I was looking through my drafts and found a little mini-fic I wrote and never published. I think I was too shy to publish romance back then. Enjoy!
Deets: In this concept, exceptionally powerful humans can make pacts with other humans.
Warnings:
- Romantic as FUCK
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Solomon gently grabs your non-dominant wrist, kissing the palm of your hand. "No, it has to be here." His hand slips behind you, gently grasping the small of your back, tugging you in close as he continues to kiss your palm.
You reactively cover your cheeks as the heat explodes in them, feeling shy from his aggressive affections. He slowly replaces his lips with his hand, placing his palm squarely to match up with yours, so the mark will appear right on your palm.
His fingers intertwine with yours, and he asks you, smiling from how obviously flustered you are; "May we make a pact?"
"... Yes." You say with smiling, shy, flustered lips as you peek over your other hand to him, curious.
A light bursts between your two hands as the pact mark is sealed.
"... Why my non-dominant hand?"
"I want to feel everything you do with passion."
"Wouldn't my dominant hand be better for that?"
"I want to feel whatever makes you use both of your hands. Reading a good book that has both your hands entangled in it, the delicate focus of you bringing form to clay, the exploration of food you make and divulge in. I want to feel the things that you put your everything into."
Thinking about......Solomon who randomly gives your cheek a small lick just to see that disgusted expression of yours as you look at him while frantically wiping your cheek with your hand, and then wiping your hand on his sleeve with mumbles of "ew ew ew ew ew".
All while he has a shit-eating grin on his face, watching you question your entire relationship with him.
I was thinking I should do Mephisto, Thirteen and Raphael, but I can’t think of a damn thing for any of them. Dm me if you want a drabble for any of the three, otherwise i think we’re back to the top of the rotation tomorrow.
Solomon x Gn! Reader! Obvious feelings but no established relationship yet. Rated Pg!
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Cryptic messages, strange meet up spots, the weird, convoluted quests he's been sending you on that involve flights or teleporting; It was all getting really old, really fast. You'd been sat on this bench in this rarely visited part of the hiking trail- a country over- for 45 minutes. You were sure it was the right spot, had checked an app and used a spell separately to ensure you'd gotten the longitude and latitude. It was all so much, and for what? Solomon would have to explain it when you saw him- whenever the hell that might be.
The nature around you is too quiet and you find yourself wishing you were still at home in your bed, that you didn't have to catch a train at 6AM to get here. Why did he demand you come out to this random park, giving you coordinates instead of something normal like a landmark or shop to meet at? If he wanted somewhere private to teach you more magic, why not just meet somewhere first and go together? You would have loved to have a little drink on a date with Solomon!
Not that they were ever really dates. Your sorcerer was far too dense to notice when you were flirting with him and too obtuse to ever hint at it at a good time. He'd made jokes about you falling for him, sure, but it was usually during a life-or-death scenario in the Devildom, and you're almost convinced it was just a coping mechanism for moments of extreme danger. Either way, you were fuming at your teacher.
You lean back against the bench, letting your head fall so you could look at the sky. Almost immediately, as if he'd been standing there the whole time, Solomon's smiling face enters your sight, and you yelp and scramble forward in a panic. He smiles down at you in the clueless way he does and says, "My student should be more alert, don't you think?" You have half a mind to knock him out.
Straightening back up feels almost combative as you stare at that dumb smile. He rounds the bench offering his arms out to you in a hug as he lets you know how much he missed you. If you weren't so into him, you might honestly have taken a swing at his ribs for scaring you like that. He invites you to sit back on the bench, which you do, and you both just stare out across the trail for a minute before the silence sparks your frustration again.
"Why are we here Solomon?" the words are curt and hold a great deal of your restraint. You'd been here for 45 minutes already, sitting on this damn bench while you wait for him. The sorcerer had said nothing, offered no hint as to what you'd be learning today, and had instructed you to bring a thermos of tea only. You grip the canister now, considering using it as a weapon if his next comment is as dumb as his first.
"Hm? Do you not like sitting in nature with me? I'm offended" he says, but he doesn't drop that damn smile. You turn to face him, lifting the tea canister as a threat that goes unnoticed. "Oh! Good, you brought the tea then, I was worried you might have forgotten" He sounds genuinely glad for your compliance and something about his tone both infuriates you and calms you down. You decide to settle back into your seat a little.
"You asked me to be here at 10 with a thermos of tea. So, I was." You stare straight ahead, over the gravel trail and into the tree line ahead of you. Solomon leans forward, you can see it in your peripheral, and you can almost sense the dread spilling off him. He pulls his phone out quickly and begins scrolling, for what though, you refuse to ask. He had left you waiting for almost an hour, made you get up before sunrise, he can sort through his own shit, thank you.
A small, unsteady hiss of breath and you can't help but look over at him. He's covering his mouth and you know that expression too well. Crossing your legs, you hold the thermos in your lap and turn just enough to properly look at him, offering him some attention as best you can. "You got the times wrong, didn't you Solomon, sir?" The tone is all it takes to have him curl into himself a little more and offer you an embarrassed smile.
"I have a perfectly good reason for why I'm late" He tries to deflect your upset with an explanation. You lean forward, resting an elbow on your knee as you crowd him with your own fake smile. "I promise, if I'd realized you were here already, I'd have rushed to be here with you!" You bat your eyelashes at him slowly, his candied words and half-hearted apologies mean nothing to you now, having been taken from your soft mattress for this.
"Solomon, honey." He stills, his smile falling and his eyes losing a little of the smug light they'd had when he first startled you. A different, more apologetic smile replaces the previous one and he leans into you with a softer tone, more sincere than before but you're still fuming. "Why are we here?" It's a simple question but the venom in it seems to make him sweat.
"I really did intend to surprise you." Not an answer, you think as you nearly press your nose to his, the danger you threaten seems to loosen his lips. "I'm sorry, really, I had intended to show up earlier than you. I was surprised to see you here at all." Still not an answer and you knock your forehead to his in a light headbutt, a more tangible threat that you're not afraid to kick his ass if he isn't more forth coming. He sighs and puts his hands up in defeat.
"What's with the coordinates, the weird ominous texts- the random trips around the globe! What lesson am I supposed to be learning here Solomon?" You grit your teeth at him, tired of this jerking about. "I want an answer" you move to stand, a more tangible threat than simply bumping your foreheads together. When you turn back to face him he's staring at you stunned.
The look on his face makes your heart melt a little and you feel your blood boil again at how easy you are for the man. He stands, approaching you and offers a small, concerned frown before he speaks your name like what he's going to say is obvious. "I didn't realize you were so self-conscious about these things. I'll say it plainly, so your doubts don't confuse you again." He steps closer, cupping your chin and taking your hand. "This is a date, with my lovely student"
There's red in your vision and you're not sure if you're blushing or about to rip his head off. "You're saying that all of these outings- the trains I've taken, the 3AM calls to action, demanding I be somewhere for sunrise- the random coordinates instead of locations-" You can feel your ears burn and you're not sure what you're feeling. It's all been such a headache, such heavy test of your patience but as long as you were getting better as a sorcerer, it was worth it. Or you kept telling yourself that.
"Dates." He says cleanly, in a voice that tells you he's trying to be considerate "They were dates." Solomon smiles and you feel your arm shoot out before you clue in to what you're doing. He doubles over, clutching his ribs around the impact point and you start ranting. Scolding him at length about his strange courting ritual and how if he wanted to ask you out, he could just be straightforward about it, that he could at least have teleported you around together and that he needs to reimburse you for your travel expenses.
His white hair obscures his face, doubled over as he is, and when he straightens back up, his expression looks as hurt as it does confused. "You didn't know they were dates?" You pull out your phone and shove your text thread into his face, scrolling while insisting he'd never once made his intention clear. "Then, this whole time you thought we were just training together?" He sounds dejected and you feel your blood cool almost immediately.
Solomon was infuriating, but you were so smitten with your teacher that even his fucking you about these past few weeks seems to disappear from your mind amidst his sad little frown. You clench your fist and let it bump into his chest, feeling your own defeat in the action as you pout down at the floor this time. "If you'd asked me properly, I would have said yes." There's silence instead of apology and you want to leave.
"I assumed you'd want to be courted properly" He says, a small blush appearing on his usually composed face. He steps towards you, pulling you into his arms and placing his nose against your shoulder. "I'm sorry, I wanted to give you a mysterious, exciting side of me." his warmth seeps into you and your body melts into the hug. You lean your cheek against his ear as he speaks. "I thought showing you the cool, witty sorcerer, would make you fall in love, that the dates would be as exciting as the Devildom was while we were there."
It's sweet that he wanted to be romantic but there were so many better ways to go about it. You pet his head and sigh, leaning into him as you find the emotion between fury and enamoured. "Solomon. We could just get tea around the corner from mine. I don't need lavish adventure- I need a full night's sleep and clear communication." He pulls you closer, turning his head to face you as you speak. You cup his chin and press your foreheads together, much less aggressive this time. "Try again." You match the tone he uses when you cast a spell for the first time, "Do it like I taught you."
The tone and familiarity of your words seem to soothe him, and he offers you a soft chuckle. Taking both of your hands in his, he whispers your name out against your knuckles before looking you in the eye, "Will you accompany me on a date? I was thinking we could go on this hike and take in the scenery at this park. It's said to be one of the most beautiful places in the countryside." You let him lean into you, pressing the tips of your noses together before you let yourself laugh and answer.
"No Solomon. That sounds terrible." He makes a little distance, the surprise straightening his back and dropping his lovey little expression. Solomon looks confused and a little unbalanced by your sudden refusal. You relish in it, the small revenge soothing the last of your irritation with your sorcerer. "How about you take me home, I get changed into something more date-appropriate, and then we go to a cafe." You smirk at him and wait for his response.
Relief shows clearly on his face, and he laughs more honestly this time. He leans in, kissing you softly and then nods before turning to draw a rune in the air and cast a wordless spell. "It's such a shame though, I'd packed a picnic basket just for today. It's why I was late honestly" He offers you another apologetic look and your stomach falls into the earth. "I'd woken up early- when I'd sent you that text good morning with the coordinates, but I kept tweaking the recipe for the pie and well... sorry again for keeping you waiting."
You keep yourself quiet as he wraps his arms around you. The short-lived terror of a might be picnic disappears with the rush of wind and magic and you thank the universe that you'd picked now to put your foot down. You press yourself into him and when you're back in your living room, you're so grateful to be home you kiss him without a second thought.
The privacy of your home, the soft press of your lips together and the warmth surrounding you both leaves Solomon a little breathless when you pull away. He stares into your eyes for a moment longer, face reddening before trying to put your lessons to use. "Were you still interested in a cafe? I can make us some coffee here, and we can spend some time alone together." He sounds as hopeful as he does seductive and you feel the call of your couch and a low effort date after a too-early morning.
Ultimately, it's the thought that he offered to make coffee for you that kicks you back into gear. You shake your head, face tinting a little as you lean forward and kiss him again. "You can't rush to the good part yet, Solomon, sir." The words are chastising but the tone is sweet and playful. He chuckles with you and shakes his head, as if in defeat before moving to sit on your couch while he waits for you to change.
You sway your hips as you walk to your bedroom intent on tormenting your dense teacher for a while yet. He calls after you in warning and you reprimand him again for his piss-poor flirting skills. As you change, considering your outfit and your past few weeks, you catch yourself smiling in the mirror. You've got the world's greatest sorcerer in your living room, lounging and waiting to take you on a date. While you still find sparks of your initial frustration, you're more relieved than anything to have confirmation and movement in your romance.
You say as much when you re-enter the room, Solomon raising to his feet and meeting you halfway. He wraps his arms around you again, whispering a compliment against your lips and insists you put on your shoes before he loses his mind. You comment that his old age might do that to him first and while he feigns injury, you let the warmth of the exchange settle into you. He's bad at flirting, frustrating and so secretive it makes you want to scream, but as long as he smiles at you like that- and you don't have to eat his cooking- he's as much yours as you are his.
