“Is something wrong?? Hah! Please, like you would even notice, much less care!”
Asmo’s volume startled MC, blinking profusely as they processed his words in disbelief.
Asmo stood up from his spot on his bed, expressive arm gestures accompanying his words;
“There are 6 other demons that’ll gladly be at your beck and call. Why don’t you go bother them with your human troubles, huh? Since I clearly can’t be bothered with such trivial concerns.”
Asmo peered at his nails in a manner that feigned boredom, waiting for MC to respond.
Waiting for MC to get angry, to curse him out and yell at him and reveal the reason they don’t rely on him the way they do his brothers.
Waiting for the inevitable rejection that would cleanly slice his heart in two.
But it never came.
Asmo waited, a minute passed. Then another. And soon another.
By this time, Asmo had built up the courage to sneak a glimpse of MC’s face.
Empty.
Just as Asmo had appeared before them when MC entered the room, they wore an empty expression behind the trails of tears and mucus that dribbled down their face.
Asmo froze.
It was as if he was staring at a mirror.
A mirror that had taken his ugliest insecurities and reflected them onto his beloved; a bystander that just so happened to be within radius of his outburst of insecurities.
“So, ugly…”
The portion of a whole thought had unintentionally slipped out of Asmo’s mouth.
And though the tone wasn’t one that matched the semblance of an insult, the words were powerful enough to override any benefit of a doubt in MC’s mind.
Their facial expression finally shifted;
From neutral, to mortified.
MC quickly covered their face with their hands, the expression of fear visible to Asmo for only a second.
Horrified, Asmo finally realized his thoughts had verbally escaped him.
“Wait!-“
MC sped out of Asmo’s room within seconds, fingers spread the slightest bit just so one tear-filled eye could attempt to navigate their way safely.
Staring at the open door, Asmo listened to MC’s footsteps until they faded into silence.
That silence was short-lived as all of Asmo’s troubles seemed to come to a crescendo.
Feeling as if his heart had crumbled into a thousand pieces, Asmo wailed and sobbed as loud as his body would let him.
Breakfast the next morning was nothing short of awkward.
Both Asmo and MC were tucked in bed feigning sleep by the time the brothers arrived home.
Unused ingredients sat on the kitchen table, suggesting neither of the two had made a proper dinner for themselves.
They now sat distant from one another at the breakfast table, both keeping up their usual personas in vain.
Most the brothers couldn’t be bothered to look into the situation further, opting to stay uninvolved.
Satan, however, took it upon himself to find out what really had happened between the two. Perhaps he could even aid them in making amends.
If not for their sake, then for his own curiosity.
Satan pushed himself out of his seat while gathering his empty dishes.
“MC, let’s go a bit early today- extra studying before the unit test today can only help.”
“But, I haven’t even finished my plate yet.”
“You may pack your breakfast to eat once you arrive on school grounds.” A third voice interjected.
MC pouted as they brought their plate to the kitchen, knowing they couldn’t argue with the firstborn’s “suggestion.”
As the other brothers attempted to weasel their way into going with the two, Lucifer noticed Asmo acting quite out of character.
He would usually match Mammon with his rapid-fire attempts to quickly catch up with MC. Instead, his gaze stayed on his nails, nervously picking at the polish.
‘It seems Satan has taken it upon himself to get to the bottom of this. If I entrust him to quell the dissonance the two, that would free up a good amount of my time.’
Lucifer completed his train of thought before raising his voice to halt the remaining brothers, now tumbling over one another while trying to prevent the others from escaping the breakfast table.
By the time MC and Satan had arrived at RAD, they had finished telling Satan about the seemingly unwarranted outburst Asmo had directed at them the previous day.
Satan begun to press for details.
“Surely there had to have been some conflict between you two leading up to this?”
As they made their way to a nearby bench, MC shared their suspicions of Asmo’s behavioral change beginning after they had recovered from their last bout of sickness.
“But, I don’t know what I did to upset him, other than just exist in his general vicinity.”
MC’s words had a bitter edge to them, surprising Satan, who had never heard them use such a tone of voice when speaking of his brother.
“I think it was before that- While you were sick he kept sulking and sighing in a way only he could make annoying.”
Satan’s face scrunched in displeasure as he recalled the memory.
A smile tugged at MC’s lips, quickly dissipating but not without Satan’s notice.
“He doesn’t deserve a another chance. No matter what slight he perceived you had made against him, that’s no excuse for what he said to you.”
MC eyes widened as Satan continued on, consciously withholding his anger towards his brother.
“No one’s forcing you to interact with him. Especially after you had already approached him once…”
“…But?”
MC could see Satan’s eyes darting around as he spoke. There was a disconnect in the words he spoke and look on his face.
A gentle hand on his knee was all Satan needed to give into sharing his true thoughts with MC, lowering his head in defeat as his elbows rested on his thighs.
“But he wouldn’t say that. Not to you. I know Asmodeus, I know how much he adores you. How he gushes about you wether you’re in the room or not.”
Satan raised his head towards MC as he placed a hand atop the human one that rested on his knee.
“He wouldn’t even think that about you. It doesn’t make sense…”
A moment passed by as the two held eye contact.
“You want me to go find him, don’t you?”
Satan brought his gaze to the ground as he nodded.
“I understand,” MC rose from the bench, clenching a fist as they adjusted their school bag.
“But I’m done chasing after Asmo.”
Satan’s expression turned grim.
“He’s made it clear he hates me, so, I’d rather stay out of his way.”
I was watching reviews for terrible books and this came to mind. Have fun with this mess, I sure did!
A head of peachy colored hair bobbed up and down below you. Separated by an entire flight of stairs filled to the brim with demons, you worked your legs as hard as you could to catch up to the one familiar demon in a crowd of strangers. It didn’t exactly help that they were all wearing the same uniform but, luckily for you, your demon had a distinct head of pristinely groomed hair that stood out against the rest thanks to its luster alone.
“Asmo!” You called, nearing the bottom of the staircase and jumping over the remaining steps. When the demon in question turned to acknowledge you, you continued, “I’m so pumped for book club tonight!”
“I know right!” Asmodeus held you by your elbows, subtly tucking you safely out of the way of the oncoming hallway traffic. “You finished reading your pages, I’m assuming?”
“Yep. And you?”
“Of course, dear. Oh! I forgot to mention and I hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t want to say in front of Beel — I ordered us some mini finger sandwiches to snack on while we discuss the book! It’ll be like one of those fancy exclusive book clubs!”
“Sandwiches?” You opened your mouth to say, but someone beat you to it.
“Yes, Beel, and you can’t have —! Oh, Satan, it’s only you!” Asmo began harshly, sighing with relief and placing a hand over his chest when the more mature (when he wanted to be) of the brothers showed himself.
“Yes. Are you two planning on having a book club?” You and Asmo both nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds delightful! If I may pry, why wasn’t I asked to attend? You are both aware that reading is one of my favorite pastimes.”
You and Asmo shared a side eyed glance.
“I mean...do you want to join? We have the first meeting after dinner and we’ve already read up to chapter ten but we’d be happy to have you, Satan.”
“Of course. I’m a fast reader. I should be able to catch up by then if you just tell me what the book is.”
“It’s called Roses And Passion.” Asmo piped up. “Oh! That reminds me, the main guy is totally hot!”
“I don’t know, he gives me weird vibes.” You said, nose scrunching at the memory of the strange dialogue on his end.
“Yeah and? I didn’t say he wasn’t creepy I said he looked hot!”
“Fair.”
While you rambled with his brother, Satan pulled out a scrap of paper to write the title of the book down on. Though, he doubt he’d forget a strange title like that. “Roses and Passion” sounded like one of those books you would find in the grocery store literature isle. Not even an entire isle, more like a singular shelf filled with half-assed mystery novels, cheesy romances, or the romances that lead to a plot that was just straight up porn for deprived forty year olds.
What didn’t exactly surprise Satan was that when he went to pick up a copy, the ‘straight up porn’ genre was exactly what he found. He expected nothing less from Asmo but from you? ...yeah he also expected as much from you.
Nevertheless, Satan pulled the book from the shelf, payed, and set off back to the House of Lamentation. If anything he would just ask you or Asmo to pay him back for the waste of good money.
Or, so he thought. The last thing Satan expected to do was read past the ten chapters that were assigned for tonight’s meeting, completely unable to put the book down.
This is utter trash, He thought, flipping another page so fast it nearly tore. There’s no plot, he critiqued bitterly, eyes racing down the page. It’s brainless nonsense! I...I love it!
The notebook beside Satan was filled with notes. Pointless scenes, lack of character development, plots that went nowhere — it was all being scribbled down with a giddy kind of excitement that Satan usually only exuded when he was reading some of the finer points in literature. However, maybe a new calling was being explored: garbage books.
When the blonde demon finally realized his notebook had actually been filled up with notes, he snapped the book shut and headed down to dinner. His brothers loudly wondered what had taken him so long to arrive, but his silence let them know he was not willing to disclose the information. He ate, chatted lightly, and when he had finished eating he helped with the dishes. But then. Then it was time for the meeting.
Held in the library, as was expected, you, Satan, and Asmo settled in a comfy spot by the fireplace.
“So, what did you two think?” Asmodeus inquired in an effort to get the meeting started. “Satan, I’m actually quite curious about your thoughts on this genre.”
The younger demon cleared his throat. Reaching behind him, he pulled his notebook out and plopped it onto his lap. “Well I—“
“Holy fuck! That many notes?” You cackled, leaning forward to get a glimpse at what was written on the pages. “I’m guessing you liked it then?”
“No. I despised it. It was the best hour of my life.”
“I should have known you’d be into hate reading.” Asmo giggled, waving a hand as if to tell Satan to continue with his findings. “In that case, let’s rant, darlings!”
