*･゜ﾟ You knew Asmo and Solomon had a special relationship. You just didn't expect them to be dating for long millennia without telling anyone. It was an accident how you found out; entering your room, where the three of you were studying for the exams, when you saw them kissing and let a little yelp of surprise escape your throat.
You had a crush on both of them, so knowing they felt the same way and wanted you to be part of a relationship with them made you think you were daydreaming.
Whether this is your first poly relationship or not doesn't matter because Solomon and Asmo will always make sure you feel comfortable with them. Every moment of this relationship is fun and the three of you often go on casual dates at the mall or some other fun place, or accompany Solomon somewhere strange and potentially dangerous, but what's life without a little excitement, right?
Asmodeus is naturally a sensitive person and loves physical contact, it is after all one of his love languages. He loves showing his affection for you, from lingering hugs and compliments on your beauty to lingering, sensual kisses that take your breath away, sometimes biting your lower lip and letting his hands roam freely over your body. But he's observant and knows when he's drowning you with all that affection, especially if you don't like physical contact very much. Even so, he gives you a lot of gifts, clothes, shoes, stuffed animals, accessories and even letters written by him.
Solomon, on the other hand, is more relaxed and the most intimacy he prefers is looking into your eyes in the late hours of the night and being able to hold your hand against his. His love language is quality time and acts of service, he'd rather have you around and teach you spells or do silly magic tricks to make you laugh. He loves the simplest moments when he and you and Asmo are lying together, it doesn't matter who is the big spoon and the little spoon, these moments make him feel at peace and he hopes you feel the same as you lie down in the middle of them to listen to the latest gossip or watch silly, clichéd movies.
The two manage to balance each other out very well due to the years they've spent together and are spontaneous with what they want. It's common for Solomon to show up at the House of Lamentation because he misses you both and wants to spend time with his two lovers, whether it's watching the stars of Devildom or taking you two on some adventure that is probably dangerous and full of strange creatures. Just as it's common for Asmo to drag you and Solomon to a private sleepover he's set up to paint your nails, do skin care, and sing for you both.
All in all, these two love you a lot and y'all have a healthy relationship full of communication. However beware, they love to flirt with you to laugh at your embarrassed expression.
Surprisingly enough, everything was quiet. Almost suspiciously quiet. Still, they had brushed it off as wicked luck on their part.
However, they were proven wrong the moment they noticed an intricate sigil hovering menacingly above the door.
„Is that a-“ Asmodeus started.
„A containment spell, yes,” Solomon interrupted. “I have seen it many times before. Looks like for the time being, we're locked in.“
He tried the doorknob once more. In spite of all his efforts, it wouldn't budge. He let out a sigh. „There's no doubt,“ he finally said.
ao3
- - - - -
It was a mission like any other. Solomon and Asmodeus had been travelling together, Solomon's reason for doing so being him searching for a rare item which could be useful to his studies, Asmodeus's to be good company, look gorgeous per usual and also help out in case anything went wrong.
Everything had started off alright and without much interference. They had managed to gain access to the underground palace where the item was rumoured to be hidden. In fact, after half an hour of searching, or more accurately, after half an hour of Solomon searching and Asmo offering easy chit-chat while looking out for possible attackers, there were no disturbances whatsoever. Surprisingly enough, everything was quiet. Almost suspiciously quiet. Still, they had brushed it off as wicked luck on their part.
However, they were proven wrong the moment they noticed an intricate sigil hovering menacingly above the door.
„Is that a-“ Asmodeus started.
„A containment spell, yes,” Solomon interrupted. “I have seen it many times before. Looks like for the time being, we're locked in.“
He tried the doorknob once more. In spite of all his efforts, it wouldn't budge. He let out a sigh. „There's no doubt,“ he finally said.
Asmodeus shook his head in disbelief. „Really?! How annoying! I was supposed to be on a date tonight, can't you do anything about it, Solomon? There must be something, right? Can't you just, i don't know, snap your fingers and the door opens like that?“
Solomon stretched out his hand and mumbled an incantation. Seconds passed, but still, nothing happened. The door remained stubbornly shut. He tried out another incantation. Still, the result remained the same.
„Apparently not. We're stuck.” For a moment, he studied the sigil with knowing eyes and then tutted his tongue. “The spell should wear off in less than 24 hours though. I've come across spells like this plenty of times before. They are rarely dangerous. “
Asmodeus spun around to face Solomon. „Please tell me you're joking!“
Solomon shook his head and simply turned around. „I wouldn't be joking about this,“ he stated again. He observed the glowing sigil that was still hovering above the door, tracing the lines with delicate fingers.
Asmodeus sighed loudly and, putting his hands to his hips, turned around with a huff, trying to get a better glimpse of his surroundings.
The palace was neat and tidy and filled with a cornucopia of golden trinkets and magical items. Although it was clearly abandoned, the place seemed to be suspiciously clean- most likely thanks to some long dead sorcerer's spell.
Not that he particularly cared. After all, he was only here because Solomon asked him to. And as long as Solomon's fingers remained calm and didn't start fidgeting, Asmodeus knew everything was alright. Sure, it was an inconvenience, but truthfully, Asmodeus didn't feel as bad about missing out on his date as he pretended to.
He stepped into the room and made his rounds with bouncing steps, stopping in front of an overflowing bookshelf. Solomon followed him, coming to a halt right next to his pact partner. With curious eyes, he studied several of the spines and Asmodeus took note of the way Solomon's eyebrows scrunched up more and more with every new title he took in.
„Not to your liking, Solomon dearest?“ he threw out teasingly as Solomon tutted his tongue.
„I thought I could spend the time catching up on my studies. Turns out I was wrong.“ He threw the shelf an almost disgusted look. „Garbage, every single one of them. Whoever used to reside here must've been one pretentious prick,“ Solomon grumbled. Then, he looked at Asmo and his expression changed quickly. A sly grin spread across his face. „I guess we'll have to find something better to do to pass the time.“
There was that little mischievous glint to his eyes that Asmodeus adored in particular, and even though he knew damn well Solomon was acting like this on purpose just to coax a reaction out of him, he chose to indulge Solomon in his shenanigans. This was one of the reasons why he found Solomon so intriguing, still so irresistible after all those years spent side by side, both in battles and friendship.
And just like when they first met, the way the sorcerer could go from being serious and stupidly reckless in pursuit of his studies to being all teasing and borderline smug in his banter still had the same effect on Asmodeus. After all, Solomon was Solomon. He wasn't just another fling or crush or hope-to-be. Solomon was different. He had always been and would never fail to be.
Out of all of his pact partners, he was the one Asmodeus could rely on, no matter. Because that's just how they worked as a team, with unwavering mutual trust.
So Asmodeus puffed his chest, feigning outrage. „You're in company of none other than the avatar of lust! You certainly won't find anything or anyone more interesting and ravishing than me in this musty old hut!“ he exclaimed, playfully digging his pointer into Solomon's chest. „You're surely getting cocky with me, you naughty, naughty man.“
Solomon covered his mouth with one hand and simply chuckled. Asmodeus took in the sight of his face, noticed the way his eyes crinkled a little at the edges as he smiled and couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat.
Of course, this sensation wasn't foreign to him, after all, he was akin to lust itself, and things such as hunger and passion were his bread and butter. With Solomon however, things were more complicated.
They had known each other for so long and throughout the years, Solomon had become a staple in Asmodeus's life. He had become a partner, companion, perhaps even his best friend. Which was exactly why he shouldn't allow himself to feel anything more than platonic admiration for the sorcerer.
However, Asmodeus had always been a tad bit too in touch with his feelings.
He could still remember the moment he realized that his feelings of admiration had crossed all boundaries and had moved on to dangerous territories.
Back then, one particularly exhilarating battle was all it took. Asmodeus had caught sight of Solomon, standing tall as the victor of a bloody battle, one heavy booted foot on top of their enemy's chest, beat up and tired, but with a wicked smile, perhaps almost a grin, painted across his pretty lips.
And just like that, as simple and brutish as it was, Asmodeus had felt his heart flutter with the intensity of countless butterflies flapping their delicate wings. Right away he had known; this couldn't mean anything but trouble. He rarely ever fell for people, but when he did, it felt closer to a tumble down a steep hill than a graceful fall.
For once, he cursed being so in touch with his emotions.
Of course, he had to go and fall for the one man who actually cared about him. Leave it to Asmodeus to fall for the one single man he could not allow himself to have.
No long lasting sexual or romantic relations with your pact partners.
Asmodeus had made it one of his core rules centuries ago. Right from the beginning he had been aware, stuff like that was bound to come back to bite you in the ass. People were bound to get hurt. And not in pleasurable ways.
And upon that exact realization, Asmodeus had tried to put a bit more space between the two of them. He had found every excuse in the books to avoid spending too much time with Solomon, no matter how much it tugged at his heart strings, no matter how his skin itched with the irrecusable need to be close to the sorcerer. And still, it hadn't worked. There was no way for him to just tone his affections down. Not when it was about Solomon. Not when it was Asmodeus's faintly fluttering heart.
Although he found himself confused by all of it, he knew one thing: Solomon was so much more. Solomon meant an abundance of things to him, some of which were so difficult worlds would never suffice. And that fact scared him immensely.
Almost seamlessly, he snapped out of it. He felt like he was watching himself, standing in front of that boring bookshelf, eyes glued to Solomon's picture perfect side profile, admiring his slightly crooked nose, heart-eyed, gooey-hearted and soft.
And it made him ever so aware of the fact that people did not like to see him distracted like that.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
People wanted him to be there, wanted him to be the centre of attention, aware of every little thing that was happening around him, expecting him to respond accordingly. They loved to see his little ooh's and aah's, loved to hear the way his voice rumbled with lust and need. Even more so however they loved to interpret seduction and finesse into every single word that left his luscious lips when neither were necessarily present.
In the end, they longed for the avatar of lust, so who was Asmo to deny them that experience, even if he wasn't always feeling up to it?
Unexpectedly, Solomon tapped the tip of Asmo's nose with his pointer. „Curious to see what else we can find here?“ he asked. „It's an abandoned palace after all. Who knows what sort of things we could find.“
Asmo crossed his arms, pushed down his overbearing thoughts and let out a single huff. „Mostly mold and old scrolls. Come on, Solomon! Don't be such a bore. You said yourself that we're stuck in here! So why waste your time digging through old trash when you could take the chance and pay more attention to little old me?“ he said, sure that he could get away with it without any repercussions. Solomon was used to his overdramatic acts of narcissism, and if that was what he needed to display to overplay his mind's tousled state, he'd take it and play it up for good measure.
Asmodeus took another look at Solomon and couldn't help but feel both utterly lost and incredibly safe at once. “I hate wasting time, let's do something!”
For a short moment Solomon brought his pointer to his own bottom lip as he thought of possible ways to spend their unexpected free time. Then, he dug through his bag and pulled out a fancy looking deck of cards. “Care for a round then?”
“Nuh uh, no way! We both know you'd completely annihilate me. That's no fun!”
Solomon waved the deck of cards in front of Asmo's face. “Not even one round? Suit yourself then,” he said before letting the deck slide back into his bag.
Asmodeus let out a big sigh, brushed a few stray strands back in place and set off to discover the rest of the place by himself, leaving Solomon behind.
Dusty furniture, old books, dust bunnies. Honestly, there wasn't much to see.
He rounded a corner and was faced with an old, addled door. Curiously, he pushed it open an inch and peered inside, just to let out a delighted squeal. “Solomon, come look!”
Quickly, Solomon poked his head around the corner. “Hm? What did you find?”
“Look, a bath! We're saved! And here I was fearing we'd have to spend the night wallowing in our own dirt like cavemen. What a life saver!”
Solomon followed Asmodeus into the dark room, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Moments like these often reminded him of the fact that he was still, to some degree, very much human. “A usual, I see you've got your priorities straight,” he chuckled.
“Of course I do. You do remember who you're talking to here, right?”
Solomon shook his head with a slight smile on his lips as he mumbled a quick incantation and the torches on the walls lit up in the span of mere seconds. “How could I forget. You'd never let me.”
The room looked surprisingly spacious. Admittedly, the tiles were a bit cracked and there was a damp smell lingering in the air, but aside from that, there really wasn't too much to complain about. Ironically enough, the place they were currently locked in still ranked rather high on Solomon and Asmo's tier list of places they'd had to squat at for the sake of one of Solomon's missions.
“Hearing you talk like that, one would assume you didn't appreciate last mission's natural vibe all that much,” Solomon threw in as he crossed the room, looking for anything of possible interest to him.
“There were bugs everywhere. It was disgusting and yucky and dirty.”
“Your point is?”
“My point is?!” An involuntary shiver ran down Asmo's spine, making him smooth over the goosebumps rising on his slender arms. “Ugh! Now you've made me think of it again!”
His eyes darted over to the empty bathtub, and the idea of washing off all of those unwarranted images plaguing his mind suddenly sounded almost divine.
Without much of a second thought, Asmodeus walked over to Solomon, grabbed him by the shoulders and guided him towards the door he had crossed mere moments ago. “This is entirely your fault for making me think of those gross critters again. So be a darling and,” he gave Solomon a gentle push, “go explore somewhere else.”
His hand lingered on Solomon's shoulder a moment too long before he let go again. Asmodeus made his way back to the bathtub and leant down to open the tap, but before he could reach it, Solomon snapped his fingers once, and with a tiny spark and crackle, the tub filled with hot water in all its steamy goodness.
“No need to thank,” Solomon threw out, already halfway through the doorway.
“Wasn't planning to!”
Asmodeus crossed his arms and watched Solomon leave the room, a soft smile painted on his lips. Might as well enjoy this piping hot bath.
And if he watched the way Solomon rubbed his neck as he walked away for a moment too long, taking note of the way the tiniest bit of milky skin got exposed as the side of Solomon's hand accidentally pulled down the rim of his turtle neck, then there was at least no one around to put too much thought into his lingering gaze.
As soon as he was by himself, Asmodeus stripped off his clothes, dipped his big toe in the water to check the temperature first and made the conscious decision to leave any Solomon related thoughts out of the bathroom as he submerged himself in steamy waters.
Half an hour later, he exited the room with nothing but a damp towel wrapped around his waist, feeling refreshed and warm, his muscles relaxed and his mind mushy after a long, taxing day. On his way through the tomb, on the lookout for anything resembling a bedroom, he passed Solomon, who had apparently found a book at least somewhat redeemable, and was thumbing through it at a remarkable pace, his thumb slightly pulling down his lower lip as he muttered out little trains of thought.
He hadn't even noticed Asmodeus enter the room, which was -indubitably- criminal. Asmodeus cleared his throat, his lower lip jutting out ever so slightly, forming a perfectly adorable pout. Sure, Solomon and him had been acquainted with each other for decades upon decades now, but that didn't excuse the lack of attention. So Asmodeus knelt down in front of Solomon, holding his towel with one hand while he used the other to pull the book from Solomon's rather relaxed grip.
“Devildom to Solomon! There's a perfectly flawless demon right in front of you, yet all you pay attention to is this dusty old thing! It's so unfair! Being in a pact with you, one would think you would at least spare a sliver of your time.” Of course, Asmo wasn't being completely serious about the whole issue, and Solomon knew that.
He waved the book in front of Solomon's nose for good measure before booping his nose gently with the edge of it.
“ Bathroom's free, I graciously left you some shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Now go and don't you even dare say you don't need it. We both know you do and I certainly won't spend a night next to a smelly man.”
He was well are of the duality of his words, of the implications that could come with them. But this was Solomon he was talking about. The man had -mostly indirectly- rejected his advances year after year, so Asmodeus didn't find much wrong in being a little cheeky from time to time. He had never been one to shy away from flirting with his friends anyways.
Usually, there was no harm in it.
“Hey!” Solomon started, his reaction still a little delayed as his gaze strayed from Asmodeus' face down to his exposed shoulders, drifting across shiny-soft arms down to the towel loosely wrapped around his waist. He only stalled for the shortest of moments before reaching out towards the book, but, sensing his intentions, Asmodeus simply held it further from Solomon's reach.
“Don't you think that's a little childish?” the sorcerer let out, the slightest hint of displeasure pulling his eyebrows together as he reached for the book once more.
“If it gets you in the tub, then no, not at all,” Asmo breathed out, mostly inconvenienced for show. He shook the book as if it were bait and raised an eyebrow at Solomon. “So? We can either keep arguing, which is exiting, don't get me wrong, or you move those long long legs of yours and get it over with,” he said, a playful tone to his voice.
“Well, I was just about to finish this chapter before you interrupted me, so I'd highly appreciate it if you-” he quickly leapt forward, trying to snatch the book from Asmo's hands. “Would unhand it,” he finished, however Asmodeus had predicted Solomon's movements, jumped backwards and tucked the book neatly in-between his hip and his towel.
“You were saying?” he placed one hand on his hip and tilted his head for effect, a sly grin painted across his rosy lips. “Unless you want to-”
“Alright, I admit defeat.” Solomon threw Asmo one of his indecipherable gazes before pointing at his partner once, sharply. “But I'm getting that back as soon as I'm done.”
Asmodeus dropped down on the seat that had formerly been occupied by Solomon, crossed his legs, opened the book and threw him one last look from under his lashes before sticking out his tongue with a little giggle. Solomon side-eyed him and shook his head. And then, without any warning, he reached out his hand, planted it on top of Asmo's head of freshly dried curls and ruffled through it with a big smile painted on his lips.
“Hey, you-!”
“This is payback, Asmodeus.”
Before Asmo even had the chance to swat at his hands, Solomon had already dodged and made a semi-run for the bathroom.
Asmodeus watched him go until he rounded a corner and his form disappeared completely.
In spite of the undeniable heat in cheeks he simply fixed his hair and chose to ignore every single thought raging through his mind that could possibly put a dent in his and Solomon's relationship. He stood up from his seat, put down the book and continued his previous search, roaming through the tomb to find one, hopefully even two bedrooms.
In hindsight, he should've been aware of the fact that the universe liked him a smithereen too much. And how could he blame it for that?
Asmodeus was hardly one to complain, after all he was gorgeous and perfect and deserved every single bit of praise directed towards him.
This, however, was something else entirely.
In his search for two separate bedrooms, he had come up rather empty. Sure, he had found a room that -under certain circumstances- could be interpreted as a bedroom and luckily, there was a perfectly unremarkable looking bed in it.
However, it was the only sleeping chamber he had found and the bed in it was certainly not made for more than one person.
After another round of unsuccessfully combing through the palace in search for another bed, a canapé, hell, even multiple chairs to push together for Solomon to sleep on, Asmodeus finally gave up and plopped down on the less than sufficient bed, starting to scroll through his devilgram feed. There was quite literally nothing else to do and, miraculously, the cell reception down here was somehow almost impeccable. Leave it to those damn magical places to work in such mysterious ways.
Just as he was admiring one of Leviathan's work in progress cosplay posts -not that he would ever admit to that out loud- his ears twitched as he heard the door to the bathroom open with an almost eery squeal. The pitter-patter of naked feet on marbled ground echoed through the hallways and, once again unable to satisfy his stupid curiosity by simply listening and minding his business for once, Asmo lifted his head and caught a full glance of Solomon entering the room, naked if it weren't for the towel riding low on his hips, hair still dripping wet with shiny, watery pearls.
And in spite of himself, Asmodeus tried his best to avert his gaze.
After all, this was Solomon he was looking at with all those unwarranted thoughts rushing through his brain. This was Solomon, whose hair was pushed back for once, allowing Asmo full access to his striking grey eyes that looked so bright, almost translucent and so utterly perfect in the low light of the torches. Asmodeus could feel the heat rising up to his cheeks, knowing fully well that his knuckles, shoulders and the tip of his nose were undeniably in the process of turning into a picture perfect shade of pink.
It wasn't as if Asmo had never seen a half-naked man before, obviously, he had already had more than his fill; it was rather about this very specific man who usually ran around covered from head to toe like a catholic priest afraid to even flash his ankles.
He swallowed once, hard, and opened his mouth. “I think we have a problem,” he started, not entirely sure where he was even going with this. Anything to distract him from the elegant slope of Solomon's neck, sliding further down to the arch of his spine, so exquisite in its shape, from pretty shoulder blades down to that one little mole he would love to trace with careful fingertips and soft lips to the small of his back and his nice, peachy-
“Only one bed, huh?” Solomon interrupted Asmodeus's string of thoughts. “I am convinced Leviathan would be more than delighted.”
Asmo cleared his throat once more, relaxed a bit and looked up towards Solomon again. “Oh surely,” he drawled lazily and waved with his hand, feigning a state of composure and definitely not sheer panic about being overly smitten with one of your closest friends. “He'd be ecstatic. I can practically see his precious little otaku heart take an itsy bitsy leap at the thought of it.”
Solomon crossed his arms and walked over to the bed, stopping right in front of it. “Right. Of course, we can joke all we want, but that doesn't change the fact that we are stuck in here with only one bed.” He brushed white strands of hair out of his face and Asmodeus watched the way his chest rose with a particularly deep breath. “So I have a proposition.”
“You will certainly not sleep on the ground, and I myself am also feeling rather exhausted, so I'd rather not get too acquainted with the roaches this time around.”
And Asmodeus knew what was about to come, a proposition to sleep in shifts, which would be taxing for both of them, but at least better than sleeping on cold stone floors. He lifted his eyes and before he could jump in and finish Solomon's sentence prematurely, the sorcerer kept going.
“Let's just share the bed.”
And once again, Asmodeus found himself wishing the universe liked him a little less.
