quirks a brow, taken back that this place allows such a thing. Hell, it's the first time he's heard a damn café holds an indoor smoking section. Either way, he nods before walking away from the booth and start looking around for it. He glances around towards the people that were comfortable inside, noting how majority of the people inside were either high schoolers or college students, studying or fucking around in their respective booths and tables. Soon enough, Fumus manages to find the indoor smoking area from the little red sign hammered into the wall.
Fumus holds and turns the doorknob to walk in, closing it right behind him. Honestly, he expected himself to be alone inside, but he insteads find another seated on one of the hard benches, smoking as well. He could somewhat recognize her, having seen her out of his peripheral view earlier when she came by. She notices him, merely giving a nod before returning to scrolling on her phone. He doesn't return any gesture and sits opposite of her, taking out a cigarette from a camel brand box, then light it up. He stuffs the box and lighter back into his pocket.
The room muffles the classic music that was playing outside in the public area. Not that Fumus really cared for it. He brings the lit cigarette up to his lips, taking a drag as tobacco is tasted on his tongue, smoke filling up lungs before pulling it out, exhaling out the smoke upwards. It relaxes him more than the music, a sigh leaving lips quietly as he stares at his designer shoes. It was only him and that woman inside, making this just a bit awkward than he liked. Yeah, he didn't care of her presence, but it was partly quiet inside, and he wished there was just something more high volume inside.
Fumus tilts his head to the side, closing his eyes for a moment. They open again to take a look at the surroundings in the room: the full, rectangular benches of solid color attached to the wall, a paper taped to the wall listing of rules for this area, and around two vents on the back wall, then at the wall the woman sat at. Eyes can't help but land onto her, who was still engrossed in her phone as a cigarette is inbetween her index and middle finger of her left hand. Her hair appeared to be a wolf-cut of sorts, her hair messy but not to where it was entirely fucked up, at least around shoulder length. Aside from what he could only assume to be the shop's required uniform, she seemed to wear a black blouse underneath with black jeans designed to be just slightly baggy than tight like how most jeans tend to me. In fact, they look more handmade than bought from some clothing store. Designer heels that looked like the same brand as his own.
His gaze lifts back up from her outfit, but air gets caught in his throat. There were two sets of dark headwings, two golden earrings in the left one and one in one of the feathers on the right. But what caused him to suddenly freeze were the two eyes adorning each appendenge, staring at him. She was still looking at her phone. Were those eyes seperate from their beholder? Fumus doesn't stare much longer, his head turning away as he hurriedly takes a drag and exhales fumes, in a way to cool himself. Sure, her headwings might've caught him, but she didn't. His body shudders when he can still feel the eyes staring right at him. Why were they doing that?
Now he just wants to hurry up and finish his cigarette, and then leave.
"In a hurry?"
Fumus flinches ever so slightly, his head turning back to look at her, who was now looking up from her phone and at him through her eyelashes. Before he could get a word, she straightens her posture, turning her phone over in her lap. "Although I may not see it, they certainly can. It always freaks others out," she explains, her head turning away to smoke and blow fumes upwards.
"I'm almost done anyway," she says, but her cigarette looked like it had hardly been touched until now. It makes Fumus give her a strange yet confused look. Another word can't be put in when she snuffs the cigarette out against the gray wall before standing up, pocketing her phone into her pocket. She turns and walks past, opening the door and leaving, closing it right behind her. All he could do was stare at the door in bewilderment and confusion still. Yeah he had wanted to get up and leave when the eyes caught him but— no, that was absolutely what happened. Why was he even bothered by that?
Fumus rolls his eyes before returning back to his cigarette, taking a much longer drag and longer exhale, smoke curling and disappearing once a decent cloud had formed from it. At least he was alone now, meaning he could relax now. It took about ten minutes for him to finish up his cigarette, having taken in the silence and the outside music while inside the smoking area. Putting out his cigarette on the bench and flicking it into a nearby trash can, he stands from where he sat and exits out, door closing behind him. He returns back to the table, Elux being alone at the booth. He didn't question his brother's disappearance, since his bag was still under the table.
He paused at the table when noticing his coffee had been refilled. He looks over to his colleague with a questioning look. "Someone there refilled it for you. I'm not sure who though," Elux answered, nodding his head in the counter's direction. Fumus follows it to who exactly, and there was only a few who he could think of: a tenma employee, an angel employee, and woman from the smoking area. Nobody looked his way, distracted with taking orders or working on them. He looks back before huffing, shaking his head as he slides back into his seat and in front of his laptop. Elux had opened his own laptop while Fumus was away, switching to working on emails through there than his phone.
Needing to clear his tobacco taste, he takes the mug carefully to take a sip, but his eyes wide and immediately spits it back into the mug, setting it back down. He groans and coughs, wiping at spittle that might've caught on his lips and chin. Elux and a few other patrons had looked to his way.
"Woah, hey, what the hell happened?"
"It's got fucking sugar in it," Fumus hisses in disdain, but it makes Elux laugh, having to cover his mouth to keep it from being loud. Fumus snapped his head in the direction of the counter, trying to find out who was the person who decided to fuck with his black coffee, brows furrowed in annoyance. Scanning their faces, but he stares at the woman who's headwings' eyes are looking directly like him in a smile. Of course she did. He looks away, closing out of his tabs and then shutting down his computer, closing his laptop as he shoves it back into his bag.
"Hey, are you seriously butt hurt over your precious coffee being ruined?"
"Huh? What's going on?" Satanick is confused as he returns from wherever he was, but Fumus didn't care about it. He wasn't much in a mood for talking, or to be fucked with. Strap over his bag as he gets out from the booth, which makes Satanick hurriedly take his own bag to slip on, Elux following after (albeit a bit more in a rush since he had to save email drafts). When Fumus storms out, Satanick and Elux are quick to follow behind, the devil still trying to figure out why they had to leave. When the other explained it, Satanick laughed while trying to get his elder brother to calm down.
The owner, Jasmine, had just watched as they left the café and pass the windows to the left. Just briefly, her gaze and Fumus' met, and she couldn't help but grin without a regret, and him only looking away to hurry up and attempt to lose his buddy and brother.