Three days.
Three damn days since Mammon had left, and he still hasn't come back.
After the first day, I became worried sick about the raven-haired, but now that it was the third, I didn't even know how to feel.
The apartment felt empty without his presence and so did I. The aura Mammon's body held always managed to pacify me, even if it is as overbearing at times. Without him, I had felt on edge constantly, as though he was my emotion resistor. I pressed my cheek against the naturally cold counter, the hard surface putting pressure onto my cheekbone. The granite island had practically became my second home with how long I spent sitting there, waiting for the raven-haired to just burst through the door. Countless beer bottles, all of which were empty, encircled me, reminding me of my failed attempt on drinking away the pain. Perhaps, it was the only time I ever wanted to become drunk.
I entangled my fingers in my brown hair, nails digging into my scalp. The feelings I had for him had grown substantially, when I thought they would go away. I thought it would be better for us to be apart for a while, but the outcome was not what I had expected: I wanted him even more now. But even if he were to come back, how would we go back to normal? Was I really a fool for thinking that simply talking it out would work?
The buzzing of my phone broke me out of my turmoil, making me pick it up.
Claude
LUKA
¹⁴·³¹
Claude
Luka? Is something
wrong
¹¹·⁴⁷
Claude
Luka are you good?
you haven't been online
in awhile
¹⁶·⁵³
Claude
Luka :(
¹⁷·²⁰
Lukie
Sorry claude, I was kinda
busy and do you know where
Dante is?
¹⁷·²⁵
Claude
FINALLY
¹⁷·²⁶
Claude
Wait what why? Did I miss
something?
¹⁷·²⁶
I placed my phone back down on the counter, only for it to start ringing. There was no point on answering, he probably didn't know either. The phone continued screeching at me to answer as I crushed my clad forearms with my hair-dispersed forehead. The only half-pleasant thing about the past three days, was that I felt more clarity towards my feelings. I was plagued by what the sweet-toned man and my mother had said. I knew she would have no trouble accepting the fact that I liked a demon—she would be thrilled that her son turned into one of the people she always read about. I knew that many of my friends would accept it also. But the problem was my father. Everytime I looked in the mirror, I didn't see myself; I saw my father, he would repeat over and over the things I didn't want to hear.
"You think anyone would accept a demon-loving freak like yourself?"
"You're exactly like your mother."
"You're a fool if you think Ezekiel and Uriel would accept you. They worked tirelessly to set this up, converted hundreds of demons, yet you can't convert one without falling in love with them? You're pathetic."
"Those demons killed Mikkel's parents, you took him in, and you knew that he hated demons deep down. Why would you ever love the thing he hates the most?"
"Don't you remember Elise? How you cried a river at her funeral? Don't you think she would be so disappointed, to see you fall head over heels for her killer?"
I knew the vision of him was wholly a figment of my imagination, but boy did they hurt like hell. His words, slowly but surely, broke pieces off of my heart like an archaeologist breaking into a rock with a chisel and hammer. He would never accept me, and neither could I. But that didn't matter to me, as long as the Lord sanctioned my actions, I would be alright. My purpose was to serve him, no one other than him. As much as it would afflict me, if he was the only one who could understand my choice, I would be able to pass happily.
I could hear the lock turn; it was quiet, yet felt so loud. That couldn't be Mammon, right? I wanted it to be him, but I didn't know whether I could even face him, look eye to eye with him. I turned my head towards the brown door as it swung open, revealing a hunched Mammon, carrying his suffering on his back. His black hair was a modest mess, and his eyebags were slightly more visible. I gripped the edge of the countertop as I stood up, the sick feeling returning to my stomach, moiling around as I did. I was starting to feel a bit doubtful about my plan, but this wasn't the time to chicken out.
I darted across the room and over to the raven-haired, who looked petrified as soon as he turned to me after closing the door. I jumped into his arms, making him bumble slight before peering at me, with grey eyes so crystalline I could almost see my reflection. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and used my hand to bring his face closer to mine. I couldn't believe that I was doing this. We were only inches apart. My heart began racing, and all I could think of was each way this could go wrong.
I swallowed the air lodged in my throat before shutting my eyes, and pressing my lips on his. He stood still, with his eyes pricking my eyelids. It almost felt like I was kissing a statue; cold and unresponsive. Well, this wasn't awkward at all. I slowly removed my hand from his nape, and was about to the same with my lips; but Mammon stopped it by wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me back in. I could feel a surge of joy rush through me. This was how I wanted it to be, albeit I was a bit surprised. Suddenly, nothing around me mattered anymore; I didn't care about what my father would think, or what my friends would think. It felt like only him and I existed in that moment; everything else had been wiped out, just so we could have this one moment, alone.
Mammon removed his lips from mine and gazed at me with hauled down brows. "What was that?"
"A kiss...," I replied, slightly anxious.
"I know...but why?"
I split my lips to say something, but nothing left my mouth.
"After all that, why kiss me?" The raven-haired wrapped his fingers around the wrist of my hand gripping his shirt.
"I'm sorry...Mammon."
With his hand still wrapped around my wrist, he used my hand to make me look at him. "Don' you know how much it hurt when you pushed me away? I spent days trying to fucking forget it, forget I ever liked you."
"I know it hurt...Mammon, it hurt me as well. I have feelings for you, but I just didn't know how to react to them, and when you kissed me- I just...didn't know what to do," I responded in a breathy manner, as Mammon brought my hand to his face.
"What made you realise that you wanted this?"
"The time we had apart...I just missed you a lot, and realised that my...feelings weren't going anywhere. I know a kiss won't take back the tears but, I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter whatever tears were lost, I'm just glad you feel the same, angel." The raven-haired inched me towards him. "Even though I'm a bit mad you didn't tell me earlier, I'm glad you 'idn't ignore it and told me now."
"I would have told you earlier! But you were gone for days...and didn't even answer my messases."
He scratched the back of his head before glancing away. "Yeah, that was kinda' my fault."
"You mean all your fault," I replied before burying my face in his soft neck, taking in the vague scent of cologne that lingered around him. I felt guilty for indulging, but it felt right.
"That's a bit harsh." The raven-haired let his palm rest on the top of my head, "You gonna' ask me where I've been, hm?"
I was too occupied with wallowing in his warmth to answer.
"Angel?"
"You're so warm...," I muttered into his neck, feeling the heat ricochet off of his skin and onto my face.
Mammon gave a low chuckle, "Well then, I'll answer that question for you. I was at a friend's house, surprisingly I didn't drink myself to the ER."
"You should have at least told me Mammon...I was worried sick about you."
"Figured you didn't want anything to do with me, so I stopped myself from replyin'." His hands ventured around my waist, fingers running along my spine and sides, "Feels good that I can finally touch you like this..."
I stopped his perfervid hand from roving under my grey sweater as a blush thrived in my face, "But, you still need to keep it to a minimum!"
"Course, I was just jokin' with you." Mammon used that contumacious hand to poke my forehead. "Gotta' keep it holy so you don't disintegra-"
He paused for some reason. Confused, I looked up at him, to see that he was gaping askance at something behind me. I skewed my eyes around to see what could have stolen his voice. Oh.
The beer bottles. All six of them, filled with nothing but a drop.
"I might have...broken rule number one..."
"How much can I sell an angel for?" he deadpanned.
"What?!"
"Luka- I'm currently fighting the fuckin' urge to yell at you...they cost me a fortune."
"Really? Oh, I'm sorry about that," I said, "But, it isn't my fault that someone made me drink all six bottles."
The raven-haired stared at me like somehow the bottles and I swapped places. "Angel..."
"Relax! Geez, I was joking." I gazed at the glass bottles intently as they replenished with the orangish liquid, and then sealed with a cap. Just like they were before I drank all of them. The fridge door swung open, and the pack was placed on the shelf where they belonged. "Happy now?"
"Very. I didn't know angels had the power to refill beer bottles."
"I don-"
"Well hey, I'm not complaining! You're like my beer dispenser now," Mammon chirped as he beamed with glee.
"Gee, how great."
"It really is, I'll pay you in kisses and speaking of that..."
Mammon used his hand to make me look at him before leaning in. I gulped as his hand found its way to my nape. He was being awfully cheesy today, wasn't he?
As he was about to kiss me, I quickly ducked before pressing the upper half of my face against his shoulder. "Luk-"
"Am I uh...interrupting something?" A male voice spoke.
The raven-haired veered his head swiftly to face the man as I remained still; I didn't need to peek over his shoulder to know who it was.
"No you aren't. This fucker is hugging me because he missed me," Mammon retorted. I winced at the sudden use of profanity—sure, I understand why he used it, but it still stung.
"God, no need to be rude Dante. I was just worried about you." I brought my arms back to my side as I sidestepped over to the couch.
He tossed me a sympathetic look before glaring at the blond, "Claude, what the fuck are you even doing here? I didn' invite you."
Claude sidled over to me, like I was his protection of some sort. "Calm your man tits Dante, I didn't come here for you, I came for Luka."
"Wh-"
"And, to remind you two that we're going on the trip tomorrow."
"Claude, how many times do I need to tell you? We're not fucking going," Mammon grumbled.
"Oh come on Dante-"
"No."
"But it'll be fun-"
"No."
"Please Dante? I want to go," I joined in, even though I didn't think it would provide any result. Mammon shut his eyes after catching a glimpse of my frown.
"Fine."
Well, that was unexpected.
"So you say yes to your cousin but not me?" Claude feigned sadness as he wiped his non-existant tears.
"Claude shut your mouth, you better not try anything."
Mammon spun on his heel and began walking to his room. It didn't really seem like the two got along very well—or maybe that was how their friendship was? I wasn't too sure.
Just as he reached his bedroom, the blond attached both palms to my back and started pushing me towards my room, "What are you doing?"
"We're going to your room, I can help you pack."
"Aren't we going to the beach for only a few hours, what is there to pack?" I asked as he propelled me into the sunlit room before skipping over the threshold, and shutting the door.
"Don't worry about that now." Claude seated himself beside me on the springy double bed. "What happened with Dante?"
"Nothing? Why are you asking?"
"Cut the shit Luka, I know something's up. You can tell me."
I glanced down at my lap, feigning pity.
"Well, I don't really know what happened, but he disappeared for three days and I...I didn't really hear from him during it. I was really worried."
"Did something happen between you two before he disappeared?"
I chewed on my bottom lip. There was no way he knew what had happened between us, but even so, I had doubts.
"No, nothing happened."
"Then maybe it's something personal." The blond propped the light blue pillow on the headboard before pressing his back against it. "You know Luka, he does that a lot."
"What do you mean?"
"How he disappeared like that. Nick says Dante does that when he's dealing with something," Claude informed. "But I don't remember a time where he disappeared for three days, he's barely even gone for a day."
"Oh." I knew exactly why.
"But I hope Dante isn't being too mean to you." Claude placed his whitened knuckles against his jaw as he emphasized the "too".
"Surprisingly, he isn't. I thought he would have beaten me up by now."
"Same! I was really shocked when Dante said you were coming to stay. He hates anything to do with his family."
My shoulders straightened. He hated anything to do with his family?
"Besides the fact that I'm sort of offended, why does he?"
He shrugged, "Dunno, Nick probably knows but he doesn't tell me shit. He thinks I have a big mouth- well- Sorra does too."
I chuckled gravely—maybe I thought so too.
"Man, Luka, your room's really empty," the blond said, staring at the area adjacent to the bed, where there should have been a nightstand.
"Tell me about it, I need to go furniture shopping with him later. Well anyways, shouldn't we start packing?"
His blue eyes widened like the trip had vacated his mind entirely.
"Oh yeah. Do you have swimming trunks? That's like the main thing you really need."
I shook my head, "No, I didn't bring mine. I didn't think that I'd be going to the beach in the middle of November."
"Maybe you can ask Dante? I'm sure he has a pair lying around somewhere."
"Yeah alright, I'll do that." I responded as I rose up from the bed and began sauntering over to the door.
"Oh and try not to get your ass beat!" Claude called out just before I opened the door. I casted him a reassuring look as I stepped over the threshold. But I bumped into something hard.
"What the-" I looked up, only to see the raven-haired staring at me blankly. "Mammon, what the hell-"
His fingers curved around my wrist before pulling it, dragging me to his room as I stared at the back of his head, confused. The only sensible answer I could think of as to why he was conveniently outside my door, was that he was eavesdropping. I mean, what other reason could there be?
Mammon shut the door by pressing his back against it before snaking an arm around my waist. He kissed me on the lips again, and again, and again. I guess I was witnessing a side of Mammon I had never seen before; one that kissed you over and over.
I tilted my head backwards and pinned his shoulders towards the door playfully, "And what was that for?"
"For earlier...before that idiot interrupted us," he replied, utilising the arm around my waist to pull me in further as I laughed quietly. "You were smart to duck before I kissed you though. We'd be fucked if he saw."
"Yeah I know. We need to start being more careful, Mammon."
The raven-haired nodded affirmatively.
"And also, why were you outside my door? You weren't eavesdropping, were you?"
Mammon shook his head with a surprised look on his face, like I had just said something absurd, "No."
I thought that he would reply with his trademark "maybe."
"Why did you come out of your room?" he continued.
"Oh right, do you have...any spare swimming trunks? I didn't bring any."
"Probably- but can't you just make a pair with your powers, you could fill up beer bottles so..."
"No." I crossed my arms as he removed his arm from my waist, and headed towards his closet.
I watched as he began rummaging though already-disordered piles of clothes, "Find any yet?"
"Nah, not yet angel."
I smiled at his back as he proceed to scavenge through his tall built-in closet like a wild animal—this was the man that made me tumble for him.
"Found 'em!" The raven-haired exclaimed as he held the blue trunks aloft, remaining crouched down. He stretched out the waistband, "Will these do? They were mine when I was younger, but whatever, it's yours now. Might be a bit small though."
I smiled as he crumpled them into a ball before throwing them at me—obviously, I caught them. "They'll be fine, Mammon."