What Is Love? | My Inner Demons x Reader

Chapter 28: Be Their Friends...

~(Y/n)'s PoV~

We walk back to the apartment complex in complete and utter silence. I felt like I was breathing too loud for the entirety; I was on the verge of a panic attack with all of the excitement. Ava squeezes my hand consistently, and I'm relieved that I have her with me.

The Daemos walk behind us, separated from myself and Ava by Andrew and Devon. I can almost feel everyone else's tension lingering around us and it only makes me more stressed. I suppose it could be worse, though... my mom could've been a part of this, or Kay, which would be so much worse.

Andrew and Devon shoo the boys away from Ava's bedroom while we talk. I lay on the bed, letting Ava lay on my stomach like a comforting weighted blanket. Johnny lays on the bed, letting me pet his head and Galaxy hides herself from Ava's parents by snuggling up to me beneath my sweatshirt. I breathe in and out, slowly, trying to calm down, but then I feel the bed by my legs dip down with Andrew's weight. Devon continues to stand by.

Andrew clears his throat. "(Y/n), you can take your time to answer, I know how you get when you're stressed..." He starts. "And uh, A-Ava, pumpkin? Your father and I, uh... feel you're not telling us the truth about something."

I let out a sigh of relief, but I also can't help but feel my face burn red with shame at the fact that he's still holding onto all of my high school-related emotional breakdowns of the past. I sink back into the bed and hold Ava a little tighter.

"You think?" Ava replies to Andrew's statement with a sassy tone.

Devon furrows his brows at her. "Don't take that tone with your father, young lady, we-"

"Sweetie..." Andrew cuts him off. "I got this. Ava, tell us what's going on. Maybe we can help you with-"

Devon, in turn, cuts Andrew off back as he begins to vent. "I told you something was happening!" He exclaims. "When we got knocked out, I had a dream that Ava was surrounded on the couch by demons and those demons symbolized these boys, I-"

Andrew shushes his husband. "Devon! Please allow me to handle this." He sighs, turning becas towards me and Ava. "Ava, is Noi your boyfriend? Why were those guys taking an interest in you and (Y/n)? If you want, we can ask them to leave you alone..."

I glance down at Ava and I can tell her mind is reeling. Then, to my surprise, she sits up. "O-Okay. Y-You guys want to kn-know the truth?" I freeze up for a minute, wondering if her truth is going to be the real truth about they boys.

"Ava, we just want to help you and-" Devon tries to speak before Ava blurts out what I can only assume are the first words that came to her mind.

"Th-These guys are all madly in love with (Y/n), but they're our friends, so..." The word friends strikes a bit of a cord with me and I wonder again if the Daemos are or ever could be our friends... maybe even more. I think back to high school and being thought of as a loner just because I was a little different. Ava understood me then, she still understands me now. She's still lying... but I'm going to go along with it in the name of trust and our friendship. "(Y/n) just gets... really embarrassed about those things..."

Devon frowns. "I mean, we can clearly see that they're madly in love with them."

Andrew looks at me, reaching over to comfortingly pat my shoulder. "You don't wanna hurt their feelings. We understand."

I look up, almost surprised that Ava's lie worked. "H-Huh?"

"We were young once too, (Y/n), we've been there before." Devon says, turning his attention to me.