Living Differently - Obey Me! Boys and a Disabled MC
So, I wanted to have this written for Disability Pride Month, but it took me a bit longer than expected. I wanted to actually research the disabilities I was writing about in order to make sure I got the details right, and honestly I got a little distracted in the middle.
My bias definitely shows in this piece, both in my favorite character and in my personal experience with disability, so Beel and Belphie's section is longer and a bit more detailed. But I hope I did a decent job at portraying other disabilities.
Content Warning: Visual hallucinations in Mammon's part.
One would think that, as a school built by the Crown Prince of Hell itself, RAD would have an elevator.
Maybe it was to keep on brand with the whole Gothic castle vibe. Maybe it was designed before the elevator was invented. Maybe demons were just ableist. The ‘why’ didn’t matter so much at the moment.
The human paused as they finally reached a landing, struggling not to pant with exertion. The other students stared at them enough as it was, giving them side eye as they maneuvered out of the way of their crutches with a grace that felt supernaturally unfair.
They were only halfway up the staircase leading to their next class, and the muscles in their legs felt like they had been turned to lava. The weight of the ancient tomes that RAD called textbooks had caused the strap of their backpack to slide down their arm, but the railing on the staircase only came up to their waist, so they couldn’t lean on it to fix their bag. For a moment, the human considered sitting down to get themself reoriented, but the constant flow of students made that impossible, and getting up would be harder than getting down.
Just as they were beginning to weigh the benefits of just army-crawling their way to their next class, a familiar voice called out their name from somewhere behind them.
“Good afternoon,” Lucifer’s deep, velvet voice cut through the crowd, and he greeted them with a soft smile as they looked over their shoulder at him. “Running a bit late?”
“I’m going to have words with whoever made my schedule,” the human grumbled, crutches clacking against the stone floor as they turned around to face the demon. “Strong words. Possibly violent ones.”
Out of the corner of their eye, they noticed one of the demons walking past them making a strange face, like they were slack-jawed. As they got closer, the human could hear them speaking indistinctly in an obvious mockery of the slurring of their own voice. Their face burned just as much as their calf muscles, but they didn’t say anything. Saying something just gave them the audacity to keep going, it was better to just -
Lucifer’s leather-gloved hand came down heavily on the stack of books that the demon was carrying, causing everyone on the stairs to jump. The books thumped to the floor ,scattering around the landing, and Lucifer turned to stare at the demon with a look that could freeze an ocean over.
“You should pick those up,” he said, voice booming over the hush that fell over the crowd. There were a few seconds of stunned silence before the crowd continued on their way, pointedly stepping over the demon who was scrambling to collect their belongings.
Lucifer turned back to the human, smiling pleasantly like nothing had happened.
“Do you mind if I walk with you?” he asked, reaching out to tug the strap of their book bag back up their shoulder. The human grimaced, adjusting their stance.
“I’ll make you late,” they wiggled their forearm, making their left crutch rattle for emphasis.
“Being a little late won’t be the end of the world,” Lucifer motioned towards the remaining stairs. “Let’s move on, shall we?”
Coming to the casino was a bad idea.
They had known coming to the casino was a bad idea, and they told Mammon that. It was too noisy and crowded, and being in a chaotic environment like that just wasn’t what the human thought of as fun.
But Mammon had begged and pleaded with them. “C’mon, I need my lucky charm!” he had grinned at them, showing all fang. “I won’t win big unless I have ya there with me!”
And so here they were. Honestly, they had caved way too easily. Damn Mammon and that winning smile of his.
They stood next to him at the dice table, fidgeting. The lights were way too bright, and the air around them smelled like booze and cigarette smoke. People were clamoring around them at all sides, pushing against them and jamming elbows into their torso to get a better look at what was going on.
The die clattering against the table might as well have been a building toppling over. The cheering of the crowd rang in their ears like an air raid siren. When the human glanced down at their hands, their knuckles were white as they gripped onto the wooden edge of the table.
At first, it just seemed like a shadow at the edge of their vision. In a room this overstimulating, it was hard to tell if it was just a person moving in the crowd or a weird trick of the light. But, when they turned their head to follow the movement at the other end of the table, they saw a small black spider crawl over the lip.
Then, slowly, more joined it. Two, four, ten, coming out from beneath the table. Crawling up the legs, creeping out from behind the dice, a few skittered out from between the dealer’s fingers as he shook the cup. When he released it, dozens of spiders flew out alongside the dice.
The human could feel it. Hundreds of tiny limbs crawling up their arms, tickling their skin unpleasantly. Instinctively, they brushed their hands over their forearms, trying to shake off the feeling, but they were afraid to look. They didn’t know what was worse, if the spiders were actually crawling all over their arms, or if they weren’t.
“...didja see that, human! Look at how - hey, y’alright?”
Mammon’s voice sounded distant, like the human was underwater. Their world had narrowed down to that horde of spiders taking over the table. The crowd of people became nothing more than a watercolor backdrop to the horror movie scene unfolding in front of them.
“Yo, what’s wrong?” Mammon asked, laying a hand on theirs. His touch felt like fire against their skin, and they wanted to recoil, but it was also sort of grounding.
“Do you need to leave?” he leaned in closer so they could hear him, and they managed to nod, although they were too paralyzed to speak. Mammon gently placed a hand on the small of their back and spun them around, using his shoulder to bully his way through the crowd.
They kept their head down, tried to keep moving, but the spiders were now darting between the feet of the crowd. Some of them were bigger, slower moving, picking their way across shoes, but no one seemed to be reacting.
“Just keep going, focus on me,” Mammon was speaking gently to them, and the human did their best to tune in. The exit to the casino never seemed to get any closer, and it felt like they had been walking for hours when finally, the cool night air hit their face and they gasped like someone had doused them in ice water.
“Easy, human, deep breaths, it’s okay,” the demon was just talking now, not saying anything meaningful but giving them something else to focus on. As the din of the casino was shut out by the doors behind them, the spell seemed to be broken and they felt a whole-body shiver wrack them.
“Fuck, I should have listened to you, I’m sorry,” Mammon stepped in front of them, both hands grasping their arms now. “I won’t take you there again, I promise.”
“Never,” they choked out. “Never again.”
They hadn’t intended to turn this into a movie marathon.
Well, at least the human hadn’t. It wasn’t totally out of the realm of possibility that Levi had planned this all along and just didn’t tell them. But a new Ruri-chan movie had just been released, and Levi had insisted that in order to understand a few plot points, they needed to see the OVA, and in order to understand the OVA, they needed to see the limited series, and of course a video essay didn’t do the show justice, they needed to experience the animation -
The human was glad they had decided to bring popcorn. The repetitive motion of bringing the food to their mouth gave them something to focus on other than the intense brightness and colors of the TV screen. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Ruri-chan, but an extended period of time staring at obnoxiously colored animation hadn’t been doing their brain and eyeballs any favors.
With how dark Levi kept his room lit, and how dark the Devildom was in general, it was hard to tell how much time had passed, but the pressure in their bladder made it clear that they were going on at least six hours, maybe seven. And they had been drinking a lot of soda, since the fizziness felt good.
Levi seemed to be coming out of his Ruri-chan-induced stupor, and was stretching his long arms above his head on the other end of the couch. Now seemed like a good time to take a break.
The human reached over to the arm of their side of the couch, where their tablet had sat untouched for the past however long they had been camped out, so they could let Levi know they needed a bathroom break. They pressed the button to wake up the screen.
The human blinked, pressing the button again. Still nothing but a black screen. Again, again, again, they pressed the button. More aggressively. Nothing happened.
Panic rose in their throat like bile. Without their tablet, they couldn’t speak. A dead tablet was essentially someone duct-taping their mouth shut. With increasing desperation, the mashing of the power button turned into banging the tablet against their knee.
Levi turned to look at them, eyes wide with confusion. “Hey, what are you doing? What’s wrong?”
They couldn’t tell him, had no way of telling him. A low, keening whine ripped its way out of their throat, and the motion of slamming the tablet caused them to rock back and forth.
“What, your tablet died?” Levi asked, leaning over to look at the dark screen. “I’ve got a charger, no need to freak out!”
Easy for him to say, he could still communicate. They let out another whine, louder this time, hands gripping the plastic case of the tablet so hard they were afraid it was going to crack. Between this, the uncomfortable fullness of their bladder and the hours of unending pop music and dramatic transformation sequences, everything felt too much.
They hadn’t even realized that Levi had stood up from his spot on the couch until an open notebook landed on the cushion next to them, followed by a bright pink Ruri-chan pen. When they looked up, Levi was standing in front of them with a usb cord in his hand, looking vaguely uncomfortable.
“Here, we’ll try this,” he said, holding his hand out. “I’ll put the tablet on charge, and you write out what you need, okay? It’s a super good charger, promise, it won’t take long.”
The human sniffled - had they been crying? They hadn’t even noticed. Taking slow, hiccuping breaths, they slowly handed the tablet over to Levi. The demon plugged it into the nearby outlet with a quickness that showed how awkward this whole situation made him feel.
“Okay, now the notebook,” he said, once the little charging icon appeared on the tablet screen. “What do you need? What can I do?”
Their hand was shaking as they swiftly scribbled out the word ‘bathroom.’
When he saw the word, he scrunched up his face for a moment like he wanted to say something before relaxing. “Okay, you know where it is, go ahead.”
They hesitated for a moment before taking the pen up again and writing ‘Sorry.’
“It’s fine, I get it,” Levi nodded. “Go ahead, I’ll be here when you get back.”
Satan’s room was tricky to navigate.
The demon wasn’t very neat, even though he insisted that he knew exactly where everything was. Apparently there was some sort of organization to the piles scattered around his living space, but the human, for the life of them, couldn’t figure out what it was.
They spent enough time in the room, however, that they could confidently move through the path that Satan had created with only minor difficulty. It was narrow enough that their cane hit both sides when they moved it in front of them, but repetition had made it familiar enough that it didn’t bother them.
The tapping of their white cane was almost rhythmic as it bumped against the piles of books on either side of them, to the point where they almost weren’t paying attention until it smacked into something dead in the middle of the path.
“That’s new,” they muttered. They dragged the cane lightly between the other wall of books and the new obstacle. There was a few feet in between that they could probably fit through if they turned sideways. “Hey, Satan?”
“Hm?” the demon’s voice sounded from a little further in the room, probably close to the back. They heard the sound of a book thumping closed.
“Can you warn me if you’re going to do some redecorating?” the human called back. “I have a mental map and you just spilled ink all over it.”
“Oh, damn,” the chair scraped against the floor as he stood. “Sorry, I was rearranging some old books and never got around to putting them away, I’ve just been stepping around it.”
“It’s fine, just direct me a little bit?” They tapped their cane on the ground. “I’m gonna have to go sideways and I can’t tell how big the pile is.”
“Yeah, of course,” Satan’s palm felt hot as he slipped his hand into theirs. “Okay, go.”
The human tucked their cane under their arm and turned sideways, putting one hand out in front of them to brush along the top of the books. The movement kicked up the smell of dust.
“Few more steps,” Satan muttered, gently tugging their hand. “And clear.”
“Thanks,” they brushed their hand against the bottom of their shirt before taking proper hold of the cane again.
“Sorry again,” Satan sighed. “I wasn’t thinking, I’ll pick it up later.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” the human replied, curling their fingers between Satan’s when he moved to pull away. “I’m adaptable.”
The demon hummed softly. “Alright. I got that new book I was telling you about. They should be releasing the audiobook soon if you want to read it.”
“Ooh, the one with the twins who switch places to murder? I’m so down.”
“Go on, darling, I want to see you try those clothes on!”
Shopping with Asmo was always an experience. The man went through clothing stores like a tornado, and he waited for no one when he was on a mission.
His mission today was the human.
They had barely been in the store ten minutes before Asmo had cornered them in the jewelry section with an armful of fabric, pushing them towards the dressing room.
“That’s definitely your color, I want to see how stunning you look!” Asmo practically sparkled with excitement as he manhandled them past the curtain.
Finally in some relative privacy, they looked down at the frankly intimidating pile of clothes in their arms. Everything from shirts to belts to jewelry to match, clearly Asmo had a vision. As they sorted through the pile, though, something became glaringly obvious.
There were quite a few nice silk button downs in the pile. A beautiful deep purple one, a nice teal, and quite a few shades of pink - Asmo did love to see them in his color. With a dejected sigh, the human glanced between the buttons of the shirts to their arm curled against their chest before poking their head out from behind the curtain.
“Asmo?” they called. The demon looked up from where he was scrolling on his phone.
“Yes, darling? That was quick, how do they look?”
“I can’t…” they sighed. “I can’t put some of these on.”
“Why no - oh, the buttons!” Asmo looked horrified, standing up straighter. “Do you want me to help you? I much prefer undressing you, honestly, but - “
“No, just -” the human shook their head. “I don’t need help getting dressed. Can we just forgo the buttons?”
Asmo’s face flushed pink. “I’m so sorry, darling. Hand them out to me, I’ll find something better. You try the others on, okay?”
After the hand off, the human ducked back into the changing room. There were a few shirts that they could slip over their head easily enough, but pants always gave them trouble, and they didn’t even want to bother with the belt. But overall, the fit was good, and after checking themself in the mirror, they decided they didn’t look half bad. Their sneakers didn’t match with the rest of the outfit, but maybe with a nice pair of dress shoes…
Asmo had returned, setting the clothes on the bench next to him and clapping excitedly. “Come on, do a twirl for me!”
They emerged, doing their best impersonation of the sassy pose that Asmo usually did when they went somewhere that had press.
“You know, darling,” the demon purred, eyes going dark as they raked over the human’s form. “I know you said you didn’t need help dressing, but my offer also stands for undressing.”
The room was dark when they woke up.
It was hard to tell what time it was even during the day, but the human was pretty sure it was the middle of the night. Which was strange, considering they had at least three more hours before they had to start getting ready, and they typically slept through the night without problem.
It wasn't until they reached for their phone to check the time that they realized what had woken them up.
Their phone was beeping consistently, and the screen was flashing a bright orange color with a big “68” in the middle.
They cursed under their breath, suddenly aware of how shaky their arms were and how hard their heart was beating. It was hard to think with the constant beeping from their continuous glucose monitor. How did they crash like that? Did they take too much insulin at dinner? Wait, did they even eat dinner?
Maybe they hadn’t. Or at least not enough of it. Lucifer had decided to cook a Devildom specialty that ended up being moderately poisonous to humans, so they ended up just grabbing a pack of snack crackers from the pantry and calling it a night. Clearly, that hadn’t been enough to justify the meal-sized dose of insulin they took.
Grumbling, they shook their arm to try and get rid of the shakes before reaching over to their bedside table and turning on their lamp. This was exactly why they kept candy in their nightstand drawer -
“Fuck,” they mumbled, reaching further into the drawer to no avail. They hadn’t replaced the stash since the last time this had happened. Nothing else to do, then.
Flinging the covers off made them realize just how sweaty they were. How long had they been low? Didn’t matter, they could check the trends on their app later. Right now, they needed sugar.
The room spun when they stood up, and a wave of nausea hit them as they stumbled. They managed to plant a hand on their nightstand before they fell over, but the urge to puke took a minute to pass.
After a few moments of trying not to empty their stomach onto the carpet, they began stumbling their way over to the door. It felt like an eternity had passed before they got a hold of the doorknob, and they had to wipe their sweaty palm on their pajama shirt before they were able to turn it.
The dim lighting of the hallway was both a blessing and a curse. Their head felt like it was being split open with a jackhammer, so not having bright lights was nice, but with how dizzy they were, it was almost impossible to actually tell where they were going.
“Hm?” A voice called their name from the other end of the hall. “What are you doing up?”
They turned quickly towards the person, and just barely registered the fact that it was Belphie standing at the top of the stairs before they were suddenly staring at the wine-colored carpet that had been beneath their feet a few seconds ago.
“Whoa!” Muted footsteps pounded against the carpet as Belphie ran towards them. “You okay?”
They managed to groan weakly, attempting to push themself up on shaky arms.
“Easy, now.” They could see Belphie’s blue nails wrap around their upper arm as he hefted them up from the floor. Even though he looked lanky, he still had demon strength that meant he could easily hoist a human up with no problem. “What happened?”
At that moment, their CGM decided to helpfully beep again, drawing Belphie’s attention. The demon reached down to where their phone had clattered to the ground when they fell and stared at it like he was trying to solve an ancient puzzle.
“This is your die-beet thingy?” he tilted his head. “Why is it yelling at you?”
“Diabetes, Belphie, you know how to say it,” the human grumbled, managing to pull themself into a sitting position. “My sugar’s low, I was going to go get a snack.”
“Hm,” Belphie mumbled. “Well, considering you just ate floor, I don’t think you should be going down stairs at the moment.”
“You sound so caring,” they shot back. Belphie opened his mouth to make another smart remark when the door near them creaked open.
“Everything okay?” Beel’s voice sounded gravelly, like he had been woken up. “I heard a thump.”
“Did not,” the human interrupted.
“Because they’re hungry.”
“Not how that works but sure.”
Beel looked sympathetic. “Sometimes I get so hungry I feel like I’m gonna pass out.” As he woke up more, however, Beel scanned them and noticed how pale and shaky they were. Beads of sweat were still dripping down their forehead. “Do you need sugar?”
“Yeah, I’m at like 68,” they muttered.
“66, according to your phone,” Belphie interjected.
Beel emerged fully from the room, reaching underneath their arms and pulling them into a standing position like they were a ragdoll. “I have some candy in my room, you can eat that.”
“Thanks,” they mumbled, letting Beel put his hand on their lower back to steady them. They were lucky he hadn’t just decided to carry them into the room that was 12 feet away.
“I thought you usually kept emergency snacks in your room,” Belphie asked, following the two of them in. “Like, specifically for this reason.”
“Forgot to replace ‘em,” the human shrugged as Beel sat them down on his bed. He turned to his closet, revealing an upper shelf full of boxes of protein bars and candies. “Damn, maybe I should have a shelf instead.”
“This will last him a few days at best,” Belphie flopped down on his bed, still looking at the bright orange screen on the human’s phone. “How does this thing work anyway?”
“I have a sensor in my arm that continuously tests my blood,” they replied. Beel came back with a fistful of the Devildom version of peanut butter cups, sitting down next to them.
“It’s in your arm?” he asked, looking incredulous.
“It’s gotta get the blood.” the human shrugged, struggling to unwrap the candy with their shaky hands. Beel reached over and gently peeled the paper off, placing it in their palm like he was afraid of breaking them. “The sensor tells me how much sugar is in my blood and yells at me if I need to be worried about it.”
“Pretty handy,” Belphie tossed the phone over next to them.
“You should stay here,” Beel stood up. “In case it doesn’t get better.”
“The candy will kick in in a few minutes, Beel, I’ll be fine,” the human replied.
“Aw, you don’t want to have a sleepover?” Belphie rolled over so he was facing them. “We can all snuggle and tell scary stories.”
He was joking, but he did genuinely seem concerned about them. Beel was actively looking at them with worried puppy dog eyes, and really, they were kind of powerless.
“...I guess it can’t hurt.”
