Chapter Text
“What about him?” Louis asked, pointing at an older – a much, much older – man. “He’s married. Wanna fuck him?”
Nick choked on his drink, interrupting Henry’s long rambling story that Nick had been doing his best to pay attention to. Louis wobbled where he had been perched on Nick’s shoulder, grabbing Nick’s earlobe to steady himself.
“Whoaaaaa boy, calm down, mate!” Louis’ tiny red wings fluttered as he tried to regain his balance, spiked tail twitching. “It was just a suggestion! You’re so uptight. You need to unwind.”
“Are you okay?” Henry asked, putting a hand on Nick’s shoulder – the one without a tiny demon.
“Fine,” Nick croaked, “excuse me.” He walked quickly through the crowds of people at the party and ducked into the men’s room, where he was, thankfully, alone.
“Henry seems like a good bloke,” Louis said conversationally. “He really values your friendship. You should borrow a ton of money from him and never pay him back.”
Or, well, sort of alone.
“Why would I – I don’t need – why are you here?” Nick sputtered, putting both hands on the sink and staring into Louis’ eyes in the mirror.
“I’m grasping at straws here!” Louis said, arms flailing dramatically. “You’re not exactly giving me anything to work with!” He topped over in his dramatics, plopping down on Nick’s shoulder. Nick groaned and put his face in his hands.
(Louis had shown up a week before, at Tescos.
“You see that baby over there?” He had said to Nick in the cereal aisle, “The cute one? I think you should take its candy.”
Nick had dropped his basket and spilled all of his groceries all over the floor. He had also screamed like a maniac, but that was neither here nor there. The baby with the lollipop started crying.
Louis was Nick’s “very own personal devil.” He was about six inches tall and had tiny scaly wings and a spiked tail. Nestled in Louis’ head of cinnamon hair were also two tiny nub horns, and that discovery was what led Nick to the conclusion that he had begun a downward spiral into insanity.
And, according to Louis, that wasn’t the only downward spiral Nick was on.
“You just need that one extra push,” Louis had said later on, back at Nick’s flat, stirring the cup of tea Nick had offered him in a fit of desperation. He used both hands as one would stir a cauldron. “It’s not so easy to get into Hell anymore. Sure, you’ve got the gay asshole thing going on, but that just doesn’t cut it anymore. We’re getting severely understaffed Down There.”
“So you’re here to, what? Tempt me?” Nick had asked, clutching his own tea like a lifeline. “I don’t want to go…Down There.”
“Well you haven’t been really doing anything to convince us you want to go Up There either,” Louis replied easily, blowing ridiculously at his cup of tea. “You’re already on the way, I’m just insurance.” He clasped his hands together in front of him, smiling widely up at Nick’s distressed face. “Think of me as your conscience. Here to give you advice and steer you onto the right path. Or, well,” Louis smiled, teeth sharp, “the wrong one.”)
“Do you ever think,” Nick asked, setting Louis down onto the counter of the club’s bathroom, “that maybe I’m just a – a better person than you all anticipated?”
Louis paused, blinked up at Nick, and started laughing so hard he fell over and slid into the bowl of the sink. Nick felt his face redden.
“Of course not,” Louis said, still laughing. “You’re just being stubborn!”
“Yes, maybe because I don’t want to spend eternity in Hell! Did you ever think that?”
Louis laughed again, clutching his stomach.
“No, Nick, the thought never occurred to me.” He burst into a tiny cloud of red smoke and reappeared on Nick’s shoulder. “It’s really not as bad as you lot think it is. Nice color scheme. Warm, tropical climate –“
“It’s literally Hell,” Nick said.
“Well, yeah,” Louis conceded, “but once you get passed that it’s alright.”
Nick sighed, pushing a hand through his hair, staring despairingly into the mirror. Louis reached over and fixed the collar of Nick’s paisley shirt. “Now,” he said, giving Nick’s shoulder a pat, “let’s go raise Hell, shall we?”
“Or we could not,” Nick said.
***
“I’m so bored,” Louis said a week later. He was dangling upside-down from Nick’s kitchen table, waving his arms and teasing Nick’s dog where she sat growling up at him. “Let’s go do something.” He sat up quickly. “Let’s go rob a bank!”
“I think you’re aiming a bit too high,” Nick said, lazily skipping through channels. “Why would I rob a bank?”
“Ooh, the Kardashians! Stop there,” Louis said, popping next to Nick on the couch. Puppy could be heard scrambling on the hardwood floors to try and run after him. “Can’t wait to meet them. Have you met them?”
“Not quite yet,” Nick answered, head resting on his hand. Two weeks of Louis literally as the devil on Nick’s shoulder and he was used to his near constant rambling. Not as used to it to make normal social interaction possible, however, which was why he was home alone channel surfing on a Friday night. “You’re ruining my life,” Nick said.
“I’m improving your life, “Louis corrected. “I’m guiding you.”
“The only thing you’ve been guiding is yourself into my fridge.” Nick poked Louis in the stomach, Pillsbury style.
“You don’t exactly get the good stuff Down Under, you know. I’ve got to get in all the oreos I can before I return to the mainland.”
“I’m going to start charging you rent,” Nick said, changing the channel and ignoring Louis’ squeak of protest.
“I’m doing you a service!”
“You’re a nuisance.” Nick sighed, throwing his legs up onto the couch and nearly knocking Louis off. Louis scrambled onto the arm of the couch and crossed his arms over his chest haughtily. Nick laughed and nudged him with a toe.
Louis huffed and flipped his hair. Over time he had lost the sharp quiff-and-suit combo of his arrival and started popping up in track pants and oversized t-shirts. Nick supposed he couldn’t fault the guy making himself comfortable, but seriously the cuteness scale was off the chain. It was inappropriate, is what it was.
Nick felt a soft pattering of feet down his legs and saw Louis steadily making his way down to Nick’s torso.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Nick asked, snickering as Louis wobbled and almost fell off of Nick’s knee.
“I’m taking control of the television. You obviously don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Nick laughed as Louis paused, standing on Nick’s sternum. Louis’ hair was all over the place, fluffy and soft looking. From this close Nick could almost identify Louis’ tattoos, even the tiny lines and curves of his chest piece. Louis stomped over to Nick’s face, small blue eyes staring directly into Nick’s. He was gorgeous, small as he was, and Nick spared a moment to imagine this scenario if Louis was human-sized. Nick thought if that were the case it wouldn’t be so hard for Louis to get him into Hell.
“I can make myself bigger, you know,” Louis said, as though reading Nick’s mind. Nick really, really hoped Louis couldn’t actually read minds.
“Then why don’t you?” Nick asked, poking a finger at Louis’ chest.
Louis pushed the finger away and crossed his arms. “You’re not worth it,” he huffed, turning his nose up. Nick laughed and dropped the remote control on his chest for Louis to navigate. Louis put Keeping Up With The Kardashians back on and sighed happily, sitting cross-legged on Nick’s chest. It was a little weird, but Nick was comfortable and a little sleepy so he decided to just deal with it. Puppy jumped up onto the couch and made herself comfortable on top of Nick’s legs, glaring at Louis. On the screen, Scott Disick threw a tantrum at a dinner party.
“Go make popcorn, peon,” Louis demanded, eyes not leaving the screen.
“Go fuck yourself, demon,” Nick muttered, dozing off.
“That’s the spirit!” Louis cackled, patting Nick’s chest. Nick tried to fight his smile, but found he couldn’t.
***
Surprisingly, the first time Louis comes along with Nick to work is a month after Nick meets him.
“Thought it would be boring,” Louis said when Nick brought this to his attention. “You just sit around and talk. I have to deal with that when you’re not at work. I need to get away from you every once in a while.”
“You need to get away from me all the time.”
“Whatever,” Louis said, waving a hand dismissively, “just tell me who these people are.”
Louis ended up, surprisingly, enjoying his time at work with Nick. Something Nick didn’t exactly appreciate, because it most likely meant that Louis would be following him to work more often.
“Do you see?” Louis gestured proudly to where Matt sat smirking behind his computer. Louis had, unsurprisingly, fallen in love with Showbot. “Why can’t you just…let loose like that guy? He’s really going for it. He’s definitely one of ours.”
“Please don’t tell me which of my friends is condemned to eternal damnation,” Nick said aloud, prompting several weird looks from Ian and Fiona.
“At least you won’t be lonely!” Louis said, and laughed as Showbot (Matt) said something about Justin Bieber and her “USB port.” Nick dropped his head in his hands.
“Oof,” Showbot said.
***
“Frank Sinatra.”
“Nope, not ours.”
“Kurt Cobain.”
“What do you think?”
“…Biggie?”
“You’d probably think, but no.”
“Tupac.”
“Nope, he’s Upstairs.”
“Margaret Thatcher.”
“I had tea with her a couple months back.”
“John Lennon.”
“He’s a right arsehole when you meet him in person.”
“Freddie Mercury.”
“I tell you, they take all the good music for themselves, the bastards.”
“...Justin Bieber?”
“What was it I just said about the good musicians?”
“Oh thank God.”
“Literally!”
***
“I’ll have you know,” Nick said, putting his bag down as he walked into his flat after work, “that I donated to three different charities today. As well as made a point to hold the elevator door for the weird intern that smells like cheese.” He puffed his chest out, posing like a superhero in the hallway of his flat.
“You also made fun of the cheese intern on the air and bought yourself a pair of shoes for more money than you donated to charity. I do keep tabs on you, you know.” Louis popped in front of Nick’s face, causing him to flinch back. He patted Nick’s nose, tiny wings fluttering. “You’re going to have to try harder than that.”
***
“Gordon Ramsay.”
“You know, I’m not exactly sure…”
***
“You’d think,” Louis said sleepily, “living in Hell and all, that I would be tired of heat and warmth in general.”
Nick and Louis were laid out at the park near Nick’s house, splayed out in the sunshine. Louis was laying on Puppy’s exposed belly. Nick didn’t really understand their relationship, but the dog didn’t seem to want to eat the tiny devil that day, so he guessed it didn’t really matter.
Nick just hummed in response, dozing lightly and not really listening to what Louis was saying. He was getting better at that. For a few seconds after there was blessed silence as Nick basked in the sun, giving himself over to the orange glow behind his eyelids. Maybe if Louis shut up more often, this whole situation wouldn’t –
“High Ho Silver, Away!” He heard Louis shout, and opened his eyes to see his dog running full speed at a group of cyclists, Louis straddling her back like a professional jockey. By the end of the day, Nick had barely avoided several lawsuits, scraped nearly all the skin off his knees, had to fish Puppy out of the park’s pond (AGAIN), and rescinded any and all positive thought he’d had for the little devil on his shoulder.
***
“Aw, come on, Grimshaw, I was just doing my job.”
“…”
“Nick, you’re being ridiculous.”
“…”
“Do you have any more celebrities you want to know about?”
“…”
“What about Beyoncé? I’m pretty sure she’s going Up. But you never really know with those Illuminati folks.”
“…”
“…Nick?”
“…So the Illuminati is real then?”
***
All it took for Nick to accept his Fate was Harry Styles walking into his studio one morning.
“Hiya!” he said brightly, voice significantly deeper than Nick had expected, holding out a hand. His hands were large, and his wrists were littered with tiny tattoos. He had a lot of tattoos, spread all the way up and into the sleeves of his t-shirt and peeking out from under his collar. He had a strong jaw, and wide, trusting eyes. His hair was curlier than anything. Nick was going to Hell.
“Harry Styles,” Harry continued, unnecessarily. “I’m a huge fan.” Nick cleared his throat and put on his most charming smile.
“Thanks, mate. I like you already.” Going to Hell. “I’m Grimmy, but you can call me Nick.”
***
“Is this what you were talking about? When you said I’m already guaranteed? Did you set this up? Is Harry Styles some sort of golem you’ve sent to ruin my good name?” Nick eyed Harry, strumming a guitar in the Live Lounge. “If he was, I can’t guarantee I would mind.”
Harry was there to promote his first single Don’t Let Me Go, a cheesy little ballad that would be highly forgettable if it weren’t for the boy’s amazing voice. Harry threw his head back and got really into it, exposing the long line of his neck. Nick wanted to ruin him.
Louis, surprisingly, was unsmiling.
“No,” he said, frowning, “I don’t think he’s it.”
“What, and robbing a bank is?” Harry spotted Nick through the window into the studio and grinned, still singing.
“I don’t know, Nicholas. I just don’t think he’s the thing that’s going to push you into the Pit.” Louis was being snappier than usual. Nick frowned.
“Well what is then?” The song finished, and Harry, impossibly, grinned wider. He waved at Nick through the window and gestured to say he was going to go back in. They shot the shit for a little, doing a little more promo for Harry’s song and his upcoming album. Louis, despite behaving through all the other shows he’d sat through and only occasionally making a comment and laughing uproariously at Showbot, did his best to distract Nick through the whole interview, fluttering in Nick’s face while making silly faces and tugging at Harry’s curls. Nick gritted his teeth and dealt with it, praying Louis would get bored. A few minutes later and Nick was finally, blessedly, able to play a Disclosure song. Dealing with pop stars and Louis at the same time was a struggle, and even Harry had begun to notice Nick’s growing annoyance.
Louis was hovering just above Harry’s head, dancing to the song and giving Nick the finger simultaneously. He managed to incorporate the action into his dance routine. Harry was fidgeting in his chair, spinning it back and forth and biting his lip (god, his lips). It was uncomfortably quiet in the room, the rest of Nick’s crew having stepped out to take care of other things. Louis did a backflip in the air and finished it by using both hands to give the one finger salute.
“So, Harry,” Nick began, leaning forward, “d’you have any other promo lined up for today?”
“No,” Harry said, stilling his chair, “I’ve got an interview tomorrow, but until then I’m free.”
“I was thinking maybe you could stay a little longer and do Showquizness with us, since you’re a fan and all,” Nick said, throwing a look to where Louis had stopped dancing. “I think your fans would really appreciate it.” Louis crossed his arms and gave Nick a look that said “Yeah, right, the fans.”
“And then,” Nick continued, “I was thinking we could hang out? Later tonight I mean, I have to stay long after the show, but I’m free tonight. What do you think?” Louis gaped, and Nick felt smug. Nick hadn’t gone out much since Louis had made it a point to follow him whenever he did.
Harry’s eyes had grown wider as Nick spoke, and he had the beginnings of a smile on his pretty, pretty lips. “That’d be great!” he said, practically bouncing in his chair. “I’ll just let my manager know during the next song.”
“Yeah, great,” Nick said, smirking. “Let’s have your number, then.”
After that, all semblance of awkwardness Harry had was gone, and he was practically giddy. He’d giggled at nearly everything Nick said, and only responded to Showbot’s merciless teasing with a few “Heyyy”’s. Nick couldn’t help but notice that him and Harry had excellent chemistry, and that Harry wasn’t exactly the innocent little lamb he’d assumed he was when he first walked in. Nick ended up looking forward to spending time with Harry later that night for reasons unrelated to his lips and arse.
By the end of the show, Harry had stayed over an hour passed the time he was supposed to leave, Matt had almost torn his hair out trying to keep the two of them in line, and Louis had mysteriously disappeared.
“Good riddance,” Nick thought.
***
“So,” Nick slurred, stumbling through the door of his flat, “how about that Harry Styles, then? Heaven or Hell?”
Louis was sitting on the arm of Nick’s couch, looking bored. Puppy sat next to him, letting him pet her head absentmindedly. She glared up at Nick, as though he was intruding on them. Louis was giving him a similar look.
“How am I supposed to know?” Louis said, punching the remote on the button to turn the television off. “Go to sleep, Nick.”
Before Nick could respond, Louis disappeared, leaving an empty living room and a disgruntled Puppy. Nick shrugged, who was he to know what went on in the mind of the little devil? He collapsed on the couch, getting a growl and nip from Puppy in return, and passed out.
***
Being friends with Harry Styles was like nothing Nick had thought it would be. The boy was absolutely insane, in a good way, and so ridiculously good. The first few times they went out together, Nick couldn’t help thinking that he wouldn’t last long in this business. He was too trusting, too willing to give you the shirt off his back. But over time Nick realized that what he had originally thought was naiveté was actually just him not giving two shits what people thought of him. Nick was impressed, to say the least.
Before he knew it, Harry had been sucked into Nick’s group of close friends. Nick made a habit of going out with Harry at least once a week after that first night. He couldn’t help if the guy was fun to hang out with! He and Nick had developed a relationship revolved around Harry’s unending adoration for him and Nick’s constant need for attention. It also didn’t hurt that once Nick started spending an extensive amount of time with Harry he was featured more in the press by an exponential amount. There were worse things to be than photographed on the arm of a young, hot celebrity. If the general public wanted to believe Nick was fucking a talented, smoking hot pop star who was almost ten years younger than him, more power to them, even though Nick had learned early on that that was never going to happen.
Of all the things Nick had learnt about Harry Styles (he had a rather strong aversion to clothes, he would eat anything if there was some sort of fruit involved, he would wear the same outfit for days on end unless someone made him change), one of the first was that he was completely, stupidly, head-over-heels in love with his band’s lead guitarist.
Nick had only been slightly disappointed when he met Niall, if only in mourning of all the amazing sex he could have had with Harry. Niall was a nice enough bloke, funny as anything, and him and Harry were completely adorable, if entirely oblivious to the other’s affections. Nick wasn’t going to get in the way of True Love. That would make Louis far too happy.
Speaking of, Louis had, strangely, left Nick alone on the nights Nick went out with Harry. The first few times Nick had been jittery and nervous, constantly looking over his shoulder for a familiar glimpse of fluttering wings or feathery hair, but he was never there. He still followed Nick everywhere else, but whenever Nick would mention Harry coming over to the flat, or going out to dinner with Harry, Louis would just huff and pop away. Nick couldn’t figure out whether Louis thought Harry was a good or bad influence on Nick’s Immortal Soul. He figured it was probably a good one, because Nick had once seen Harry give an entire pizza (that was meant to be Nick’s dinner, thank you very much) to a homeless person. But whatever, Nick wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If anything, Louis’ continued absence was an excuse to spend even more time with Harry.
The only downside was that, while Nick was gallivanting all over the city with pop stars, Louis was apparently using his downtime to turn Nick’s own dog against him.
Puppy wouldn’t even look at him. She’d just sit there and turn her nose away. Nick retaliated by hiding her favorite toys and calling her all sorts of horrible names.
But, missing chew toys or not, it still kind of hurt to have his dog so angry at him, so Nick decided he would take her on a long walk after work, maybe let her jump around in the disgusting park pond, anything to win back her favor. He’d told Louis this, at the studio while Rihanna found love in a hopeless place and Matt and Fiona were out of the room for something or other. Louis had laughed in his face.
“Just give it up,” Louis said. “She likes me better! She’s loyal to me now.” He looked thoughtful. “You know, I never imagined my first Hellhound would be a jack russell, but maybe I should start small.”
“Please do not condemn my innocent dog to Hell,” Nick groaned, right as Matt walked back into the room. Matt paused, looked as though he wanted to say something, but instead shook his head and walked right back out of the room.
The walk had, as usual walks with Puppy Grimshaw were, been absolutely terrible. Nick had made Louis promise not to come, to give himself a tiny inkling of a chance of winning his dog back, so Puppy had refused to actually walk in protest. Nick had practically dragged her along the sidewalk before finally giving up and carrying her.
Once she got to the park she perked up a little, sniffing at plants and traumatizing some ducks. But after a while she seemed to remember she was supposed to be mad at Nick for whatever reason and sat unmoving in the grass. Nick was fine with that, content to lay in the grass next to her and text Harry. He would be going off on tour soon, so Nick made plans to meet him that night for going-away drinks. Once the sun began to set, Nick picked Puppy up and began the trip home to get ready.
After a long, frustrating trek home (in which Puppy had first tried to pee on Nick, then on a poor, unsuspecting old woman, and then tried attacking said women), Nick was contemplating just telling Harry to meet him at the flat for a quiet night in.
When Nick walked through the front door, hand over Puppy’s mouth to act as a muzzle and prevent her from biting his nose off, he was met with the sound of an unfamiliar voice.
He froze, listening. The intruder’s accent was thick, Nick couldn’t place it. Not that he really cared whether he knew where the guy grew up when he was possibly robbing his house.
Nick clutched Puppy tightly, shaking her a bit to try and get her to bark or something, some guard dog she was, but she just glared at him in response and tried to bite his hair.
The intruder’s voice was met with an extremely familiar one and Nick froze again, this time to listen.
“Look, Zayn, just do me a favor, yeah? You owe me? Remember Perrie?”
“That was ages ago, Lou, and it didn’t even work! This Harry guy is solid, man! His record is so clean it actually sparkles. And he’s got musical talent, there’s no way we’re getting him. Why do you even want him? Is this about the guy you’re working on now?”
“Zayn, if anyone can do it it’s you—“
“No, Louis, if anyone can do it, it’s you. But you’re here wasting your time—“
“Don’t talk to me about wasting time when you’ve been with Liam for, what? Two years now? Tell me again how he saved three babies from a burning building that one time—“
“Don’t bring my job into this when this was supposed to be in and out and you’ve been here for six months—“
“Look, will you take Harry Styles or not?” Louis said, running a hand over his face. Nick had slowly made his way down the hallway of his flat to the living room, where all the commotion was taking place, anger growing with every step.
“Take Harry Styles where?” He asked quietly, barely taking note Louis’ transformation into a tail-less, wing-less person of normal size. “Zayn” was tall, dark, and handsome. So much so that, had Nick not been entirely consumed with anger, he might have gotten extremely flustered and made a fool of himself around him, but at that moment Nick had eyes only for Louis.
“And that’s my cue to go,” Zayn said, eyes moving quickly between Nick and Louis. “I can’t, Lou, I’ve got my hands full with Liam. Good luck.” He disappeared then, leaving a cloud of black smoke.
“You don’t understand,” Louis said hesitantly, “I’m just trying to…Harry’s—Harry’s making it hard for me to—“
“To what? Do your job?” Nick spat, setting Puppy down on the ground. She scurried out of the room. “You’d send a perfectly innocent kid to Hell just because he was getting in the way of your job? Of an, apparently, easy job?” Louis looked down at his feet, wringing his hands. Nick had thought of how he would react were Louis to turn up human sized before, but he never thought it would be like this. His lip curled. “Harry is a good person. The best I know. He’s worth a million of you. All you are is a nuisance. You do it professionally. It’s no fucking surprise you ended up in Hell.” Louis flinched, still not meeting Nick’s eyes. He was still quite a bit shorter than Nick. Tattoos Nick couldn’t make out before stood in stark contrast to Louis’ tan skin. Across his collarbone were the words “It is what it is.”
“You can do whatever you want with me, I’m stuck with you, but you stay away from Harry. He’s done nothing. That’s not how this is supposed to work. There are—there are rules.”
Louis clenched his fists, pulling his head up to glare directly into Nick’s eyes. His eyes had changed, glowing red in the dimness of the room.
“And what,” Louis’ voice rumbled like thunder, air crackling around them, “would you know about Heaven and Hell?” The room started shaking, picture frames rattling on the walls. Nick’s ears started to ring. “Have you ever been to Hell, Nick?” Louis said, voice low and rasping. “Do you know what it’s like? What Hell is?” Louis took a step forward and the room shook even harder. The light that had illuminated them from the hallway went out, leaving the room in darkness. Louis’ eyes grew brighter, his teeth glinting dangerously. “Hell is suffering. It’s pain and sorrow and penance and eternity. And after an eternity, Hell is me. And I can do,” Louis took another step and grabbed Nick’s arm, jerking him down to eye level, “whatever the fuck I want.” Louis’ eyes were a world of their own, a swirling mass of fire and smoke.
The room shook harder, a violent wind tearing at Nick’s clothes. Louis stared unblinking into Nick’s eyes, and Nick was realizing that Louis was, in fact, a demon. An honest to god monster. He’d been living with him and he was a monster.
Nick’s hands shook, and he wanted to look away or piss his pants or fight but he couldn’t. The wind was roaring in his ears and he felt like he should be screaming, but the sound lodged deep in his throat. He heard a bark.
The room abruptly went quiet. The lights had all turned back on and everything was still. Louis wasn’t looking at him anymore, focused on the doorway to the hall, where Puppy was sitting, tail between her legs. His eyes were clear blue and wide. He looked back at Nick, blinking, and then he was gone in a puff of smoke.
Nick collapsed onto the couch, mouth still open and gaping, amongst the debris that had once been his living room. Puppy scrambled up onto the couch and onto his lap, shaking and whimpering. Nick didn’t go anywhere that night.