TRIAL AND ERROR | short stories + snippets

The Demon of You

"What, you die and they offer bottom surgery free of charge?"

"Yep. The NHS really should look into demonology to get those waitlists moving."

Rotating Mr Cloud in his grip, Arjun brainstormed an appropriate reaction and finally settled on a simple 'congrats'.

"Thank you." Teddy returned the knife and the book to the drawer and reached for the fly of his jeans. "I can show you."

Arjun jolted off the bed, cheeks burning again. "I'm in a relationship," he squeaked.

"I'm pretty sure that dear Dimitar just split with you. Doesn't seem like you've been pleasing him all that well."

Frustration bit his gut. He's already heard this lecture enough times. "Yeah, well, I've been a bit too preoccupied to be a good boyfriend lately."

"What, preoccupied with missing me?"

"No, with the power-hungry witch trying to kill all of humanity," Arjun said, and Teddy rolled his eyes. "I'm not interested in your penis."

"Well, that's just blatantly transphobic."

Teddy cast him a grin and peered under the bed.

Arjun scowled again. Thinking of Dimitar soured his mood significantly. There was no doubt that he was already telling everyone in The Undead Mary about how Arjun had cheated on him with his demon-ex or something. Wilma would probably stab him the next time he set foot in there, just to remind him not to be a wanker.

To distract himself, he summoned a vase from downstairs and charmed water into it for the lilies. He placed them on his chest of drawers where they could enjoy the sun.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Arjun asked when Teddy peered into the drawer of his nightstand.

"I was hoping you'd have kept some of my old t-shirts to cry yourself to sleep in or something along those lines."

"What gives you the idea that I'd do that?"

"Abraxas told me," Teddy said, and laughed at Arjun's expression. "I'm kidding. It's just the sort of thing you'd do."

Giving up the search, he dropped onto the bed again, bouncing from the springs and hugged Mr Cloud, which Arjun had left behind. Arjun sat on the floor to lever the hardened candle wax off with his fingernail.

"Do you..." Arjun peered at Teddy over the foot of the bed, "talk with Abraxas about me?"

"No. Well, I like to check that you're alive." Teddy propped himself up on his elbows to meet Arjun's gaze. "We may not have been together when I died and all that, but I still loved you then."

The effect was not unlike the ice bucket challenge they had done on each other back when they were kids. He was gooseflesh all over.

A gentle warmth spread from his chest then, soothing the bumps on his skin and exchanging them for flutters in his stomach. As their gazes laced into each other, the amber of Teddy's eyes darkened back to the black it had been once, the pupils curling from their slits into human ones.

The coaxing music at the back of Arjun's mind shifted its key, the tempo turning into something much more familiar. Still, the desire was the same. Just a little closer, just get a little closer.

Teddy broke the silence unremorsefully. "So, what may I do for you?" With a blink, his eyes glowed amber again.

"What?"

"You summoned me..."

"Oh." Arjun turned back to the candle wax. Something in his chest was coiling horribly. "Right. I did do that, didn't I?"

His thoughts were so scrambled that it wasn't till he had finished wiping the chalked sigil from the floor that he was able to compose a sentence.

"I'm sure you've heard all about the trouble Cerys has been causing with her desire to kill all non-magical humans. We've tried to reason with her, but it's not getting through, and none of our spells seem to hurt her. Ioana actually snapped her neck and nothing.

"I figured her sister must have information about whatever she's done to make herself immortal, and since I know she's, erm, with your lot, I was going to make a deal with Abraxas to get me some answers from her in exchange for the fangs of a rakshasi."

"I can handle that," Teddy said, chipper. He tossed Mr Cloud into the air and caught him. "Though I'm not really into fangs. For payment, you'll have to let me take you out."

"Teddy–?"

"I'll even let you call me Theodore, but can we drop 'Teddy'?"

Nestling the sheep into the pillows, he got off the bed again. He stepped closer. And closer still.

"No strings, cross my heart." Teddy drew a cross across his chest. "I've not seen you in three years. I just wanna catch up."

Arjun should definitely say no. His great aunt would have to release Abraxas soon enough, and he could make the deal he had planned.

Not to mention that Arjun would be the next thing locked in the shipping container if his great aunt ever found out about him going to dinner with a demon. Deals were one thing, dates quite another.

But this was Teddy. Teddy, whom he'd known since he was eleven, Teddy, with who he had experienced all the important things in life, Teddy, who had been his first love.

"Fine," Arjun sighed, hoping he sounded at least a little reluctant. "But I'm calling you Teddy. You'll always be Teddy to me."

Notes

This story was based on the prompt you accidentally summoned a demon boyfriend from the What In The Wattpad competition. I don't think I'll actually enter it in the competition but I got this idea for the prompt so decided to write it nonetheless! 

EDIT: Clearly, I failed at this short story thing because I'm not writing a whole book about them!!