i wanted to do another relationship analysis sort of story like i did with asmo, but this time with belphie! i have plans to do one for barb and simeon too!
trigger warnings for: a bit of robotic gore, a tiny bit violence
Belphegor had only prepared for one unwittingly stupid human exchange student, yet here stood two. Obviously whoever stood near MC wasn’t Solomon, he’d be too smart to trust the demon. But it ticked him off exponentially to know that there were three bloody humans in the Devildom, made his blood boil and that urge to cause havoc to twist unpleasantly in his stomach, making it hard to play nice.
“I thought we had promised to keep this secret. Are you still upset that I lied to you, MC?”
“No, it’s not that!” MC shook their head, he could only see them, the other human was smart enough to hide their appearance. “I thought it’d be smart to try and get Rune in on this as well, to help warm your brothers up. They’re very friendly!”
“You make me sound like a pet dog.” The voice was soft, teasing in a way his brothers once had been.
“Oh shush!”
“So who is this Rune, exactly?” He pressed his face up against the gate, trying to get any form of a glance.
“He’s my brother! He ended up coming with me as well, accidentally. Don’t you want to introduce yourself?”
He heard Rune hum, then the shifting sound of clothes let him know they were resting against a wall. “I’m Rune, MC’s adopted brother. They say you want to try and patch things up with Lucifer?”
“Yes, and in order to do so I need you to get pacts with my brothers. It doesn’t matter who, so long as they trust you enough to open the door.”
“Hmm.” Belphegor saw MC look over to where Rune was, exchanging a look. “Okay then, we’ll try things out. Though if you do anything stupid though and I’ll kick your teeth in.”
MC let out an exasperated gasp, “Rune! Be nice! You’re not like this to the other brothers!”
“Ah, I can be like this to Lucifer. You know like when he tried to kill you?”
“Wait, that was you who tried to deck him?”
“Yup. Now c’mon, MC. Sorry Belphegor but we have to leave, so your brothers aren’t suspicious.”
He heard the walk away as MC gave a wave before leaving him all to his lonesome once again. Usually he’d hate it, stew in his anger. But he was intrigued, what a peculiar little human Rune was.
~
And then the almost daily visits from Rune started. At first Belphegor wondered if the tough guy stick was all an act, for Rune sure seemed to not be bothered by him. They’d come up, talk quietly about whatever to him for a while before saying their goodbyes. Rune had become one of his first real interactions outside of using MC or cursing Lucifer, and he soon started to crave them.
“You’re late.” He huffed, pouting despite the fact that he couldn’t see them.
“I don’t have a set schedule to see you, you know.”
“You have a pattern, nimrod.”
“Ah, is that it? Guess I have to wait longer for my next visit then, so your brothers don’t catch on.”
The statement was joking, he knew it was. Rune wouldn’t do that, yet it still flooded his nerves with panic.
“Don’t. Don’t leave. They have MC, they won’t notice, they’ll be fine.”
If he could have, he would’ve reached through the gate to them, keeping them close. That realization sent an unpleasant, fiery stone into his gut. What was he, some stupid, lovestruck human? He couldn’t become what he hated, what he wanted dead. He shouldn’t be craving them, needing them like this.
The pause Rune gave him made that stone hurt worse. Was what he said wrong? Then Belphegor saw Rune’s hand, resting outside his door. He didn’t move to try to see more of him.
“Sorry, I won’t joke like that again, okay?”
Belphegor swallowed thickly, “Whatever.”
Belphegor’s eyes didn’t leave Rune’s hand as he talked of random things, opening Belphegor up like some delicate package. He began to relax, that stupid human’s presence was soothing. Soon another feeling replaced the fiery stone, much more pleasant and comforting. Even when silence lulled around them, the warmth wrapped pleasantly around Belphegor. He wished there was a blanket like that, to keep close to him at all times. He missed that type of comfort.
“I want to show you lots of things once I get out.” He spoke softly.
“I’ll be waiting for that. I promise it’ll come soon.” Belphegor liked the tone of Rune’s voice, it felt like a warm cup of tea.
“Maybe. But maybe we’ll see each other in our dreams.”
For another time Belphegor was glad Rune couldn’t see him, his face heating up. He had many dreams about his human companion, many desires that he couldn’t believe. Waking up from each dream about a date or holding their hands under starlight put that fiery stone back in his gut and twisted it up red and angry until he wished he had dreamed of anything else. But he also didn’t want to dream of something different, wanted Rune to stay and keep that warmth that made him feel safe. How could a weak, squishy human make him like this? He wanted to scream.
He didn’t hear them say goodbye, which was a good thing. He hated hearing them go, hated it because the cold of the attic settled back into his bones and made him want to cry.
~
Freedom. No more gate no more attic he was free, he could do what he wanted. What did he want now? Belphegor only felt anxiety, he couldn’t comprehend this freedom, panic instead ate away. That painfully hot and angry stone was back to twisting up his gut, screaming and making him feel all of his grief and the coldness of the attic wouldn’t leave him. He should be free, be rid of this. Why was it still here? Why did it all hurt so much?
Seeing MC painted his vision irrationally red and bloodlust filled up his mind. It’d be so easy to do something so stupid. Get Diavolo to let go of his stupid little idea of humans being good. So he invited them in for a hug, which they took. He was going to threaten them, form shifting and horns protruding.
But MC ran, smarter than he thought. It stunned him a bit, he thought they were too naive. That should’ve cooled him down but it only fueled his anger.
He found MC in the foyer, about to do the unspeakable when a fist collided with his face and white hot pain flooded his brain, not even registering the crack of bone.
Belphegor looked up to see what he could only describe as a brunet Satan, if his irises were to swallow up his eyes and glow a soft green. The markings on this guy’s joints were aglow in the same way, arms poised to defend.
“I told you I’d kick your teeth in if you tried something dumb,” his voice was familiar, the pain that ebbed it’s way into his tone twisted at Belphegor’s heart. Perhaps if he were in a better state of mind the hurt that came with it would matter.
“Oh, what do you think a pathetic human can do? I’m going to do what should have been done when you got here. The reasons for Lilith’s death, I’ll make you suffer the way she did!”
He lunged again, grabbing hold of Rune’s — this had to be Rune, who he longed for but was now going to tear apart — arm, twisting it so it would break. He wanted them to shatter like Lilith.
It did, not in the way he expected it to. The tearing sound was like that of a machine, wires popping loose as the appendage came off. Belphegor stood there, dumbfounded. Machine. How could Rune be a machine when an undeniably human soul rested in his chest?
And then another swift feeling of pain hit his face as he fell back on his ass, letting go of the arm at impact. He was coming out of that fever, that rage of grief slowly.
After the front doors opened everything was a blur. He understood MC was Lilith’s descendant, that his sister had been reborn and lived a human life. That Rune was some sort of android and was MC’s bodyguard in the form a protective sibling. That he was somehow getting off light, despite the attempt of murder and actually injuring Rune.
It bothered him, bothered him that worse wasn’t happening. Bothered him that Rune seemed so nonchalant about his arm.
So when Beel wanted to go catch up, Belphegor first asked to see if Rune was okay. He had to make sure they were. Couldn’t rest until he was sure. What was going to happen to their arm now? What did they feel towards him? They should hate him, it felt like a rational emotion for the circumstances.
He barely peaked his head in, listening intently to Rune’s explanations to Satan and Levi about how he was going about to repair his arm. A hiss, a click and then a small “done” parted from Rune and he was fixed, a new arm attached.
He was going to release a sigh of relief, Beel’s hand on his back comforting as Rune was okay, until Levi let out a sharp gasp. He had grabbed at his arm, yanking Rune towards him. The grip on Rune should have been painful, especially since Levi had grabbed him so roughly, but both seemed to have frozen in shock.
“Oh, I forgot I wouldn’t be feeling anything there. It’s been so long since I’ve had to repair a limb I’ve forgotten the time it takes to readjust all the feelings to it.”
Belphegor stiffened before turning and running, wanting to sleep away everything like he used to. Rune couldn’t feel his arm because of him, Rune had been hurt because of him. How could he even think that he’d even want to be near him? The cold of the attic crept back in despite him clearly being in his and Beel’s room now, and it ached.
Beel was there too, rubbing his back and cooing. Cooing? Oh, Belphegor had been crying. He had been crying for Rune.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You like them, Belphie. You feel guilty about what you did, but now you’re afraid of hurting them.”
“Again. I’d hurt them again. After they came and visited me nearly every day. A-after—“
“After you had begun to like them.”
It was a simple way of putting his feelings, ones that he had tried to bury in his furry. But Beel understood him better than anyone else, and knew he couldn’t handle the full truth quite yet. Because Belphegor couldn’t bear the idea of hurting another person he loved.
