Work Text:
Kalego has been noticing something. Other demons his age are all thinking about romance. At first he thought that it was just immaturity, that they were all thinking about falling in love instead of important things. What even is “love”? To Kalego, it seems like something trivial.
As time goes on, he begins to realize that it’s unlikely that his classmate’s thoughts of love and romance were a sign of immaturity, considering how widespread this phenomenon is. Although, if it’s developmentally normal for demons his age to be falling in love, why hasn’t he felt anything of the sort?
One day Kalego has Shichiro over to work on a group project. When they finish their work, there’s still some time before Shichiro’s parents will pick him up, so they get to talking. Kalego decides to bring up the topic of romance.
“Recently it feels like everyone is talking about love. At first I thought I was just more mature than them, but now I’m starting to think that I might just not have those feelings.”
“Do you want to have those feelings?”
“Not particularly, but I want to know if I have them or not.”
“How can we figure that out then?”
“I’m not sure, that’s the frustrating part. It seems like it’s just something you’re supposed to know.”
“Maybe you could try doing romantic things with someone? Although that could cause different problems…”
“That could work actually.”
“But how would you ask someone for that?”
Kalego makes sure that the door to his room is closed.
“Could we try kissing, Shichiro?”
Shichiro begins to blush.
“What?”
“Like you said, it would be a good way to figure out if I even have those feelings.”
“But why me?”
“If I were to be attracted to someone, it would be you. You’re pretty much the only other demon I can tolerate.”
Shichiro takes off his mask and gestures to his scar.
“But think about it. Kissing me wouldn’t exactly be like kissing a normal demon… My scar-”
Kalego cuts him off, “To my knowledge, it’s not supposed to be about the physical sensation as much as it is about the intimacy. Your scar and your fangs wouldn’t affect that. If you are uncomfortable with the idea, then you can just forget I said anything.”
Shichiro considers his own feelings. He’s not so much uncomfortable as he is self-conscious, but if Kalego wants this, he could probably get over his insecurities, if only for a few minutes. Besides, Kalego has only ever made him feel comfortable in his skin, scar and all. If Kalego doesn’t care, then maybe it really is okay.
“Okay. We can try kissing.”
Upon hearing this, Kalego leans in and closes his eyes.
“Wait! Can we work up to kissing on the mouth? I don’t think I have the nerve to do that right away.” Shichiro is trying to ignore how his heart is fluttering.
“Right. We should set some rules. Of course we need to keep things somewhat appropriate, in case someone comes to check on us.”
“If either one of us wants to stop, then we can. For any reason.”
“That’s a given. How about we both explain our feelings afterwards? So that we can compare data.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Nothing is coming to mind. Where would you like to start?”
Shichiro thinks about this for a moment, before pointing at his unscarred cheek. “Maybe you could kiss me here?”
“Alright.”
Kalego leans in and kisses Shichiro’s cheek. When he pulls away Shichiro asks him how it felt.
“I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. How about you?”
“My heart is racing. I feel almost dizzy.”
“Do you want to stop?”
“No, it’s a good feeling.”
“Really? Because it sounds like you feel sick.”
“There’s a different quality to it than sickness. It’s hard to explain.”
“If you say so. Next, maybe you should kiss me on the cheek?”
“If that’s what you want.”
Shichiro is nervous about this. Because of his scar, he doesn’t have most of his lips anymore. That seems like it would make kissing difficult. Even so, he doesn’t want to stop just yet.
He leans in and tries to kiss Kalego’s cheek. He feels like it’s more just pressing his mouth against him than kissing him. Shichiro pulls away, feeling incredibly awkward.
“How do you feel, Kalego?”
“Normal. And you?”
“Mostly just awkward and self-conscious.”
“What now?”
“I think I might be ready to kiss you on the mouth.”
“Very well. I think this will be the last part of our experiment.”
“That makes sense.”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Kalego closes his eyes and leans in to kiss Shichiro. After a moment of hesitation, Shichiro kisses him.
Shichiro feels like he’s about to have a heart attack. He’s lightheaded and can feel his pulse. For some reason, it feels good. He’s almost disappointed when Kalego pulls away.
“Anything?” He asks.
“Nothing. It’s settled then, I don’t fall in love.”
“Mission accomplished! Now you know.”
“How about you?”
“Do I have to say?”
“No, but I am curious.”
“Okay. In that case, I felt like I was dying, but in a good way.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know, but it’s the best way to describe it.”
“Shichiro, do you think you have a crush on me?”
Shichiro considers how he wants to answer. He probably does, but if he’s honest, he might ruin what he has with Kalego. He doesn’t want that, but he also doesn’t want to lie. He decides to risk it by telling the truth. Kalego would probably understand.
“I might, but I’m not sure. It could also just be that I enjoy touch, and that was a new experience for me. So, I don’t know, but probably. Is that okay?”
“As long as you don’t make it my problem, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.”
“Right. You’ll never hear about this again.”
“We should check over our work again, in case we missed anything.”
“Right.”
They begin looking over their project, each with a better understanding of themself.
Shichiro doesn’t mind that Kalego will never have romantic feelings for him, he’s just grateful to have a demon who he gets along with. He will be happy with their relationship regardless of what it looks like.
Kalego doesn’t mind that Shichiro probably has a crush on him. As long as he respects his boundaries, that’s fine. Shichiro is the only demon who he actually likes being around, he wouldn’t give that up for something as silly as Shichiro having romantic feelings for him.
No matter how they define their relationship, they are incredibly important to each other.
Nothing so trivial as love could change that.