"You know, I'm surprised we aren't having coffee at the forest Mammon," I teased with both my eyes, and voice whilst we ambled on the path with a carpet of thin ice rolled down it.
"Thought you could use a...change of scenery for once." The raven-haired's arm was thrown around my neck as his hand oscillated; I was sure it would make a great pendulum. "Y'get to see a bunch of cups and tables, instead of a shit ton of trees and bugs with too many fucking legs."
"And, who said I didn't like trees and bugs with too many legs?" I retorted playfully, my face dialing in an offended expression.
"And who said I ever said that?" Both of our laughs came out as short-lived white clouds, ousting the debating mood out from us. "You know what I'm surprised about?"
I gazed at him, "What?"
"You're so energetic this morning. I can't even force you outta' bed on other days, but today? You got up before I pressed the button on my speaker!"
"That's because you said we were going on a date!" I exclaimed quietly lest the group of girls, armed to the teeth with thick winter clothing, nearing us were to hear. The health of the temperature in this small town continued to wane, like lofty mountains shrinking due to old age. And sooner or later, snow would fall unto our heads. (Hence, why Mammon had pressured me into wearing his thick puffer jacket.)
"And besides, I...needed a distraction."
The raven-haired sipped some cold air before glancing ahead. "I'd give you a distraction but, not sure you'd want me to kiss you in front of all these people."
I couldn't help but crack a grin.
"Unless...that's what you want, Luka. We could give them a show."
The grin instantly changed into an open mouth, corroborated by a tenacious blush, put not by the ice, on my face. "Repent!"
Mammon smirked at me when another walked by, "And if I don't? Are you gonna' punish me, hm angel?"
As the blush carried on raging, and terrorising my face, I elbowed him in the sheltered—with a black half zip—bend of his waist. "If you keep making me blush like this, someone's going to notice!"
He ruffled up my brown hair, so as not to let it freeze. "Can't help it angel. You're cute when you blush."
"Stop it!" I turned my head away, occupying my eyes with the further windows of shops offering a service.
Since the hour hand was only reaching ten, I hadn't expected it to be so busy already. There were many people pottering down the streets of Weißstein, most of which were going to their designated coffee shop.
The stone path had started to become steep, and narrow enough to ensue a feeling of worry. "Are we nearly there?"
"Yeah baby, it's just up ahead." The raven-haired trained his finger at one of the scores of outlets, causing me to cock my head to the side in curiosity. My eyes had become a detector, scanning each shop for anything coffee-related. And then, I found a small shop. The front wall was made entirely from glass, with white stickers saying "kaffee" flanking the doors; it differed substantially from the orange brick wall above it. Plain, proturbent white letters—each contributing in spelling the word "somniphobia"—were attached to the strip of burgundy atop.
"I've been there a shit ton of times...and I still don' know what it means."
"It means fear of sleep, and I think it's quite fitting," I commented breezily as Mammon confiscated his arm from my shoulders, and pushed ajar one of the glass doors, with a poster displaying the opening hours taped to it.
He turned to me whilst I looked around, "So, what d'you want Luka?"
"Oh, I'll just have a cappuccino."
"Alright, you go find us a table. I'll order."
I nodded before sauntering along the strip of wooden tables, all varying in shape. Some were rectangular, others were circular, and the chairs were rather kiddish—either lime green or yellow. Mortals really did have strange taste. I went up the few carpeted steps that led to the lounge area, and I quickly pulled out a lime tub chair from its circular companion. (If I was written to have a heart attack because of the abnormalities in this shop, I would rather it happen whilst sitting down.)
I clasped my distraught hands together, sighing as I stared at them absently, knowing I wouldn't find a gout of comfort in them.
The red chaise lounge.
The baroque door.
And, that man.
All of those sights, would not leave me alone. Each time I had mistakenly blinked, I was again lying down, on that chair, with him upon-
"One cappuccino." Mammon placed the white cup, slumbering on a plate, in front of me. There was a brown heart in the middle of a white sea, and the beige land following the rim enclosed it. "And a hot chocolate for me. I'd be a fuckin' amazing waiter.
"Suure you would. But anyway, I can't drink this! It's too cute." I grinned at it before an idea came to mind. "Mammon, give me your phone for a second?"
"Why?" he asked, although his hand reached into his pocket to get it.
"Just hand it over!"
The raven-haired put his phone onto my hand, sipping his hot chocolate smugly as my eyes widened. The wallpaper of his lockscreen, was a picture of me with the wild red squirrel on my stomach. "I forgot you took this photo...How long has it been your lockscreen?"
"Since the day I took it."
My skin had become red once more, but I didn't let that stop me from aiming the front camera at us. "It's time for a new one, say cheese!"
"Love you, angel," he said instead, smirking as I tapped the button.
I brought the phone back within eye level, admiring the pleasant photo before passing it to Mammon. "That's an odd way to say cheese, but...I love you too."
After musing the dark brown heart, I took a sip of the hot coffee. "Why didn't you get coffee too?"
"I hate coffee, it's too fuckin' bitter. Sorra somehow chugs that shit like she's straight." The raven-haired took another sip from his tall glass, as though to highlight his statement. "I prefer tea."
My eyes widened, but I hurriedly wrote it down on the short scroll of his preferences. "It kind of defeats the purpose of a coffee date, doesn't it?"
"Don't fuckin' blame me! I was gonna' get a coffee but then, I saw they were selling hot chocolate. Who the fuck says no to that?" Mammon raised one the baby pink marshmallows, with a pinching force, washed up on the side of his white plate. "Here, open your mouth."
I swiped the foam overwhelming my upper lip before opening my mouth, moving my head slightly for fear that it would go to waste. He tossed it into my mouth after waiting awhile, then grinned as I chewed it triumphantly.
"Angel, I noticed somethin'." I peered up at him. "You don't use any baby names for me."
I elevated an eyebrow at him. "Did..you mean pet names?"
"Same thing. But you don' call me any, why not? Isn't my guardian angel suppoosed to show me affection?"
"Mi ocelle," I interjected confidently. I had always heard my mother call my morose father that, and by habit it would paste a smile on his face.
His mind was still processing those two words, but nevertheless, swigged his hot chocolate. "Did you just...call me your ocean?"
"No! It means, 'my little eye'."
"First of all, why the fuck am I an eye? And second of all, do these abs...look little to you?"
Mammon was near to lifting up his half zip, until I rapidly wagged my hand.
"Eyes to thrones, are precious, and vital in order to access their powers. To us, they're second to our core. When a demon managed to kill a throne, they'd always reap their eyes." I exhaled heavily, the air acting as a perilous gust to the white sea, before holding the white cup. "To call someone your eye, it means that you value the person as much as the pearls that are your orbs."
He harkened to my words, a palm bonding with his cheek.
"Never in my life, have I wanted to be called an eye so bad, up until now," the rapt raven-haired deadpanned, rendering a laugh in my throat.
"My mother would always call my father that...sometimes even me."
"She a throne too?"
I shook my head solemnly. "Just my father...but they're...deceased anyway so it doesn't matter."
His lips split, and he seemed quite empathetic—but surprise was more prominent in his features. "I'm sorry...for your loss."
"It's alright. They perished a long time ago," I intoned before smiling softly at him. "Anyway, what do you think of my pet name?"
"The meaning's cute as shit...but not as cute as you." He shook the transparent cup lightly, held up by his middle finger coiled around the low handle. "Wanna' taste?"
"Only...if you try the cappuccino."
Mammon smirked at me. "Are you forgetting something?"
"Mi ocelle," I whispered as I pushed the cup on the road to him with my fingers.
"Now, I won't blame you if I throw up all over the damn place."
I inhaled the aroma of chocolate birling around the hot glass cup as the raven-haired stared at the coffee, letting his mind drink instead of his body. "It'll get cold if you don't drink up quick, you know."
He raised his pair of eyes at me as a pouring of inquiry occurred, "Fuck it, I'm sorry, but I have to say it. How are your...parents dead? I always thought Heaven was a land of the...undying and healthy?"
I slipped the hot chocolate back onto the road rolling towards him. With eyes neither melting nor solidifying, I lowered my smile under impulse. I had never known the primer mover of my parents' deaths. No one was ever acquiescent enough to give an answer to my question of longevity; even I had seeked myself but, it was like prowling in a sultry desert for food.
"I'm not sure when they died, let alone how. My mind is just...completely foggy when it comes to them. All the memories we had seem made up...," I drawled, stationing my pupils to the cup to draw lines through the young typhoon. "But I remember something..."
"And what's that?" The raven-haired's voice sounded rather strained to the ear.
"There was a terrible war unleashed onto the Heavens, when I was young. I don't remember much of it, but that war created demons. And the people around me, told me they died defending Heaven."
Now that I had let that gust of words free, it didn't have the laundered look of being logical. I narrowed my eyes whilst the chatter grew warmer and my cappuccino, colder.
Mammon disengaged himself from staring obliquely at the three women—skipping towards the larger wooden table close to us. "The war? As in, War of Primis?"
The cup set down with a thud, introducing to me that it was shocked nigh as I was. "How did you know that?"
The raven-haired shook the tall glass, fingers spreading over it like twisted roots. "I'm a demon, of course I know. That war is the reason I'm here."
A chemical added to a concoction already strange; something eerie stirred around his figure as he peered at me, like the delicate whirl left by a spoon in tea. The penetrating laughter of the women, didn't brighten this image either.
"Angel, why're you starin' at me like that? Did I say something?"
Back to normal, Mammon was.
"No, no. I'm just...thinking about that war." The Lord had sent that mark to damnation, though, the raven-haired still wasn't selfsame. My heart ached to gain an atom of his knowledge.
"Alright, let's just fucking pause for a second," he said. "We're gonna' go out and have a good day, without thinking of any of that, heaven-ie earth bullshit. No Victor, No War, No dead parents."
I snorted at his remark, nonplussed.
"What do you have planned?"
"A lot. So, get the shit up before I pick you up." Mammon deviated backwards, the legs making friction with the dark green carpet. And I conformed. Whilst an anomalous feeling ladened my core.