Domestic ❧ Skephalo AU

Chapter 20.) Appeasing the Flames

A/N: I typed this on mobile so Grammarly couldn't assist me this time. No beta, we die like men (no but fr, if you catch grammatical errors, lmk!)

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Like water surging through the streets during hurricane season, excitement and anxiety coursed through a certain mortal's veins. Pent-up energy was spent cleaning the same counter over and over again, but the same twisting motion of his arms failed to soothe him. He tried calming himself by sweeping and sanitizing the carpet, but that didn't work either.

Taking a break from cleaning, Skeppy glanced down at his hands. His fingers twitched with every breath he took, and a thin layer of sweat coated his aching palms. It wasn't until he tried to flex his fingers did he realize how sore his arms were.

The aching feeling was disregarded and Skeppy continued to busy himself around the house. He considered using his valuable time to upload a new video to his channel, but decided against it and chose to funnel all of his anxiety-fueled energy into making the house spotless and safe.

Once he had wiped everything down for what was probably the 7th time in a row, he hid all of the cleaning products beneath the sink and washed his hands. The lemon-scented soap failed to mask the smell of Clorox on his hands.

"So much to do, so much to fucking do," Skeppy muttered under his breath, rummaging through the pantry in search of snacks that weren't too high in sugar and lacked gluten.

Speaking of gluten, a certain demon was so freaking lucky Skeppy bought the off-brand, gluten-free beer they had on clearance sale. He couldn't imagine how the demon's body would react if he consumed six cans of pure liquid gluten. It'd be a disaster, no doubt.

Luckily, the experience made Skeppy much more finicky and careful about his groceries. Anytime he went to the store for ingredients, he made sure to check the labels before putting them in the wagon.

BadBoyHalo told him it wasn't necessary, that Skeppy needn't monitor his purchases so closely, but Skeppy simply shrugged it off. He wanted to cook for the demon, and he wanted to see the same bashful look on Bad's face whenever Skeppy emphasized his adoration for the demon.

Everything about the demon was kept in mind, not just because he didn't want to make Bad sick, but because he wanted to show the demon was loved.

Back in high school, he had read about the various types of love between couples-not to imply they were a couple... because they weren't. Apparently, there were four types of love people experienced with their partner; altruistic, compassionate, romantic, and sexual.

Internally, he asked himself if he was making all of these changes out of altruistic love, or perhaps companionate love.

Or maybe he was romantically interested in Bad and he was just knee-deep in denial, that was also a possibility.

Ignoring the pink tint to his cheeks, Skeppy grabbed a bag of popcorn from the pantry. Originally, he was going to buy Rice Krispies treats, but after learning barley was a key ingredient in the sticky, store-bought snacks, Skeppy decided against it.