12. 12

12

Oren

“ A re you getting bored with me already?” Oren asked, leaning back where he was perched on Luc’s lap, bowtie undone and shirt halfway unbuttoned.

Luc had just gotten back from wherever he’d disappeared to that morning. Oren had really missed waking up next to him, so he’d tackled him to the bed the moment he’d walked in.

Well, tackled as much as someone of his stature could tackle someone Luc’s size.

Basically, he’d pounced, and Luc had gone down willingly, clawed hands gripping Oren’s thighs and wings wrapping them up.

Oren had claimed Luc’s lips like he had the right to them, teasing that forked tongue out until it wrapped around his. He’d thought in that moment that he’d never get tired of the sensation, the feeling that Luc could map out his entire mouth with just one sweep of his tongue.

Oren had shivered. He always did in Luc’s arms. He’d clung to him as tightly as he could and rocked his hips into Luc’s, wanting to feel that delicious friction. He’d wanted to drive Luc insane so he’d rip his clothes off and use his toys on him. He’d wanted Luc to let go completely and own Oren the way he wanted to be owned.

Instead, he’d found Luc kissing him slowly, the grip on his thigh loosening, Luc… soft under his hips. It had washed away the fog of lust and made him pull back, searching for the answer.

They’d been together for mere weeks. Oren knew he wasn’t the most experienced, but he didn’t think what they’d done so far was so bad Luc would be tired of it already. But Luc was avoiding his eyes. He was looking everywhere but at Oren.

Oren felt a wave of embarrassment overtake him and pushed against Luc’s chest to get up from his lap and off the bed.

“You are…” Oren said, pointing a finger at Luc. “You’re actually bored with me.”

“Oren…” Luc said, reaching out for him.

“No, don’t ‘Oren’ me. What the hell, Luc? I thought we were having fun and that you liked me.”

“I do like you.”

“Tell that to your cock,” Oren said.

“It likes you too.”

“This isn’t a joke, Luc.” Oren crossed his arms over his bare chest protectively. “What is happening? It’s fine if you don’t want to have sex, but you’ve been acting strange ever since the egg hatching. And this morning you just disappeared. I want some answers.”

Oren watched as Luc’s face fell and he ran a hand over it. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. It almost floored Oren to see the dejection in his eyes.

He felt awful for not noticing just how tired Luc appeared to be. Had this been here all along? It couldn’t have been. The devil he had first met had been cavalier, if a little hectic. When had that shifted? There was a slump to his proud shoulders and a droop to his wings that made them look heavy for the first time.

The devil appeared… vulnerable.

Oren slid back onto the bed next to Luc’s feet, cradling Luc’s clasped palms between his own.

“Talk to me, Luc,” he whispered. “I won’t mind if you don’t want me anymore. Just… don’t let it eat at you this much. It’s not worth it.”

“You’re worth everything,” Luc said softly, pulling one of his hands from under Oren’s and bringing it up to cup his cheek, pushing his glasses slightly askew. “This has nothing to do with me not wanting you. The opposite, really.”

Oren’s dead heart thumped at both the words and the gentle touch, but he still frowned and shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I’ll explain, but let me tell you this first.” Luc took a deep breath before continuing. “Hell is where I belong. I was made to be here, to live here. I like it here, always have. But… having you here made it feel like a home for the first time since the beginning of everything. You made everything better, Oren.”

Oren felt the weight of those words in his bones. They felt too charged, too emotional to be just a passing thing Luc was saying to butter him up. Too strong to be something he was saying to placate Oren.

But they were also all said in the past tense.

“Why does it sound like you’re breaking up with me then?” Oren asked quietly, an anxious hole opening in his stomach and making him feel like he’d fall right through it.

Luc looked away again. “Because I am.”

He would have preferred falling into nothing. That would have been much kinder than the sharp stab of pain lancing right through his heart. Oren’s heart had always hurt. It always warned him when life was getting too much. Too hard.

He’d always thought when he died, he’d finally be free of such heartache.

Losing Luc felt worse than anything else. The pain was stronger than any other he had felt. Oren knew he had been steadily falling for Luc since the second he had seen him. He knew deep down that he was offering him his battered, bruised, unbeating heart, hoping Luc would keep it. Hoping he’d finally let it rest after a lifetime of strain and suffering.

It didn’t look like Luc wanted that.

He didn’t want Oren.

He pushed himself away from Luc and got up from the bed again on shaky legs that felt more incorporeal than he’d ever felt since he’d died. He turned his back to Luc, finding Beast looking at him with sad eyes. He padded over to Oren, leaving small scorch marks on the floor, the flaming head warming Oren’s thigh when it brushed against him.

It made Oren want to cry.

“Oren…” He heard Luc calling, but before he could respond, Beast growled at Luc, placing himself between Oren and Luc. “I wasn’t done.”

“Weren’t you?” Oren asked, some incredulity creeping alongside his pain and sadness. “It sounded pretty final to me. I don’t really need much more than you saying you want to break up.”

“I didn’t say I want to break up,” Luc said, and Oren whipped around to glare at him.

“Oh really?” Oren snarked. “We’re gonna get stuck on semantics here, huh? You didn’t want to, but someone forced you to do it? You, the devil, the actual ruler of Hell, were roped into doing something you don’t want to do?”

“You’re closer to the truth than you think,” Luc said, mouth pressed into an unhappy line. “I’m not being roped into anything. I’m just doing what’s right… for you.”

Oren puffed up his thin chest and squared his narrow shoulders against Luc.

“You’re getting dangerously close to ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ territory, and I heard it so many times while I was alive. If I hear it now, I swear to whoever I have to, I’ll pitch you into one of those holes you have scattered around this place.”

He bristled at the small smile Luc gave him.

“You can’t really lift me, hon.”

“I’ll get Kassel to do it for me,” Oren said, knowing what he was doing. He needed to see something from Luc. Needed to know he cared at least a little bit. “He likes me.”

“Kassel isn’t allowed close to you,” Luc growled, eyes blazing hot and possessive. Oren wanted to latch on to every bit of it and hold it close because it was the best he was getting.

“He is now,” Oren said, pushing harder on Luc’s buttons. He hoped they’d break. “You’re dumping me.”

“I’m not dumping you, Oren.”

“YOU LITERALLY JUST DID!” Oren screeched, flapping his hands around to try and get his frustration across. “What am I missing here, Luc? You say one thing but mean another—”

“I was in Heaven this morning. I had a meeting with the Big Guy.” Luc cut him off, and Oren slammed his mouth shut. “It was about you.”

“Me?”

Luc nodded, grimacing. “Turns out, you being here wasn’t a mistake. You were sent here. Because of me.”

Oren stared at Luc, not a single word coming from his mouth making any sort of sense. “I don’t follow.”

“He admitted he felt like I’ve been lonely for a long time now, and when you died, your soul felt like one I’d like,” Luc said, not meeting Oren’s gaze. “He sent you here so I could meet you. Because he thought I’d like you.”

Oren stared.

And stared some more.

A single giggle bubbled up.

Then another one.

Then another, until he was laughing so hard he thought he might actually pee his pants. If he still did that sort of thing.

“Wait…” he wheezed, bracing his palm against his knee. “You’re saying God… the actual, honest-to-god God, played matchmaker for us?”

Luc nodded, scowling as only the devil could. It made the shadows in the room shift and it sent Oren into another fit of giggles.

“What is so funny?” Luc demanded. Steam was starting to rise from him now.

“No clue.” Oren shrugged through his laughter. “This entire situation is wild.”

“Oren…”

“I died, Luc!” Oren said, his laughter sounding more desperate than amused. “I spent my whole life waiting to die, and then I died, and I came here. By mistake or divine intervention, I came here, and I feel like I belong for the first time. I have friends here. The twins are fun in a murdery way, and they talk to me. Zorun and Kassel spend time with me when you’re busy. I’m enjoying helping around here. I have Beast. And I… I have you.”

He trailed off, understanding he was kind of taking his guts and spilling them everywhere. There was no going back after this. He couldn’t stuff them back in. He took his glasses off and ran a hand over his face and through his messy hair. All traces of laughter were gone, and all that was left was this overwhelming feeling in his chest.

“I fell for you,” he said, earnest and open. He walked over to Luc and placed his hands on his chest, raising his chin to maintain eye contact. “The moment I saw you, it felt right. You felt right. You still feel right to me. I thought you felt the same.”

“I do.” Luc said, lifting his hand to cover Oren’s where it lingered over where his heart would be were he human.

“Then I don’t understand, Luc.”

“You don’t belong in Hell, Oren.” Luc sighed. “You’re a good person. An innocent soul. G never should have messed with that and sent you here. This place… It’s dark and evil and not meant for someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

The puzzle pieces finally fell into place.

“What about someone who wants to be here?” Oren asked.

Luc frowned at the question. “What?”

Oren rolled his eyes. “Tell me if I’m getting this wrong. You’re dumping me because you think I should go to Heaven?”

“Yes, obviously,” Luc said.

“So it’s not because you’re bored with me or don’t want to be with me.”

“I already said it’s not about that.” Luc shook his head. “If it were up to me, you’d be staying here for all eternity.”

“Well I guess that settles it, then,” Oren said, tapping Luc on the chest twice before pushing himself away. “No more crazy talk.”

“Settles what?” Luc asked, jaw hanging open a little.

“This idea of me leaving,” Oren said matter-of-factly.

“Heaven is where you belong.”

“Heaven sounds boring.” He looked up at the ceiling and held his hands up. “No offense.”

“They can’t hear you,” Luc said.

Oren tilted his head. “Isn’t he the all-knowing?”

“Hardly.”

“Well, best to be sure,” Oren said, waving his hand. “I’m not going up there.”

“But—”

“Luc. It’s my choice. And let’s be honest, I’m not gonna fit in there. I was weird while I was alive. Most of those souls are people I wouldn’t have been friends with in real life. I fit here. I like it here.”

“You do?” Luc asked hopefully, stealing Oren’s heart all over again.

“I really do.” Oren bit his lip, dipping his lashes before looking straight at Luc. “I love you.”

He watched a billion different emotions rush over Luc’s face, until it settled on soft amazement at Oren’s words.

“I love you too,” Luc said, and Oren felt himself light up.

The confirmation settled that hopeful feeling that had been building in his chest since the moment he got here and got swept into a demonic whirlwind.

“I figured,” he said. “That’s why all this nonsense caught me off guard. You were actually going to send me away?”

“I wanted to do what’s right for you.” Luc shimmied off the bed, looking sheepish.

“What’s right for me is to be here, with you, and Beasty, and my friends,” Oren said, rolling his eyes. “Sleeping next to you is what’s right for me. Making sure you’re rested and happy is what’s right for me. Making sure this place runs as it should is what’s right for me.”

“This place ran fine…”

“Oh don’t even try that,” Oren scoffed. “It was a mess, and you and I and every demon under this roof knows that. You’d be lost without me.”

“Probably.”

“Certainly.”

Oren closed the distance between them and hopped up on his tiptoes to wrap his arms around Luc’s neck.

“I made your life so much better,” Oren said. “Just like you did mine. So there is no way I’m leaving. You’d mess up all my hard work, and I’d just sit in Heaven, wondering who’s doing the filing and just how wrong they’re doing it. That would be actual hell.”

“You’re literally the weirdest soul I’ve ever met,” Luc said matter-of-factly.

“Thank you.” Oren smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

He let go and started toward the door, but Luc gripped his upper arm and pulled him back.

“We were in the middle of something fun, though,” he said, his voice all husky, and while usually Oren would have melted at the sound of it, he was still feeling some kind of way about almost being broken up with.

“We were.” He pulled his arm away. “But then you tried to break up with me, and it ruined the mood.”

“I didn’t break up with you,” Luc said.

“You didn’t because I saved you from it. Left to your own devices, you would have, so I’m gonna need you to sit down and think about your actions while I go and teach Kassel how to file.”

“Kassel isn’t allowed—”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Oren reached up to pinch Luc’s lips together, trapping his forked tongue between them. “Kassel is allowed whatever I tell him he’s allowed.”

“But—” Luc mumbled.

“Sit,” Oren ordered, and Luc folded himself onto the edge of the bed. “Think.”

He let go of Luc’s mouth after he followed the order and turned to walk away, startling when something small landed on his shoulder. He jumped slightly in place, craning his neck only to come face-to-face with the smallest pixie-like creature.

It was about a foot tall and fragile looking. It had long, pale yellow hair, wide, dark gray eyes and transparent, gauzy wings fluttering behind it. It was chattering something at Oren in a language he didn’t understand, but it seemed cute, so he smiled at it, nodding along.

“Hi there,” he said when it paused to catch a breath, tiny chest heaving.

“Oren…” Luc called from behind him, voice wary.

“Hm?” Oren responded, lifting his hand to pet the little creature on the tiny hand wrapped around the edge of his bowtie. It released the bowtie and wrapped the frail fingers around Oren’s thumb. He gave it a small shake. “I’m Oren.”

“Don’t move,” Luc said urgently.

Oren frowned. “I’m literally just standing here. Also, if you think getting me another pet will get you out of trouble… it’s working. Look how cute!”

Two things happened the moment the word pet left his mouth.

First, an unholy screech filled the room around them, echoing like an earthquake and rattling Oren’s bones. Second, an alarm just outside their room flashed red, screaming in warning as a stampede of feet thundered in response.

The creature detached from his shoulder and tumbled forward, flailing around, trying to grip Oren’s clothes. Oren reached for the little creature to prevent it from falling to the ground. He cupped his palms behind its back and held it close to his chest.

“It’s all good, little one. Don’t be scared,” Oren cooed, petting the small back gently. “This will be over in no time.”

“Oren!” Luc said, approaching them with his hands outstretched, steps slow and calculated as if he was trying to get close to a feral animal. “She’s not scared. She’s doing this.”

“Doing what?” Oren asked, blinking.

“All of this,” Luc said, pointing toward the door and the mayhem behind it. “Oren, that’s Tana.”