The Devil's Playmate

THIRTY

   It came as a small rumor at first. How Benjamin was a greatly upset over some human from his school, and that he had been harassed or something. Either way, the majority of the great demons in Hell began kissing up to him, pampering him relentlessly to where Benjamin felt somewhat suffocated.

It was nice, he had to admit. Being gushed over and cooed at by them, even by those who he didn't know. Though there were still some who were wary at him, simply stealing glances at Benjamin coldly. One of them had been Lucifuge Rofocale, who didn't exactly appreciate a human in their midst. Benjamin never minded and kept quiet.

He was much too preoccupied with Beelzebub anyways.

"You're just so lovely," Beelzebub sighs, having Benjamin all perched up on his lap and hugging him from behind. "Stay with me a while longer, hm? Why don't we watch some movies?"

He's affectionate as ever, and he looks at Benjamin as if he's the sweetest thing in the world.

Benjamin forces a smile. He's scared of Beelzebub.

Though he could never really find it in himself to push Beelzebub away. Not when he's become so clingy, demanding more of his time and attention to where he was taken Benjamin away from the others.

It sometimes causes unrest between the demons. He should've realized it sooner. How jealous they all were. It was in their nature in the beginning, so it shouldn't have surprised him when he first saw it in Beelzebub.

Yet, it does.

"Buttercup, pay attention to me."

Benjamin flinches, nervous about how Beelzebub tightens his hold on his waist. He's still demanding for Benjamin to keep his eyes on him.

"Stay with me," Beelzebub states.

"I can't... I've got some paperwork to do. I'm not even done with my portion for the day," Benjamin replies. "I've got to do my part as a council member, right? Maybe next time."

He sweats a little when he sees just how displeased Beelzebub looks, and he figured he'd let him go since that's what Beelzebub always does when it concerns Benjamin's duties. Except, it doesn't go quite his way and the Sin of Gluttony ended up staying with Benjamin for hours, always hovering above him and his work.

He's not bugging him, thank goodness, but sometimes it's hard to focus when Beelzebub's staring straight at him without another word. It's like he's impatiently waiting for Benjamin to be done even though he's sure Beelzebub has a lot of things on his own plate, too.

Not to mention, he's more... touchy.

He can't stop holding Benjamin, and he even tells him the majority of the time how he likes sticking to the human. It was uncomfortable at first, but Benjamin suddenly realizes that he sort of... liked the attention.

Back then, he was unsure about receiving this type of care and concern from the demons since he's unused to it.

No one did this with him before. The only one who did was Marcus, but his harassments and abuse outweighed the good more. At least Beelzebub doesn't starve him. In fact, he likes the idea of fattening Benjamin up, just satisfied at seeing him eat whatever he wanted.

Though his optimism didn't last very long when he realized the consequences of trying to feed Benjamin too much. The human was still a pushover unfortunately, and he couldn't get rid of his bad habits just yet, so when he tried pleasing Beelzebub by eating as much as he could, Benjamin ended up having a lot of stomach pain and threw up for almost twenty minutes.

It worried Beelzebub so much that he demanded Behemoth to come by and help take care of his sick partner. The demon butler, however, he almost fainted at Benjamin's poor condition.