holy

xvi

the next couple of weeks proved to be difficult for the angel-demon pair.

not because they couldn't stand each other, though. it was actually quite the opposite.

sure, it had taken a couple of days for brett to convince himself that befriending (if you could even call it that) the demon wasn't the reason that all of these bad things were happening to him, and soon enough they were back to normal—or whatever this was.

except the ruse of normalcy was slowly crumbling, too.

it became evident as that fuzzy, nervous feeling rolled in eddy's stomach every time he thought about, or was near, brett, which was often since eddy had confined the angel to the one-bedroom apartment. he constantly caught his gaze lingering for a few seconds too long whenever brett would curl up on his couch and watch a movie, or when he would stretch out his pale white wings, soft and bare skin exposed to the cold air. things were particularly difficult when brett would look at him with sadness in his eyes whenever he left the apartment to work or go clean up brett's cabin. over the course of just a few days he'd gotten rid of the doves, burying them at brett's request, and scrubbed the dried blood off the walls. honestly, the angel could've returned to his home if he wanted to, but with this feeling taking hold of eddy there was no way he was letting brett go anywhere without him.

but, whatever the feeling was, it was possessing brett, too. he felt this very strange but constant urge to stay close to eddy, even when they were in the same room. but it wasn't only because he was scared, it was mostly because he felt comfortable with the demon nearby.

so, naturally, he tried to be close to the demon whenever possible.

this meant sitting next to him on the couch while they watched a superhero movie, trying—and failing—to be discreet while falling asleep on eddy's lap, and even perching himself atop the kitchen counter whenever eddy cooked or made coffee.

he hated that eddy left every night to "go to work," but not because eddy would come back with blood on his hands (he actually found that he didn't mind—the red contrasted nicely with his all black wardrobe), but because he hated being alone (specifically, without the demon) for hours on end. more often than not he would pretend to fall asleep when eddy pulled the covers over him before leaving, and then stay up all night, only going to sleep once he sensed the familiar aroma return to the apartment.

but it was one of these nights when brett was still awake when eddy came back. he had planned to fall asleep as always, under the soft black blankets and cuddled into red sheets, but was startled from sleepiness when he heard a glass break in the kitchen.

despite not being in the same room, brett could feel the thick waves of anger rolling off of eddy.

he creeped out of bed carefully, feet padding along the cool wooden floors, stopping at the edge of the kitchen.

eddy was standing, motionless besides the heaving of his chest and the clenching of his fists.

"eddy?" brett asked, voice as sweet and small as it always was.

the demon whipped around, red, bloodshot eyes piercing brett's.

"go away," he commanded, voice low and raspy and intimidating. the demon emitted that quiet, almost unidentifiable anger that penetrated every corner of the room, weighing the air with tension that could be cut with a knife.

brett didn't listen to him, instead he looked deep into eddy's eyes, tilting his head slighly at what he saw. eddy looked mad, sure, but there was more than that. he was frustrated, tired, sad perhaps? above all, brett wanted to know why.

truthfully, eddy had been (justifiably) killing humans left and right, taking out his pent up anger on whoever he could. he was constantly berating himself for what was happening to brett, and couldn't find any new leads on who was doing it and why. but that night, there hadn't been any work for him to do, so he returned to the bar that he'd first met brett at and drank copious amounts of alcohol in the hopes that it would numb his emotions before he returned home.

it obviously hadn't worked, as eddy stepped towards brett threateningly, hands twitching, fingers itching to wrap themselves around the angel's fragile throat. the angel backed a step away, leaning into the hard edge of the counter.

brett gulped, looking anxiously up at red eyes that glinted even in the darkness before he responded.

"no."

eddy's silence was as terrifying as his actions were.

a rough, threatening finger traced his jugular and his collarbone, pressing hard at the base of his neck before he felt the demon's warm hand wrapping around.

brett needed to do something, but he didn't know if it would work.

a hail mary, as one would call it.

"stop," brett's voice pierced the air, with the same shaky confidence that it had when eddy had almost strangled archangel gabriel.

but this time, he didn't need to say it twice.

eddy nearly melted at the words, his hand on brett's soft skin gentle like a caress instead of the firm grip it had previously been. rage still coursed through his veins, there was no doubt about that, but he no longer felt like directing it at the angel. instead, all he felt towards brett was, well, that unknown feeling that bubbled up in his stomach and put a strange ache in his heart.

brett let out a shaky breath, happy that eddy was home and that his little trick had worked. he lifted a hand up to where eddy's larger one rested on the crook of his neck, intertwining their fingers and tugging eddy towards the bedroom.

he let go of eddy's hand, sitting on top of the covered bed and patting the spot next to him.

"come on, it's late and i'm tired."

eddy's crimson eyes lit up in inquiry, as if he didn't fully believe that brett was talking to him.

"come on," brett invited, his voice whiny and needy. for some reason that he couldn't figure out, he hated being far from eddy, and hated seeing him unhappy even more. and when these things were combined, everything seemed to hurt worse.

eddy simply couldn't reject the offer, brett's command here had the same effect as it had when he had told him to stop just minutes before in the kitchen.

brett watched curiously as eddy walked into the closet, shutting the door behind him. his own heart dropped slightly, but lightening with hope once eddy emerged from the closet in dark grey pajamas, climbing into the bed, keeping his distance from the angel as he laid on his back. the angel figured that he should've been happy that eddy decided to join him, but he couldn't help but feel sad at the prospect that eddy was still too far away (despite the fact that they were less than half a meter away from each other). against all reason, he rolled over, snuggling into the warmth of eddy's side, wrapping both of his arms around eddy's muscular one.

the demon practically melted like butter in the angel's grasp. all of his anger had magically dissipated, and the new emotion that rose to dominance was want.

he wanted this. he wanted brett to be closer, and he wanted to spend every night like this, angel by his side. he didn't question it, didn't think about the fact that it was definitely wrong for him to want an angel. he caged his arms around brett, pulling him possessively into his chest.

it didn't matter if it was wrong, though, because demons always got what they wanted.