Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lucifer felt tired.

This small little realization caught him off guard. It could be a mix of the quiet classical music that he was playing and the dull paperwork he was doing, but the fact that he found himself yawning frequently and blinking longer was surprising. Now, it could be that his brothers weren’t bothering him; the house was completely silent, his brothers, for once, not getting into trouble. The quiet house was very rare, something Lucifer has learned to try and cherish whenever it happened.

If he had to admit it, the quietness was making him quite drowsy.

It...wouldn’t be that bad if he took a break and slept, would it? No, he couldn’t do that. Lord Diavolo needed the paperwork to be done by nightfall, and he already fell past schedule enough the past few days from distractions created by his brothers. It wouldn’t do any good if he decided to take a break and sleep now. He’ll just catch up on his sleep once all the work is done for the day.

Even if Lucifer was blinking longer, having a fuzzy head from all of this drowsiness, and yawning every five seconds; he needed to get this work done. He’ll finish it, have dinner with his brothers, then retire for the night. He just needed to focus. That’s all he needed to do, just get down and start working.

Lucifer was jolted awake though when someone burst the door open. He immediately sat up, fixing his composure in seconds while he cursed quietly. Did he actually fall asleep? He was just thinking about how he was going to finish his work, and then he fell asleep? That’s never happened before–usually he’d have more self-control to keep himself awake and not let himself succumb to the drowsiness that clouded his mind.

“Lucifer~!” Asmodeus walked over to the desk that overflowed with paperwork. Sitting down on it, he gave a smile. 

Lucifer pushed him off of the desk, forcing him to stand. “What do you need, Asmo?” he asked, rubbing his eyes, trying his best to force himself to be awake.

“There’s a new brand of make-up being sold down at Majolish that I wanna try out,'' he explained. “And I know that I don’t have enough money to buy all of the things I’d want, so…” he clasped his hands together, and gave Lucifer a pleading look. “Could I please borrow your credit card? Just this one time?”

Lucifer stared at his little brother with sleepy eyes (he really hoped that he was hiding his drowsiness well enough). Asmo did seem to get a bit better at begging –hands clasped together, lip started to tremble just a bit, his eyes screaming to just agree –he was always the better one when it came to pleading and begging for things. But luckily, Lucifer always had a strong enough will to shoot him down if needed. 

And right now, Lucifer wanted to shoot him down. Why the hell would he give Asmo his credit card? That’s something that Mammon would ask for, now that he thought about it. It was odd that Asmo was asking for money.

But then again, Asmo wasn’t like Mammon. He wouldn’t bet it all off for a chance to win more. And besides, all that he was asking for really wasn’t all that much (yes, Asmo did spend quite a bit of money on beauty supplies, but when compared to how much Mammon spends and how much food is bought all the time mainly to feed Beel, it really wasn’t all that much).

Lucifer gave a tired sigh. He really needed to be working; the best option was to just let him have the card so that he’d stop bothering him. Reaching and grabbing his wallet, he took out the card, and held it out for Asmo, who gave an excited gasp when he saw it.

“Fine, just don’t spend all of it. And don’t give it to Mammon. If I see that you spent more than 5,000 Grimm on this card, there will be consequences.”

Asmo happily took the card. “Don’t worry! I promise that I’ll spend as little as possible on this card. Thank you Luci~!” 

Lucifer didn’t even take the time to correct Asmo for using that stupid nickname, he was too tired to. Instead, he just waved him off as he left the room. Lucifer gave a sigh, holding his head in his hands; he really was very tired, and he didn’t know why. His brain was screaming at him to just continue to work, to just power through it, but his body was so lethargic and begging for sleep that it was hard to keep fighting against it.

He gave a long yawn, and rested his head on his hands. His blinks were getting longer, until at some point he just kept them close. And with Lucifer finally losing conscientiousness, the only sounds that could be heard in his study was classical music and his light snores that slowly filled the air.

~~~

Mammon felt a pain shoot through his stomach.

He held his stomach as he walked down the streets of Devildom; apparently gambling and spending time being haggled and harassed by witches takes a lot out of you. The witch (Merinda? Meriana? Mammon couldn’t remember her name) got quite angry that he didn’t pay her back for almost a whole century (which, in his defense, he was trying to get enough winnings to pay her back. He just happened to lose all of it). She did her usual thing, cursing at him and all that, yadda yadda, cursing at his brothers –which like, not cool, they did nothing to her –but he really didn’t pay all that much attention to her; her wart on the side of her nose was really distracting (she should probably get that checked out to be honest). Besides, he needed to get back home. He was on cooking duty for the day, and he should probably start prepping for that. And also to get food into his system, because damn was he starving.

Mammon realized just how late it was. It was already well past four in the afternoon –no wonder why he was so fucking hungry, last time he ate was seven hours ago…He completely forgot about lunch. No worries, he was close to the House of Lamentation, and he could quickly find something to eat.

When Mammon finally arrived at the House, he felt like he could eat a horse; his stomach was killing him, making loud gurgling noises every few minutes, begging for food. At least he was finally here, though. As he entered the House, Asmo walked past him with a small pep to his step, clearly excited or something for whatever he's going to do. Not that Mammon really cares; his little brother was probably just going down to Majolish or something. Wasn’t there a new line of make-up being sold down there?

He couldn't focus on that. Right now, he just needed something to eat before he starved to death.

He simply went for a wave goodbye at Asmo, who gave one in return as he hurried off. Mammon headed for the kitchen; a small part of him worried that Beel might've already eaten everything in the cabinets and fridge, but once he got there and opened the fridge, he felt a large smile grow on his face. There was still plenty of food left.

He grabbed the closest thing, that being a leftover sandwich from Hell's Kitchen, and started to devour it. He hoped that Beel’s name wasn’t on it, because in record time Mammon finished the sandwich. With a content sigh, happy that he now ate some food, his mind wandered back to that witch. Maybe he should pay her back...curses usually don’t end well (he’s learned from past experiences), so maybe he should pay her back before she does anything bad to him. She obviously hasn’t yet, seeing that he felt completely fine, so he should probably do it quickly before she actually tried to do something. 

Maybe he could take some of Levi’s things to sell...he had gone off to the human world earlier that day, so maybe if he was still out, Mammon could take a few valuable things. If not he supposed he could always take a few things from Asmo –he knew that he at least would be gone for a bit. 

As Mammon walked through the halls towards Asmo’s room, he paused in front of Levi’s. He could hear loud voices coming from the room. Well, at least that answers his question. Even though he knew he couldn’t really steal anything from Levi, he was still curious about what was happening inside.

(He also realized that for the first time, he didn’t really feel the urge to steal something. No gut feeling, nothing deep in his bones, nothing of the sort. Sure, he was thinking about stealing from Asmo and Levi, but he didn’t feel the urge to. Mammon didn’t put much thought into it, though. He was sure that it was fine.)

He poked his head inside the room to see what was happening. Levi was back home, and seemed to be playing some sort of video game with Satan, Belphie, and Beel. 

“Hey, watcha playin’ there?” he asked, walking into the dark room.

“Oh, hey Mammon,” Levi greeted, eyes glued to the screen. “Picked up a new human game for all of us to play. It lets a total of eight players play together, so I  was thinking maybe we could all play it for game night.” 

“Eh? What game is it?”

“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” he answered, trying his hardest to focus both on Mammon and on the match. “It just came out today, and I went to the human world as early as I could to make sure I got a copy.” He looked very proud of himself as he added, “I was able to get one of the last copies at the store!” Mammon hummed as he watched the screen. Levi then let out a loud whoop as the match finished, the game declaring him as the winner.

“He’s cheating,” Beel muttered, putting down the controller. “Picking Kirby every single round is unfair.”

“You’re just jealous over how amazing I am,” Levi said with a smirk. It looked odd in Mammon’s opinion –he’s never seen Levi with a satisfied and proud smirk on his face. Levi then let out a shriek when a controller was thrown at him. “S-Satan!”

“What? I didn’t throw it,” Satan said. “Actually, I’m not that mad at all. Belphie was the one who threw the controller.”

Levi looked over to Belphie, who seemed to be quietly seething. He then stood up abruptly, startling Mammon.

“I’m going to my room to take a nap,” he announced, anger clear in his voice, and started to walk out. “Tell me when dinner’s done.” When he left, slamming the door behind him, the room was silent.

“Seems like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,” Mammon commented. Beel frowned and got up as well.

“I’ve never seen him that angry before,” he said. “I’ll go check on him and see what’s wrong.” Once Beel had left the room, Satan put down his controller.

“I suppose that’s my cue to leave as well.” 

“What? C’mon! One more round?” Levi asked. Satan looked over to his brother, making direct eye contact with him.

“Levi, I am done playing your games. I’m going to go and read now,” he said. Levi stared back for a few moments, and then nodded.

“Alright then, I guess. Go do your normie stuff…” Satan gave a smile as he got up and left the room, leaving only Mammon and Levi.

“Wow, surprised you didn’t fight ‘im more,” Mammon said. It was odd for his younger brother to just let someone leave, especially if he was in a good mood. He usually puts up a bigger fight.

Levi gave a shrug. “If he wanted to leave, then he wanted to leave,” he said. He started to disconnect all the other controllers. “Not much I could do about that.”

Mammon gave a hum at that. “Well, if ya want, I could play a round.” He gave a small smirk. “I am pretty good at these sorta games!”

Levi rolled his eyes at that, and started up a new round. “Don’t you have cooking duty today? You should probably start that before Lucifer gets angry.”

Fuck, Levi was right. Lucifer would be on his case if dinner was late. That throws out his plan to steal some of Asmo’s stuff for cash. Besides, his stomach was already aching at the thought of dinner.

“Yeah, alright,” he said. “But after dinner I’m challenging ya to a match!” Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes at that.

“As if you could beat me,” he said, and put all of his focus onto the game. Although Mammon felt the urge to argue against his younger brother, he decided against it –he doubted that Levi would even answer back anyway, he was way too focused on the match that he was currently on.

Mammon silently left the room and started to head down to the kitchen. His stomach growled once again, reminding him that he needed to eat some food. He also needed to start dinner if he didn’t want it to be late, too. Having a small snack while he made dinner wouldn’t hurt, right?

~~~

Leviathan felt pride blooming through his chest.

He gave a huge smile as he continued through the game’s World of Light mode. He was fucking demolishing this game and he was having a great time doing it, too. 

“Isn’t this great, Henry?” he asked. “First I completely destroyed my brothers in battle, and this story is amazing! Well, maybe not as good as Brawl’s –Subspace Emissary my beloved –but this is still so good!!” He gave an excited squeal as he unlocked a new character, and excitedly continued to play. No brothers who were making fun of him, no outside things to distract him from the things that make him happy; just him and playing a video game, away from having to deal with life and everything that came with it. Hell, even if his own brain was leaving him alone for now, which was why he was in an extremely good mood. No envious thoughts, no jealousy over how others were enjoying life while he was an annoying, gross, disgusting otaku-

Right now, Levi could say that he was actually feeling proud of himself. Because he just won another match, and he was having the fucking time of his life right now.

He can’t remember the last time he was this happy. It was probably before he fell. Before he had to deal with all this Envy bullshit (he definitely got the short end of the stick when it came to being Avatars of Sins). But right now? He was enjoying himself and having fun, and that was all that mattered.

He let out another cheer as he won another match. How amazing was this? 

And yeah, maybe it was a bit weird that Levi wasn't feeling any sort of envy or jealousy right now. Never, ever since he first arrived at Devildom, has he not felt some sort of envy. At the very least it would always be in the back of his mind, no matter how much he tried to ignore it and just focus on anime or video games. But right now, it was almost like he was free from his sin, finally. He didn’t feel a single ounce of envy at all, and honestly he couldn’t be happier. If he got this one small moment where he didn’t have to worry about it, then he was going to take advantage of it and just be happy.

His brothers weren’t even that annoying. Well, sure, it was a bit annoying that they didn’t really pose any sort of challenge when it came to Smash Bros. (those complete normies had no idea what they were doing), but it was still fun. And his brain didn’t even remind him of how normal they were and how much of a weirdo he was, which was nice. Different, but not unwanted.

Levi gave another huge smile when the game announced that he won another round. Why the hell should he care why he isn’t feeling envious? Right now, all he should care about is how happy he was.

~~~

Satan felt...odd.

He wasn’t sure how to describe it. It first started up while he was playing that dumb game of Levi’s. It was ignorable at first–his skin feeling just slightly itchy, shedding off his jacket to deal with the random wave of heat that he felt–and he was able to deal with it. But after a bit of time, he was slowly starting to get unbearable. He felt...not itchy per say, but definitely weird. His skin felt warm, but he knew that it was just him; no one else seemed as warm as he was, and besides, Levi tended to keep his room on the colder side (the weirdo seemed to like being in the cold). 

Maybe he was just sick. He didn’t really have any other symptoms, but that was really all he could think of that could explain this. But then again, he didn’t know any sort of illness that could cause something like this.

Satan gave a heavy sigh as he tried to focus on his book. He was sure if he just ignored it, it would be better. Besides, all it was was a bit of a weird, itchy-like feeling and feeling warmer than usual. It wasn’t like he was dying or anything. It was going to be fine, and if the symptoms worsened, then he would go to a doctor or something. Simple as that, no need to worry about a thing.

That didn’t mean that these symptoms weren’t getting on his nerves, because by the time ten minutes had passed, he felt anger and annoyance slowly seep into him. The heat was getting to him, and having this weird, unsatisfied itch was bothering him to no end. 

Maybe he should go to Lucifer with this. Satan scoffed the second that idea entered his mind. What, and let Lucifer win? Show him weakness? Yeah right. He was sure he would be made fun of by him and the others too for complaining about such small things.

By now he had taken off his green sweater as well, leaving him in his gradient t-shirt, though he still felt fucking hot. And no matter how much he tried to distract himself, even picking up multiple books and reading them that he had interested him, he still focused on the weird feelings and chills that he was getting.

The chills made him feel hot and cold at the same time–such a weird feeling it was, but a feeling nonetheless. He gave a huff of annoyance, trying to think of what he could do to take his mind off of things. He didn’t want to play more of that video game with Levi–his older brother was acting a bit odd, being louder and more confident than usual, and Satan wasn’t a fan of it (well, not the being more confident part, Satan was actually quite pleased to see Levi be more happy and confident with himself. It was the loud, almost egotistical talk that was pushing his patience). 

He supposed he could crash Asmo’s little thing and join up with him at Majolish; his brother had mentioned that he was going down there, plus he was sure that Asmo wouldn’t mind, in fact he would probably be happy to go out shopping with his brother. He was sure that Asmo, probably wanting to drag him to other places to buy even more things, could keep his mind occupied.  

He checked the time. If dinner was to be served on schedule (which it wouldn’t, knowing that Mammon started a bit late), he could probably get down there and spend maybe an hour or so with Asmo. Giving a smile to himself, he made sure to grab his things before heading out the door.

Guess it was time to go shopping.

~~~

Asmodeus felt excited for the new products at Majolish.

Already at the entrance were ads of the new branding of makeup that they were selling, and where to find them. He gave a smile, and immediately went straight to where he needed to be. A restlessness shot through him, as he felt eager to buy it all. He started picking out different things and adding them to his basket; mascara, blush, toner, lipstick, and many different colors for nail polish –basically everything that he would need from this new line.

He gave a happy hum when he finished grabbing everything. He was happy to see that he would be able to afford everything, and with his own money combined with Lucifer’s, it wouldn’t go over five thousand on his older brother’s account. 

He paused before he left the aisle, though. He eyed the other products he didn’t grab, the colors that he knew he would never use. The extra colors of nail polish that he didn’t add to his basket, the different shades of toner that didn’t match his skin tone so he didn’t even bother with them, the shades of lipstick that he knew wouldn’t really look good on him (oh who was he kidding? He looked good in everything no matter what shade it was). He knew he probably shouldn’t buy anymore if he wanted to stay under 5,000 on Lucifer’s card. But on the other hand, an urge deep within him was begging to buy them. He deserved to treat himself well, so why not get extra? Why not get more? He could have them all to himself.

Besides, if he did go over budget, he could always just repay the debt by doing some extra chores around the House. And it wasn’t like he was betting it all away like a certain scumbag would do. So, with a smile, he grabbed everything else in the aisle. One of everything that he could find, and added it to his basket. It would be fine, Asmo was sure of it. He wanted it all, so why not buy them?

He gave a hum once he was happy enough. Just as he left the aisle so he could move on onto the hair products, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

“Asmo!”

He looked over to where the voice was coming from. Asmo was a bit surprised to see Satan, who definitely wouldn’t have come unless Asmo dragged him down here. It was also a bit odd to see his brother without his jacket on –only wearing his sweater and undershirt was a strange sight, he almost always wore three layers unless it was too hot to do so in the summer.

Satan gave him a smile when he caught up to where Asmo was. “Hello Asmo.”

“Satan! What a pleasant surprise,” he said with a smile. “What brings you down to Majolish? Oh! Did you wanna get some new clothes? Because I’ve been wanting so badly to go out shopping with someone!”

Before Satan could even answer, Asmo was already dragging him down to the clothing section. He excitedly rambled on about the new products that he was just going to buy, and the clothing he’d want to try on. He was a bit surprised that Satan never added his own comments, but he supposed that Satan just had something on his mind. Why else would he come down to Majolish, anyway? Other than to spend time with his favorite brother, he probably just wanted a distraction from whatever it was that was bothering him.

The two spent their time going around, looking through clothes, and trying them on. Well, it was mainly Asmo who was doing this, but that was to be expected. Satan still was quiet, but he seemed to be at least enjoying himself a bit. He didn’t end up buying anything, which was fine. Whatever Satan was thinking about, it must’ve been heavy enough for him not to participate in the conversation. Which was fine, because Asmo could carry the conversation himself.

“...and when I saw that the color was called ‘Ruri-chan Pink,’ I just knew that I had to get it for Levi!” 

“Mhm.”

Asmo gave a smile to the mirror, and walked out of the changing room. “And I’m glad that I did give it to him! He was so happy that he got it, he immediately wanted to try it on! What do you think of this?”

Satan stared at the outfit for a few minutes. “I don’t really think the blue and the pink go together for the top.”

Asmo gave a thoughtful hum. “Yes, I have to say that I agree, but…” he rubbed the ends of the top in between his fingers, thinking. “It wouldn’t hurt to buy it anyways, right? I’ll buy it!”

Satan eyed the bag that was full of clothes that Asmo was already set on buying. “Don’t you have enough, though?” he asked. “You already have quite a bit of clothing that you’re going to buy, I think it’s more than enough.”

Asmo gave a short huff. But, before he could argue with his brother, his phone buzzed. Asmo quickly went over to check on it; a message from Mammon telling him to hurry up, that dinner would be done in a few minutes. He gave a sad sigh. “I suppose we should head back,” he said.

“Finally,” Satan said, rubbing his arms. “I think you picked out enough things to buy anyway. Let’s just hurry and get back home.

Asmo put the rest of the clothes he hadn’t tried back (while pouting the whole time), and went to the front to ring it all up. He froze when he saw the total though. He could afford it, yes, but...it would go over Lucifer’s 5 grand limit on his card. And not buy a few hundred or even a thousand either, not by an amount of which he could just work off with extra chores; it was just a bit more than double of what Lucifer told him he could spend on that card.

Lucifer would forgive him, right? He would probably ground him, yeah, but he would forgive him after a while. He wanted these things, so why couldn’t he have them?

After little debate, Asmo swiped the card happily, paying it all on Lucifer’s card. If he was just going to use his brother’s money, then why waste his own? As long as he owns it all, he’ll be happy.

Asmo paused as he was grabbing the bags. Huh. He never would’ve imagined himself thinking something like that –that was something Mammon would probably say. Shaking it off, he continued the motion of grabbing the bags.

“C’mon, let’s hurry back home,” he said, and gave a smile. “I don’t wanna get in trouble with Lucifer for being late.”

~~~

Beel wasn't sure what he was feeling, to be honest.

Everything was normal and fine during the morning and afternoon. He, Belphie, Satan, were just playing a new video game that Levi had bought, and they were all having a good time, too. Beel was certainly enjoying himself, always happy to spend time with his brothers. It was a bit odd though, with how self-praising Levi was acting, completely different from how self-deprecating he usually is, but Beel simply chalked that up to Levi being happy and excited about the game. It was also even more odd that Satan didn’t get angry over losing; he seemed so nonchalant about it all, even seeming to be focusing on something else.

Though, out of everyone, Belphie was acting the most different. The way his little brother actually got so angry over losing –him just caring about the game in general was out of character for him. Even right now, as he laid on his bed with his head stuffed into his cow-patterned pillow, he wasn’t sleeping. He wasn’t giving off the light snoring that he always did when he was sleeping, and didn't seem to be comfortable at all. It made Beel frown just a bit, very worried about his little brother.

“...Belphie?” Beel said, sitting up from his own bed to face Belphie, who pulled a blanket over his head. “Are you okay?”

“Just fucking peachy, Beel,” Belphie answered  from underneath the covers. “Can you leave me alone now? I’m trying to sleep.”

“Sorry.” Beel was stunned for a few moments. Sure, Belphie had his moments where his anger got the best of him, but it was rare for him to take his anger out on Beel, even rarer to struggle with sleeping. Not sure what to do, he simply laid down in his own bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“...I’m sorry,” Belphie said, taking the cover off and sitting up. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Beel said. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

His brother shook his head, messing a bit with his hair in his face. “Not really,” he answered. “But...can I come over there? And try to sleep with you?”

While it wasn’t totally an odd request, it still made Beel pause. “Sure,” he answered, “of course.”

Belphie quietly left his own bed, and walked towards Beel’s. Belphie was then in Beel’s bed in a matter of seconds, placing his head on his twin’s chest to use as a pillow. Beel started to get comfortable like this, the feeling of his brother with him. Just as he started to get sleepy from this comfort, Belphie spoke up again.

“Beel,” he started, speaking slowly as if he was still thinking about what he wanted to say. “I’m...not really sleepy. I don’t think I can take a nap right now.” Well that caught Beel’s attention.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “You’re always sleepy.”

“Well I’m not right now,” Belphie answered with a huff. “I haven’t been since we started playing Levi’s stupid game.”

“What do you think might’ve caused this to happen?”

“I don’t know! All I know is that I haven’t felt sleepy in a while now, and it feels weird.” Beel gave a sympathetic hum, and debated his options. He knew that Belphie would hate the idea, but…

“Should we tell Lucifer?”

“What? No,” Belphie answered almost immediately. “We’re not going to him for our problems. It’s probably nothing; after dinner time I’ll be back to normal.”

“And if you aren’t?” 

“I said it’ll be fine.” Well, that seemed to be the end of that conversation. Both twins went silent after that, and Beel started to think.

“You know,” he said after a while of silence. He would’ve thought that Belphie was asleep if he wasn’t moving around, trying to get comfortable every few minutes. “I haven't felt hungry for a bit of time now.”

“Eh?” Belphie raised to sit up. “But you’re always hungry.”

“I know. I didn’t even realize it until now, but I haven’t felt hungry ever since we started playing that game with Levi.”

“Maybe Levi’s dumb game has something to do with this,” Belphie grumbled. “Whatever. I guess if it continues on by tomorrow, then maybe we can tell Lucifer. But I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you think it is.”

Beel frowned, but said nothing else. How could Belphie be so calm about this? Sure, it was quite nice to not feel hungry for once –to feel full, to feel satisfied, but there was something irking Beel. Almost as if that while he was satisfied when it came to food and hunger, there was something else that left him unsatisfied. Maybe Belphie didn’t feel it, but Beel certainly did, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. Honestly, he could say that he was almost jealous over how calm Belphie was over all of this, and-

Beel’s thought process stopped, because what? Jealousy? That wasn’t something that he felt, he was always content with his life (well, as content as one can get while being the Avatar of Gluttony). If Belphie wasn’t as worried as he was, then it’s fine, there’s no reason for Beel to be weirdly envious over how he was the one to worry about his brother and how Belphie always just never seemed to have a care in the world. Why would he be jealous? It wasn’t his business if his brother worried as much as he did or not –that was his job as being an older brother for him anyway, to worry about him.

Beel shook the thoughts out of his head. It was nothing to worry about, it was just a small feeling, it was fine. Right now it didn’t matter –he could always tell Lucifer about it when they told him about not being hungry and Belphie not being sleepy. For now though, he just had to wait for dinner. A yawn escaped his mouth, and Beel suddenly realized how sleepy he was. Belphie going back down to use his chest as a pillow probably wasn’t helping his drowsiness.

“Tired?” the younger twin asked. Beel gave a small nod. “Well, congrats on that. I’m still wide-awake.”

“You don’t mind if I take a nap, do you?”

“Tch, course not. Go right ahead, I won’t stop you.” Beel gave a slow nod as he let sleep take over him more and more.

He hoped that this whole thing was nothing to worry about in the end.

~~~

Belphie felt furious.

What made him angry was that he didn't know why he was angry. It wasn't like him to get so angry over things, like losing at a stupid game to Levi. Hell, it made sense if he lost. He doesn't play video games that much, definitely not as much as Levi does, and plus he's never really cared too much about losing in the past.

So why was it making him so angry now? 

Belphie let out a huff of annoyance as he shifted, trying to get comfortable on his bed. Damn it, he's so annoyed by the whole thing that he can't even sleep. And he always sleeps! No matter what, no matter the circumstances, Belphie is always tired. That's just how the way things were. The human sky is blue, Diavolo is the prince, Lucifer is his lap dog, and Belphegor is tired. But right now? He didn't feel an ounce of sleepiness in his body. He wasn't drowsy, he wasn't seconds away to succumbing into a deep sleep; he was very wide-awake.

He gave a loud groan as he buried his head into his pillow. Why the hell couldn’t he just sleep? Why is it that all of the sudden he didn’t even feel the lightest bit of drowsiness? It wasn’t right. There was something wrong, and while Belphie wasn’t completely sure what it was, he just knew that something was awry. 

“...Belphie?” Beel’s voice said hesitantly. Belphie kept himself buried under his covers. “Are you okay?”

A pang of annoyance shot through him. “Just fucky peachy, Beel,” he answered. “Can you leave me alone now? I’m trying to sleep.” 

“Sorry.” The room was quiet for a few moments, and Belphie slowly started to feel bad for snapping at his twin like that. He kept himself under the covers for a bit of time, before he gave a soft sigh and sat up, taking the blankets off. 

“...I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn't have yelled at you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Beel said. It didn’t calm Belphie’s bit of guilt that was lodged in his chest. “Do you wanna talk about it?

He knew his brother was only trying to help –that’s all he ever did, Beel never had ulterior motives –but Belphie didn’t want to worry his brother more than needed. Besides, all that he couldn’t do was sleep, and it wasn’t like it was that big of a deal, right?

He started to play with his hair a bit. “Not really,” he answered, then thought about it some more. “But...can I come over there? And try to sleep with you?”

Beel seemed to have paused for a moment. “Sure,” he said, and Belphie started to move out of his bed to join his brother. Maybe using him as a pillow could help? It’s always worked in the past; even back in the Celestial Realm, it would only take a few minutes at most for both of them to fall asleep if they slept together. It was just always more comfortable that way for Belphie.

(Belphegor also remembers a time when Lilith would join them, exclaiming how her brothers were having a “cuddle pile” without her and then immediately join them to sleep. While those memories once brought sorrow and small bits of anger to Belphie, for some reason now it only brought an unstoppable fury to him.)

Belphie climbed onto Beel’s bed, and placed his head on his brother’s chest to use as a pillow. He tried his best to get comfortable, to try to see if he would get sleepy, but to no avail. He didn’t understand –why the hell couldn’t he sleep? For the first time he’d arrived at Devildom, he actually felt refreshed, felt wide awake and ready to start his day. Which, ew, no way was he actually going to get up and do things, but his body felt like it didn’t need anymore rest. It was a strange feeling, and Belphie hated it. 

But now matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get even a bit sleepy. It was almost a bit concerning. “Beel,” he started slowly, “I’m...not really sleepy. I don’t think I can take a nap right now.”  He could feel his brother still in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Beel asked. “You’re always sleepy.”

“Well I’m not right now,” Belphie answered with a huff. He could feel himself start to get more and more annoyed. “I haven’t been since we started playing Levi’s stupid game.”

“What do you think might’ve caused this to happen?”

“I don’t know! All I know is that I haven’t felt sleepy in a while now, and it feels weird.” Beel gave a sympathetic hum, and debated his options. He knew that Belphie would hate the idea, but…

“Should we tell Lucifer?”

Belphie could feel his anger rise just from hearing the eldest’s name. "What? No,” Belphie answered almost immediately. “We’re not going to him for our problems. It’s probably nothing; after dinner time I’ll be back to normal.”

“And if you aren’t?” Jeez, did Beel ever stop with the questions?

“I said it’ll be fine,” Belphie said, ending the conversation, Beel went quiet after that, and Belphie was left to his own thoughts.

It was a bit...odd over how angry he got just even the mention of Lucifer’s name. Sure, he hated his brother, and liked to play tricks on him with Satan, but he never felt rage from just hearing his name. He wasn’t even in the room, and yet now he feels an unexplainable rage towards him.

After a bit of time, Beel finally spoke up. “You know,” he said, “I haven't felt hungry for a bit of time now.”

That caught Belphie off guard. He sat up after hearing that. “Eh? But you’re always hungry.”

“I know. I didn’t even realize it until now, but I haven’t felt hungry ever since we started playing that game with Levi.”

Belphie gave an annoyed huff and grumbled, “maybe Levi’s dumb game has something to do with this.” He shook his head at the thought and placed it back onto Beel’s chest. “Whatever. I guess if it continues on by tomorrow, then maybe we can tell Lucifer. But I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you think it is.” Beel stayed quiet, thinking to himself. He stayed like that for a few moments, and then gave a long yawn. Belphie felt the tiniest bit of jealousy at the thought of his brother being sleepy and not him.

“Tired?” the younger twin asked. Beel gave a small nod. “Well, congrats on that. I’m still wide-awake.”

“You don’t mind if I take a nap, do you?” Beel asked, as if Belphie would care or not if he took a nap.

“Tch, course not. Go right ahead, I won’t stop you.” Beel gave a slow nod, and closed his eyes. Soon after, Belphie was left alone, the only one to be awake now.

He really hoped things would go back to normal soon, because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this.

~~~

When Mammon had announced it was dinner time, Levi was very surprised to see he was the first one down. The only one there at the table was Mammon, who was finishing up setting the table. When Mammon saw him, his eyes lit up.

“Levi! Get over here, I need ta show ya somethin’,” he said.

“What is it, Mammon?” he asked. “I thought dinner was ready.”

“Yeah yeah, it is, but I really need ta show ya this, get over here.” Levi rolled his eyes, but complied. When he got to Mammon’s side, his older brother all but shoved his phone into his face. “Take a look at this!”

Grabbing the phone for himself, Levi looked down at what Mammon wanted him to see. It was a picture of Lucifer, who seemed to be passed out on his desk, papers everywhere, with Mammon in the frame, smiling and pointing at the asleep demon.

“OMG.” Levi stared at the picture for a few more seconds. “Is this real?”

“Of course it’s real!” Mammon said. “I went up there ta tell him that dinner was done, and I found him asleep, snorin’ like a bear!”

“Did you wake him up?”

“Are you kiddin’? Why would I do somethin’ suicidal like that? He’d kill me if I woke him up!”

“Well someone has to,” Levi said. “He’ll kill all of us if he realizes no one went to get him for dinner. And I’m pretty sure losing one brother is better than all of us.”

“Well get someone else ta do it, because I sure ain’t!”

“Fine. Where’re the others, anyway? Maybe we can get Beel to do it if I let him have my spicy newt chips.”

“Beel ‘n Belphie were up in their room –they were takin’ a nap or somethin’, they’ll be down in a bit,” Mammon said. “And I think Satan might’ve gone with Asmo to Majolish, so they’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“That’s if Asmo actually leaves,” Levi grumbled. “Fine, looks like I’ll have to bribe Beel with some of my chips.”

“Whatever works,” Mammon said. He then gave a smile when he heard footsteps on the stairs. “And look! It’s the demon of the hour!”

“What the hell are you two talking about this time?” Belphie grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he ascended down the stairs with his twin.

“We need Beel to wake up Lucifer for us,” Levi explained.

“Yeah, and Levi’s willin’ ta give him his whole collection of spicy newt chips for him to do it for us!”

“Yeah, I–wait, what!? Mammon, that is not what I agreed to!-”

“Quit complainin’, just be thankful you don’t have to wake up sleepin’ beauty, ‘kay?”

“But it’s not fair! They’re my things, I shouldn’t have to give them all up! ” 

“What? Lucifer is asleep?” Belphie asked, interrupting the older demons’ fight. A smile appeared on his face. “Actually, I think I’ll be the one to wake him up. So don’t worry, you don’t have to give up all of your chips, Levi.”

“Aw, I was looking forward to those…”

“I know Beel. Maybe I can buy you some tomorrow. But first,” Belphie started to head back up with a mischievous grin. “I’ll go wake up poor ol’ Luci.”

The three demons watched as the youngest went back up, and disappeared upstairs, presumably to wake up the oldest.

“I suddenly have a bad feeling about this…” Levi said.

“Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to let Belph wake ‘im up,” Mammon agreed. “Oh well! As long as I don’t get in trouble, I don’t see the harm!”

“We’re back~!” The conversation was interrupted by Asmo’s announcement from the front door. “We ended up buying a lot of things, so let me put them away before we start eating.”

“When he says ‘we’, he really just means him,” Satan said. And indeed, Asmo was the only one carrying bags; four, almost comically large, bags that had Majolish’s logo were in the fifth born’s hands. He stuck his tongue out playfully at Satan.

“Well maybe if you decided to try out some new outfits, you could've bought something too,” he said. Before Satan could say a retort, there was a loud, sudden crash upstairs, causing them to all jump. “W-what was that?” Asmo asked.

“Ah, just Belphie trying to wake up Lucifer,'' Levi explained, fiddling with his headphones. “Dumb normie can’t just do things the easy way, can he? Just has to go above and beyond when it comes to pranking Lucifer.”

Satan smiled. “Oh, Lucifer’s asleep? If I had known we would have arrived earlier.”

“Well, the important thing is that I won’t be the one hangin’ from the ceiling!” Mammon said with a great grin.

“Well, as you guys anger Lucifer, I’ll be up in my room,” Asmo said. “Satan, could you be a dear and help me bring my stuff up?”

“No, I think I’ll stay here.”

“Aw! C’mon, please?” Satan sighed as Asmo gave him the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster. Meeting his eyes, Satan stared at him for a few seconds.

“I said no, Asmo. Now leave me alone,” he stated. Asmo gave a pout, but did as he asked, and left to head upstairs by himself, giving quiet grumbles as he did so.

“Wow,” Levi said, stunned by what just happened. “No normies could ever ignore Asmo’s begs, not even Lucifer. How’d you get him to back down so easily?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t care all that much,” Satan said. “Now if you excuse me, I have to prank a certain sleeping demon right now.”

Just after he said that, Belphie came rushing down the stairs. Levi’s never seen his youngest brother move that fast, nor speak as loud as he did when he shouted, “He isn’t waking up!”

“Huh? Whaddya mean? He always wakes up,” Mammon said.

“Maybe being sleep-deprived has finally caught up to him,” Levi guessed.

“So does that mean he’ll be incapacitated for a while? Because I have a few prank ideas that I would like to try out.”

“What? No! Jeez, why do I have to be the voice of reason with y’all?” Mammon said, completely ignoring the glares he got from that statement. “It’s dinner time, so we’re gonna eat dinner, so we have ta wake ‘im up. Even if I, the Great Mammon, have to do it myself.”

“You’re only saying that because you got what you wanted out of him; a picture to sell online to earn a few thousand Grimm to pay off just a bit of your crippling debt,” Belphie said.

“Well, as the oldest one here, I say that we go and eat. I’m sure that Beel would agree with me, right Beel?”

“Mhm.”

“Then it’s settled then! I’ll go an’ wake him up. Belph, what’d you try so far to wake him up?”

“What haven’t I tried?” he said with a huff. “I just about destroyed his room to make as much noise as possible, but he didn’t even stir.”

“Hmm, then we’ll need the big guns for this. Levi, you’re comin’ with me.”

“W-what? No way! I’m not helping you with your dumb plans to help wake Lucifer up! I’m better than that, and I know that we’ll just get the ones in trouble! And I’m not letting him take Ruri-chan away from me again…”

“Aw, c’mon Levs! I’ll even let ya use my money to buy whatever dumb anime thing is on sale!”

“I’m not helping!”

All the brothers watched as Levi continued to glare at Mammon. Levi hardened his glare while Mammon, and Mammon stayed stony-faced. The other brothers who were still there stayed still, watching the two have a silent fight, and waited to see who would win. Would it be Mammon’s annoying stubbornness, or Levi’s unyielding whininess? One thing Levi was sure of though, was that he was not going to back down. He was going to win this.

~~~

In the end, Levi helped Mammon wake Lucifer up. It turned out all they needed to do was put Levi’s headphones on him and play some annoying anime openings on max volume (“Hey! My anime ops are not annoying!”). Lucifer gave the two a dark glare that sent chills down both of their spines, but after being told that he slept in and that dinner had been done for a while now, he didn’t speak about any sort of punishment for the two...for now, that is.

And now all the seven of them sat at the table, all quietly eating. The only sounds that were being emitted were the clinks of forks against the plates, and Mammon’s loud chewing noises.

“Mammon,” Lucifer growled. “Close your mouth when you chew. I can’t believe I have to remind you of that.”

“‘M sorry,” Mammon said, leaving it at that. At least he answered with no food in his mouth.

“Oh! Lucifer!” Levi started, suddenly looking excited. “I meant to ask! I know it’s kinda early since it won’t be for a while, but would it be alright if I went to the TSL Con? This year they’re holding it in-”

“No.”

“H-huh? What do you mean no!?”

“Remember last time you went?”

“Yeah, you said it was the worst convention you ever went to,” Asmo added.

“Nononono! Yes but no! It’ll be different this year, I swear!”

Belphie gave a loud sigh. “Just hearing you guys argue is making me exhausted.”

“Excuse me? We’re discussing something important here!” Levi said.

“No, you’re really not,” Belphie said with a shake of his head. “Who cares about some dumb convention anyways?”

Levi sputtered at that. “I do! It’s not some dumb convention either, but it’s not like you normies would understand. I guess my taste is just better than everyone else's, because clearly no one understands how important this is.”

“Did he just say that something from him is better than other people?” Satan asked, clearly surprised.

“I think he just did,” Belphie confirmed. Asmo watched with clear interest in his eyes, eyebrows furrowed as he listened. “Well that’s not something you hear everyday.”

Levi looked surprised at that, which quickly turned into anger. “What, just because I’m some shut-in otaku, I can’t be proud of myself?”

“No, you just never are.” 

Levi glared at Belphie. “Screw you! I’m allowed to be proud of myself! I have plenty of things to be proud of!”

“Oh really? Like what?”

“Belphie…”

“Hush Beel, I’m interested,” Belphie said with a smile. “Go on Levi, what’re you proud of?”

Levi, who seemed almost surprised to be put on the spot but not willing to back down, clenched his teeth. “I–I’m proud of many things! I’m the general of Hell’s Navy, first of all! And I do a pretty damn good job, too! Just ask Lucifer.” The brothers all looked over to the eldest to see if he could verify. None of them expected to find Lucifer dozing off, resting his head in one of his hands. Mammon, who sat the closest to Lucifer, put down his fork and leaned over, poking Lucifer a bit.

“Hey, Lucifer. You awake?” Lucifer didn’t answer. No, instead, his hand slipped, causing his head to then fall directly into his food.

The room suddenly went dead silent.

No one said a word. Everyone stared at the scene, all with different reactions. Beel stared in surprise, his fork that he held falling and clattering against his plate loudly. Levi had his mouth agape, Asmo similarly as well, covering his mouth with his hands. Belphie was watching with clear giddiness, and it was obvious Satan was sharing the same sentiment. Mammon watched in horror, frozen in place. Lucifer was surely going to kill him now, If he wasn’t snoring into his food that is.

Lucifer’s state was quickly brought to an end though, when his head snapped up from the sudden loud laughter that came from Belphegor and Satan. The Avatar of Pride narrowed his eyes at the two, but they still continued to laugh.

“Enough, both of you!” Lucifer shouted. The two stifled their laughs to the best of their abilities. He glared at the both of them, but it still wasn’t enough to cease their quiet giggles and the smirks they kept sending each other. Before he could say anything else though, he was interrupted by Asmo’s dramatic, loud gasp, with him slamming his hands against the table as he stood up.

“Satan charmed me!” he yelled suddenly. Everyone stared at him in confusion.

“Excuse me? I did what now?” Satan questioned. 

“You charmed me!” he accused.  “I didn’t notice it at first, but you most certainly did! I would recognize a charm like that anywhere!”

“And how did I do that?” Satan asked. “You’re the demon who charms others, not me.”

“I don’t know, I just know that you did! And besides, haven’t you noticed that everyone else is being weird? Luci fell asleep in his food and Levi’s being confident for once!” 

“S-so? Is there a problem with that?” Levi asked, getting ready to pick a fight with his younger brother.

“No, of course not! I’m just pointing out that something weird is going on!” Asmo gave a huff. “Mammon also is eating his third serving–and Beel is still only on his first one! Doesn’t that stand out as weird to any of you?”

Belphie gave a hum. “Yeah, I guess those last things do sound a bit weird,” he said. “What, do you think something happened to us then? A curse, maybe?”

“I don't know,” the fifth-born answered. “But I’m sure Solomon might know. I’ll give him a call.”

Lucifer gave a low hum. “Yes, I suppose we should get Solomon’s opinion on this. Maybe a sorcerer like him will know what’s happening.”

~~~

When Solomon arrived, he was perplexed, to say the least. He was expecting the problem that Asmo called him about would be something about going out clubbing or to a party, something like that–not that all of his brothers were acting weirdly and out-of-character. But he still checked up on all of them, in case there was something wrong. They expressed their worries of some sort of curse, and after some investigating and talking to each of the brothers and what they were dealing with, he quickly agreed that this was indeed a curse.

“It seems to be some sort of swapping curse,” he said, and tilted his head. “But it’s odd, I’ve never seen something as powerful as this before. I haven’t even mastered a simple swapping spell, and yet whoever cursed who was able to swap your entire sins.”

“Huh? Excuse me?” Mammon said. “Did ya just say our sins?” 

“That’s what it sounds like to me, yes,” Solomon confirmed. “It sounds like someone put a curse on all seven of you; the curse seems to have taken your sins and swapped them between you all, hence why you all are acting differently. Mammon obviously has the sin of Gluttony, for example.” All heads turned over to the second-born, who awkwardly stopped eating from the bag of chips.

“I suppose that’s not too surprising,'' Belphie murmured. “Do we know who cursed us?”

“Not really, no,” Solomon answered. “Unless any of you have got in contact with someone who could’ve cursed you, like a witch or sorcerer, I’m not really sure who else could’ve done this.”

“Well, Beel and I have been inside all day,” Belphie said.

“All I did was go shopping with Satan! But we didn’t get into contact with anyone who would want to curse us…”

“I went to the human world all day to buy some new games and merch!”

“And I’ve been working–or at least, trying to work…”

Everyone went silent as they waited for Mammon to answer. Lucifer quickly put two-to-two together, and the others could already see the veins bulging from his forehead. 

“Mammon.”

“W-what! All I did was go gamblin’ today, that’s all!”

“Mammon…” 

“And I may have run into an’ old friend who demanded I pay her back…”

“Mammon…” 

“And I may not have bad her back, so she may have started goin’ on about cursin’ me ‘n stuff…”

“Mammon…” 

“And she may have also mentioned your guys' names too.”

“Mammon!” 

“What! It ain’t my fault!”

“It sounds like it’s exactly your fault,” Belphie said.

“Stupid Mammon, of course it’s his fault,” Levi scoffed.

“Well clearly not, if she cursed all of y’all as well!” Mammon argued.

“Now’s not the time to argue,” Satan said with a sigh. “As much as I want to rightfully put the blame onto Mammon, we have more urgent things to focus on. As in, finding out who this witch was.”

“Oh, I can answer that!” Mammon said happily. “It was Merinda!...Or maybe Meriana. Miranda?”

“You don’t even remember her name?” Asmo asked. “I knew you were useless, but this goes above and beyond, Mammon!”

“Oi! Don’t yell at me, ‘s not my fault I can’t remember her name! All I know is that I could never focus on anything other than that huge wart she has on her nose!”

Satan tilted his head. “A wart on her nose? That description sounds a bit familiar…”

“It was Meredith,” Levi said. “I remember because we got into an argument a few days ago about whether or not the stage play for TSL would be better if they decided to-”

“No, no, it was definitely Meagan,” Asmo said.

“No! It was Merinda!”

“Enough fighting, all of you,” Lucifer said. “Now, I don’t care what her name is, all I care about is finding her and getting her to fix this. Mammon, since you’re the one to get us in this mess, I want you to help Solomon in finding her and bringing her here. And the rest of you are not leaving this house–and I do not want to have to deal with any sort of messes that could be made out of this. No one else needs to know about this, especially Lord Diavolo. I will not argue about this. Am I understood?”

There were all quiet mumbles of agreements that came from all of his younger brothers. Lucifer gave a curt nod. “Good. Solomon, I want this fixed by tomorrow evening–we cannot be attending R.A.D in this state.”

“Of course, I’ll try my best to fix this,” the sorcerer said. “I have a few questions for the witch myself; I can’t even pull off such a feat, so I’m curious as to how she was able to swap all of your sins.”

“Thank you Solomon,” Lucifer said. He turned his attention back to the rest of his brothers. “I think it’s best if we head to bed for the rest of the night.”

“But I-”

“I’m not fighting with anyone on this, Satan,” he growled. “This is a serious thing we have in our hands, and we need to handle it with care. Who knows what will happen. I don’t even have my own powers anymore, only the ones that go with being the Avatar of Sloth!  That means that  all of us have no idea what we’re doing with powers, even you. Didn’t you accidentally charm Levi and Asmo earlier today without even knowing?”

Satan didn’t answer.

“My point exactly. Now I may only have the power that originally belonged to Belphegor, but I am still the eldest, and you all will still listen to me.” Lucifer paused, looking over all of them. He then gave a sigh. “At the very least just stay in your rooms, please. I can’t afford to have to deal with any accidents or mishaps that could come from misusing your powers that you aren’t used to. It would be in everyone’s favor to just stay put.

“With that being said, I’ll be up in my room for the rest of the evening. If anyone needs me, just knock on my door.” The eldest then went upstairs, leaving the rest of his brothers, along with the human, alone in the common room.

“I don't know about you all,” Levi started, slowly, breaking the silence, “but all I really got from that was that basically means that I’m the strongest now. Is that not what you guys heard? Because that’s what I heard.”

“I should be leaving,” Solomon murmured, excusing himself from the room and the conversation.

“Because I’m, like, the Avatar of Pride now, right?”

“I do need my beauty rest,” Asmo said, getting up from the couch. “I should really head to bed now.”

“That means I’m the strongest out of everyone now, right?”

“I do believe Asmo has the right idea,” Satan said, following his brother’s footsteps.

“Hey! Why is everyone ignoring me?”

“Well, would ya just look at the time,” Mammon said. “This’s been fun, but I need ta get some sleep.”

“Y-you guys are just scared over how much power I have now!”

“Good night, Levi,” Beel said in a low tone, carrying Belphie on his back and heading out the room. 

“Wha-guys! Hey!”

The newly prideful demon ran out of room, now not wanting to be left alone. The next day was surely going to be interesting for the seven brothers.

Chapter Text

Lucifer was barely even able to get out of bed in the morning. It took all of his will power to force his body to move out of the comfortable and incredibly soft bed.

But still, he was the oldest, and from that he had responsibilities. He had to get up and head down to eat breakfast–not only did they eat together everyday, but he knew in a situation like this they should all stick together. Even if he knew that his brothers most likely felt differently.

Getting out of his bed was one thing, but convincing himself not to just go back and get the rest he so desperately wanted and needed was another. He couldn’t fathom having to spend the rest of the day in this state–how was he supposed to get any work done?

After taking too long of going through the simple actions of dressing himself and getting ready for the day in a groggy state, Lucifer set off to the dining room. But something caught his attention. As he walked down the hallway, music started to build, louder and louder. It was obvious that the source of it was Leviathan’s room. Lucifer could easily recognize the TSL soundtrack–from how often his brother listened to it and from watching the movies, definitely not from listening to it during his free times–and it was clear as day that Levi was blasting the music from his room. Giving an annoyed sigh, he gave a few firm knocks on the bedroom door. He knew that his little brother now had his own sin of Pride, which was only a recipe for disaster. Knowing Levi, he knew that him suddenly having to deal with too much pride than he can handle would not end well.

Levi answered the door, music even louder now that the door was open. He looked up at Lucifer with eyes full of unease, as they always are. “Yeah?”

“Levi,” Lucifer started, voice raised a bit to talk above the music, “I must ask you to turn down the music.”

“Oh.” That’s all he said, as if he didn’t realize how annoying the music was. “No.” As he started to close the door, Lucifer stopped it with his foot. He forced a kind smile on his face, because he was not dealing with a suddenly confident Levi, not this early in the morning.

“It wasn’t a question,” he said in a sweet, brotherly tone. “Turn it down. Or I will make sure that you won’t have any music left to listen to once I’m done with you.” He was giving Levi a chance, and if Levi was a smart demon, he’d know to take it.

Clearly he wasn’t at all smart, because instead he responded with his own smile. “No.” This time he was able to shut the door close. Glaring, Lucifer gave another rap of knocks.

“Levi, this is not a game. Turn off that irksome music at once.” Instead of listening to the oldest though, Levi had the audacity to turn it up, the now almost unbearable music pouring further into the halls. “Levi!” No answer. Fine, whatever. If his brother wanted to be a piece of shit, that was his own deal. Lucifer, forcing himself to just continue back to the dining hall and mentally reminding himself to unclench his jaw, repeated the fact that Levi wouldn have to come out at some point for food. Then he could punish the third-born. 

When he arrived for breakfast, he ignored the fact that he was last down there. Sans Levi, his brothers all sat around the table and held their own conversations as they ate. It went quiet when Lucifer sat in his designated seat, and all eyes were on him. He withheld a scowl as he reached to scoop up pancakes with the spatula.

“What?” he spat. It came out more crass than he meant to, but he was sure his brothers understood what pressure he was under from the new situation they all found themselves in.

“Where’s Levi?” The second-born asked, mouth full of chewed up bits of pancake and sausage and eggs and whatever else he had fit into his mouth. The words sounded more like a jumbled mess, but Lucifer could get the gist of it. 

“Your brother has decided to not join us,” he answered calmly, stabbing one of the pancakes with his fork. “I will not be dealing with his foolishness and overall bothersome attitude, so he will be grabbing his food later whenever he wants.” His brothers were silent, and Lucifer wondered if he was the one to cause the room to be filled with an awkward hesitance. And for once, the feeling of guilt tugged on his heart. It made him sputter, almost choking on the pancake. When was the last time he felt remorse? And it was for something so small, something so minuscule. He was in the right, he knew he was, so why did it still feel wrong? Why did it feel like he did something to hurt them?

“I’m sure Levi is just trying to figure it all out,” Asmo said, finally filling the silence. A pile of fruits were all that was on his plate, and Lucifer doubted he would end up eating all of it. “I mean, I’m still trying to get used to being some dirty scumbag!”

“Yeah, Asmo’s right, just let Levs deal with it. He’ll be fine Luci, he’s a big boy and can handle himself.” Mammon managed to only send a bit of food flying out of his mouth. Lucifer still hated it and considered punishing the second-born just for that small crime. Mammon’s smile slowly faded, and it became apparent that he finally caught up to Asmo’s insult. He slammed his hands against the table, causing the plates and silverware to rattle. At least the noise snapped Lucifer’s attention back. “Hey! Whaddya mean by that?”

Asmo childishly stuck his tongue out, and Lucifer wondered if one day, maybe just one day, his brothers would act their age. He already knew the answer to that, though.

“I mean that I’m stuck with your gross and disgusting sin and it’s all your fault! It’s not a walk in the park being the Avatar of Lust, but at least it was enjoyable at times! Now everyone will think I’m some sort of greedy bastard who…who…I don’t know! Trains crows to steal shiny things and grimm from people! Gah! I’m too angry to even think of a good insult, thanks a lot Mammon!”

“Stop blamin’ me for every single lil’ thing! You guys do know that y’all are also at fault too, don’t ya?”

“You’re the one who talked to that witch in the first place!”

“She cured the rest y’all too! So don’t go actin’ all innocent on me, it won’t work!”

“Enough, both of you.” His brothers went silent, only shooting glares at one another, while Lucifer sighed. “Honestly, can’t the two of you exist in the same room without being at each other’s throats? We have enough on our plates right now, and I don’t have to be the one to deal with the aftermath of your stupidity.”

“Sorry Luci,” Asmo sighed, moving the pieces of fruit around on his plate.

Satan rolled his eyes, cutting through his food. “Is it me, or does Lucifer being the new Avatar of Sloth seem to make him more pissed?”

“It might just be you,” Belphie answered, and gave a smile. “I mean, Lucifer always has a stick up his ass, so there’s really no difference of what sin he has.”

“That’s enough from the both of you as well,” Lucifer chided, but that didn’t stop the chuckles and hushed whispers between the two. With a growl of annoyance, Lucifer got back up.

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“To my office,” he answered. “Might as well try and get some work done. All of you, don’t burn the house down. Or you all are grounded.”

“Oh, can I have the rest of your food?” Mammon asked. He didn’t even wait for an answer though, and went to grab the eldest’s plate. “I’m still starvin’ and this is already my second helpin’!”

Beel nodded. “You probably won’t be full until after your fourth, at the very least. But you should probably be careful,  I don’t think your body will be used to dealing with all that food.” But the warning fell onto deaf ears, as Asmo offered Mammon the rest of his plate as well.

“None of you disturb me,” Lucifer warned, before finally heading back upstairs. He didn’t really eat all that much, but he would rather work through a pile of work than to deal with his brothers’ bickerings. Even if it did hurt a bit to not spend as much time with them as he wanted to.

What? No. No, that was wrong. He couldn’t care less over how much time he spent with them. Work came first, and it always would. It was important, and if he wanted his brothers to live a happy life given by Lord Diavolo, then he needed to do some work that, by now, was more than likely overdue.

So, passing by Levi’s room with only a grimace, he got to his study and locked it. No one was going to distract him from his work. He was going to sit down and look through those overdue papers, and do his job, because they at least needed some normalcy.

Turns out, the one who ended up distracting Lucifer was himself.

He was able to ignore the voice in his head–the one that told him not to work, to not do anything and to do whatever he wanted, so not the normal voices he heard–but it could only work for so long. Clenching his jaw and forcing himself to grab and pen and sign papers were mostly easy, but in Diavolo’s name it was hard to read through it all. Either he got sleepy and would close his eyes for seconds too long, or the part of his brain telling him not to work got louder. It usually ended up being a mix of both.

His fourth cup of coffee wasn’t helping him focus. His cursed vinyls weren’t helping him. Nothing was helping him focus. Nothing could help him register and understand the writings in front of him. Running a hand through his hair, he gave a frustrated sigh. What the hell was he supposed to do? 

Why did he have to be the one stuck with the Sin of Sloth? He could’ve gotten work done with Lust, Wrath, hell, even Gluttony, but Sloth? All it ever did was make him just want to head to his bed and sleep. Or even just pick up a book and relax, instead of just working. 

And so, he got up. He left the room. Because what else was he going to do? He tried for hours on end–since when had he missed lunch?–and now he was tired. Like, actually, really tired. More tired than he’s ever felt. He just wanted to rest, to find a comfortable spot that wouldn’t hurt his joints and muscles, where he could close his eyes and sleep. Most importantly, he wanted to also be with his brothers.

He found himself in the attic. He didn’t even realize that his body brought him here, but he supposed it made sense. Belphegor frequented the spot, and if anyone knew how to deal with laziness, it was Belphie. And besides, it was a quiet place, one where little distractions took place. He would surely be able to sleep there. And indeed he was; the seventh-born, laying on his stomach, watching what were probably videos on DevilTube on his phone. 

The youngest looked up when he walked in. Lucifer was met with a look of disgust, but he really shouldn’t be surprised by now. “What do you want?” Belphie sighed, clicking his phone off. 

“Sleep,” Lucifer admitted, sitting on the edge of the bed. If Belphie was surprised by how quick Lucifer was to be honest, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gave a small smirk.

“Yeah, I should’ve guessed that. What, did you really think you would be able to work in that state?”

“How do you do it?” Lucifer asked, a low murmur leaving his mouth. He laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Belphie shifted away from him.

“Easy: I don’t,” he answered. “You know me. I sleep, I avoid work whenever possible. Sure, I might be able to do a few things for a short while, only if they’re really important to me though. And even after that, I’ll need to give into my sin for a good few hours. So there’s really no getting around it.”

“I hate it,” Lucifer muttered. He shifted uncomfortably, as his wings felt crushed and squeezed between the blankets and his own body. He didn’t even realize he was in his demon form, but a part of him just didn’t care. A large part of him didn’t care about a lot of things anymore. “I hate feeling this helpless.”

“Too bad,” Belphie replied. Lucifer didn’t even have to look at him, he could hear the smirk growing larger. “That’s what it means to be the Avatar of Sloth. Be lazy and do no work at all. Hope you have a fun nap–I’m going to go check on how Satan’s doing.” The weight on the bed shifted again, as Belphie got up. But he was brought back down though, when Lucifer grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

“Hey,” Belphie snapped. He struggled a bit, but wasn’t able to fight back against the oldest, especially not in his demon form. “Let go of me already. I’m not letting you drag me down into your weird self-pity. I actually have things to do, you know, and just because you can’t work doesn’t mean that you can stop me.”

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with many of you,” he softly admitted, and decided to simply ignore Belphie. Belphegor scoffed.

“Jeez, is that why you’re in your demon form? You’ve fallen so far from being prideful that you’ve fully accepted being slothful? Just accepted that you need to sleep and give up?...Let go of me.” He struggled a bit harder, which led to him growling, “I said let go of me!”

Instead, Lucifer tucked the youngest under his chin. Bephie was on top of one of his wings, but it was fine. It was almost comforting, in a weird way, to have his brother so close to him. 

“You’re not letting me go, are you?” Belphie asked with a huff. Lucifer didn’t answer; he felt too drowsy to do so. “Fine. I guess a little nap wouldn’t hurt. But if you tell Satan or anyone else about this, I promise you I’ll give so much blackmail material to the Newspaper Club that it’ll take months to clean it all up.”

Lucifer gave a grunt, but said nothing more. He didn’t doubt Belphie, not at all, but he already knew that he wasn’t going to say a word. It was rare for Belphie to indulge in these things with Lucifer, and he was just happy to have this small moment with his youngest brother.

In a few minutes, he was out like a light.

~~~

Mammon could handle a lot of things. He was strong–he had to be, he was the second oldest, afterall. He could handle being the Avatar of Greed, and he could handle the sin of gluttony for a short while. It was a walk in the park compared to dealing with greed. Like, all he ever did was get hungry! Gluttony would probably be the easiest sin to deal with, and Mammon most definitely won the lottery of whatever sin he swapped with. Maybe it was the one least piece of luck his sin left, how kind of it.

At least that’s what Mammon originally thought. Because all he had to do was eat a midnight snack and eat more servings during breakfast. The only ones left at the table were himself and Beel, who watched with concern as Mammon scarfed down the food. 

“Wha’?” Mammon asked, mouth full of food. “Somethin’ the matter?” 

“It took me a long time to get used to my sin,” Beel answered. Mammon was just surprised that his brother was even able to understand him. “And I’m just worried that you won’t be used to it, either.”

Mammon swallowed his food. “C’mon, you’re not giving me enough credit! I’m the Great Mammon, aren’t I? I’ll be fine, so quit your worrin’!”

“But your body isn’t used to so much food-”

“Listen Beel, I get you’re worried for your big brother, and while that’s real sweet of ya, I don’t have anything to be worried about! I can handle just about anything, and some hunger ain’t gonna stop me! So don’t worry so much, because it’ll get ya know where, ya hear me?”

Beel frowned even harder. “I hear you. But you’re the one not listening. You’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep doing this–Mammon?”

Mammon paused for once, the fork staying in his mouth. The second the food hit his tongue, a wave of nausea hit him, and he knew if he ate more he was going to barf his guts out. Okay, so maybe Beel was right. But still, Mammon could handle himself just fine.

Like right now, for example. He was able to handle himself just fine. He was able to fight against the nausea in hopes that his stomach would calm down. His subconscious was also screaming at him to eat more, keep eating, consume, as it almost made him actually do it. Almost being the key word, as another wave of nausea hit him, which ended with him running to the closest bathroom.

The second-born was down on his knees in a matter of seconds, as his breakfast now left his body in a disgusting mess of chunks and stinging acids. The remnants of what he ate was now purged out of his body. Even then he continued to retch, his stomach churning as it tried to get rid of anything and everything within it.

“I want to say I told you so,” started Beel a few minutes later, hovering above his brother, “but that’s more of Belphie’s thing. Are you okay?”

“Fuckin’ peachy,” Mammon rasped, before putting his head back into the toilet bowl as another wave of dry heaving began.

“Maybe if you’d listened to me-”

“Yeah, yeah, shut it already!” He took a few seconds to glare up at Beel before bowing his head back down. “I get it, I’m stupid for not listening, save the whole spiel, got it?” 

“Just wanted to help,” muttered Beel, clearly upset over what was happening. Well, his sympathy was very much appreciated, but it wasn’t like it was helping him out or anything.

The pain didn’t wane, but at least he stopped dry heaving. He stayed hunched over the toilet though, breathing heavily as he tried to calm his body. The churning of his stomach, begging for everything to leave his stomach, mixed with the growling and aching of it as it begged for any sort of food was probably the worst feeling Mammon had ever felt.

Was this how Beel felt all the time? Obviously not, but maybe when they fell? Dear Diavolo, this  was horrible. He just wanted it to stop.

“Mammon? Mams?” Mammon took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. At least his body finally calmed down, taking only Diavolo knows how long. He slowly picked himself back up, and traveled to the nearby sink. With a shaky hand, he was able to turn on the faucet and pour water into his cupped hand. He swished water around in an attempt to get rid of the disgusting taste in his mouth. A comforting hand was placed on his shoulder as he continued to clean out his mouth. 

“Fuck…” He gave a sigh, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His body felt aching, and his pride was hurt from being proven almost immediately wrong by his younger brother. And, probably what was the worst of all, his stomach rolled in a horrible, painful way as it begged for more food. “Dammit!” He curled in, arms pressing against his stomach, because no way was he going to eat more food, not unless he wanted to repeat what just happened. Alas, his body did not listen, and continued to torment him.

“It’s okay, Mammon,” Beel attempted, voice unsure. If anyone would understand, it would be Beel, Mammon realized. He would probably be the only person to know what to do in this sort of situation.

“How in the world did ya deal with this before?” he rasped, squeezing his eyes shut as he hoped that maybe the hunger pains would stop.

Beel was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t really remember,” he said sheepishly. “I more or less just powered through the pain until I just…got used to it, I suppose. Until my body got used to all of the food I was eating all the time.” Mammon gave a groan. He was totally not going to be able to handle however this dumb switching curse was going to last for. 

“Don’t worry Mammon,” Beel said, as if he knew what he was thinking, “you’re the strongest out of all of us. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it. You’re definitely a lot stronger than me anyway. It’ll be hard, but I think you can do it.”

Huh. Beel being kind to him sounded so weird. Any kind of kindness sounded foreign to Mammon, but Mammon wasn’t gonna complain about it. Reminders of how great he was and any sort of things to boost his self-esteem were greatly welcomed. “Thanks,” he said. The nice feeling he had soon disappeared from the rumbles of his stomach, and the shots of pain running through his veins.

Mammon gave a groan as he lowered himself to the ground, balling up to press his arms and legs against his stomach. The hunger was almost unbearable, but he knew that if he were to eat anything else it would just come back outta him. His claws dug into his sides–since when did he switch to his demon form?–and the pain from the sharp cuts only helped a little to alleviate the waves of pain from his abdomen.

“Mams.” Concern was laced in Beel’s voice.

“Fuckin’ hate it,” he muttered. “I’m already sick of this shit.”

“I know,” Beel said in a small voice, as if that would help with anything. “Do you want to try and eat something small? Like crackers or something?”

“Fine.” Not like sitting there was getting him anywhere. Plus, with Beel there, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Hopefully it wouldn’t just all come back up again. Beel helped him up, and let himself be used as a support for Mammon.

Just as long as Mammon got some food into his system, some that would  actually stay down, then he didn’t care at all. He just needed some food already.

~~~

Leviathan’s body trembled over the overwhelming music bombarding his ears with overwhelming noises, and the bright lights of his computer attacking his eyes in a way that made him want to curl up and cry... A sensory overload, no doubt. A part of him registered it, but the other refused to admit that that was what was happening to him. Whenever a loud sound effect rang from his game, he flinched away, as if that would help him escape the sound.

Stop it already. Just. Stop. A voice rang through his head. It was a voice he was always used to–it was a weird mix of his own and his brothers, and usually ended up as a jumbled mess that only he could comprehend. It was the same voice, but now instead of reminding him of how useless and truly a mess he really was, it barked at him to calm down, to stop overreacting. The voice now told him how great he was–which was a very nice change of pace–but told him how he was better alone and without anyone.

Yeah, the new voice sucked, especially during times like this when he was just too overwhelmed by every single little thing around him, and all it did was yell at him to suck it up. It was like Lucifer, but without the understanding and kind words thrown in from time-to-time. 

He tried to focus on his game. Cute little slimes. A ranch for the slimes, keeping them in pens. Currently trying to look for adorable little cat ones, which he registers that maybe will be enough to get Satan to try out the game.

A deep breath in to calm himself. Cute game, focus on the cute game. Focus on trying to design and upgrade the ranch. Focus on collecting more slimes.

Was the General of Hell’s Navy really wasting time on a game like this? Yeah, yeah he was. Fuck, the game was so comforting though, definitely up there on his list of comfort games he could play whenever he felt down. It was fine that he was playing it. It was fine.

Another loud sound effect, and Levi finally gave in on accepting that he needed to turn it down. He needed to or he was going to cry, and that would be embarrassing. But as he reached to turn the speakers down for the game, he ended up crying anyway, because the voice was just so ruthless about how he was so pathetic. It wasn’t new info, no, but as it yelled at him about how much better he could be, it all soon became too loud. 

Levi didn’t have enough energy to turn off his game. Not enough energy to go over and turn off the music that was blasting on max volume. He slid out of his chair and sauntered to his tub, crawling in and blocking the world out with his blanket. It blocked out the lights, the sounds, but it didn’t block the buzz and voice inside.

Oh, a coward too, huh? Honestly… Was this how Lucifer felt all the time? Wasn’t pride a good thing? Then why did it feel so horrible? How did Lucifer handle it? Was he really just that weak and pathetic?

No! You’re better than this! And he was, dammit! Leviathan was the powerful third-born, and now with Pride, with the most powerful sin, he didn’t have to cower away in his room, being filled with so many self-deprecating thoughts filled with envy! He was powerful, strong, and a leader! He was a force to be reckoned with, nothing could stop him!

And yet he still shook, holding the blanket in a knuckle-white grip over him, relishing in the cool feeling of the tub. His tail pressed against the porcelain with such pressure that Levi felt slightly calmed by. Why was he still so pathetic then? Why was he still plagued with these thoughts, and why did he let them affect them so much? If all this self-deprecation wasn’t from his Envy, then where did it come from? Or was pride a source of it too? He didn’t understand, not at all.

Lucifer would understand. But why would he want to waste time with you? Lucifer would help. You’re smart, a genius, even! Figure it out yourself. His big brother would save him. Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up-  

Deep breath in. Hold in. A shuddering breath out. Four seconds in. Four seconds of holding. Eight seconds of exhaling. Easy, four plus four was eight, easy to remember. Mammon taught him that trick, back when he had all sorts of panic and anxiety attacks every day of the week. Now they were less frequent, but the breathing trick thingy was helpful.

Just breathe. You’re fine. Yeah…yeah, Leviathan was fine. He was going to be just fine. He didn’t need his brothers’ help, he didn’t need Mammon or Lucifer. Yeah. He was just fine, and he didn’t need them to help him out with something so trivial. He could handle himself, and if anything, having his brothers coddle him would just set him back from becoming stronger.

You're fine on your own. And he was. He was fine, he was going to be fine, and without the help or comfort of any of his brothers. Which would be a win in his book, because then none of them would end up treating him like something that could break with ease. He was strong, dammit, and he didn’t need anybody else.

He was perfectly fine with being alone.

~~~

Satan felt like killing someone. Which, in all honesty, wasn’t a new feeling, not at all. Ever since he was born, he felt this unbridled rage; someone usually wound up dead or brutally maimed. This feeling wasn’t all that different, because this rage came from being fucking pissed off as all hell because of the unwanted lust that resided inside of him.

He didn’t want this. Well, it wasn’t like he wanted or desired to be the Avatar or Wrath either, but literally any other sin was better than Lust. Why the fuck did he have to be saddle with the worst one?

He loved Asmo, he really did, he cared for his brother deeply, but in his honest opinion lust was probably the worst thing in existence. Not only did it lead to horrendous crimes in both Devildom and in the human world, but also they lead to horrendous books that were obviously made to appease one’s need for sex. Satan didn’t have that need.

He was sure if anyone else had to deal with being the Avatar of Lust, they would just do what Asmodeus does–go out and sleep with anyone that was interested, in order to satisfy that craving. That craving, Satan learned, came in a weird, prickly feeling all across his skin. Every inch of his body burned in a way that didn’t hurt, but also definitely wasn’t ignorable or comfortable. Nothing he did could fix this problem. No cold bath, magic, or potions could fix the problem.

Now, he obviously knew the answer on how to fix it. He wasn’t dumb, and now he realize that whenever Asmo talked about “satisfying his itch for sex” made a lot more sense, it was very much clear on how to satisfy it. But sex was gross, and no way was Satan going to do that.

Satan understood the reasons for sex. He knew why people did–usually for pleasure, but sometimes for love or offsprings–but that didn’t mean he had to like it. It didn’t mean that he had to enjoy it, because Dear Diavolo did he not like it. Like, at all. He could even say he hated it, because even reading something that referenced it put him into a sour mood. Sex was just…ew. That was the best way Satan could describe it; not with some fancy words, or long-winded explanations. Just, ew.

It was midafternoon when Satan knocked on Asmo’s door. The buzzing across his skin was getting almost unbearable now, and he needed to know if there was any sort of way to fix it, or even just get rid of the feeling for just a bit of time. He had a feeling that there was no alternative to sex, though.

Asmo answered by opening the door, just a crack, inviting Satan in. Satan opened the door open, and was taken aback by the scene he walked in on. The only light was the light that poured in from the open room, but it was enough for him to make sense of what had happened. Things were thrown and broken on the ground, nail polish being soaked into the plush carpet underneath. Claw marks dragged across the once pretty and pristine vanity, And the mirror that was the crowned jewel was now in a million shattered shards, littering the surrounding area. A feral Asmo with pinpoint pupils that glowed in the dark room. Wings shook and fluttered every few seconds, self-inflicted claw marks all along his upper arms.

“What do you want, sweetie?” Asmo hissed. “I’m a bit busy at the moment, dear, so whatever it is, make it quick.”

Diavolo, two pet names in one go? Asmo must be really pissed, then. Looked like he wasn’t handling his new sin all too well. A part of Satan, the part that cared for his brother, wanted to reach out and try to help him. He wanted to ask what was wrong and how he could help. But another part of him, the part that valued his life, knew that there was more than a 90% chance that Asmo would attempt to kill him if he angered him any more. So, instead of reaching out, he went with what he came for.

“Do you have anything to help deal with your sin?” he asked. “I can assume that this…whole thing is dealt with by having sexual intimacy with someone, but obviously that’s not something I’m too keen on doing. Do you have anything to help fix the feeling? I’m about ready to kill a man if this keeps on going.”

Asmo gave an aggravated sigh, and walked over to his closet. Satan waited by the door as Asmo messily went through the shelves. “You know, I’m this close to killing someone too, but I’m keeping my calm. I’m being calm! Who cares if all I ever want to do is hoard things, you know? Who cares that all I want to do is take and buy and keep everything and anything, right? Who cares that I’m some dirty scumbag now, right?” More shuffling, with curses strewn in. Satan continued to wait in silence.

“And by the way, you don’t need sexual intimacy,” Asmo continued, “all you need is to have intimacy, period. Like, hugs and stuff. Why do you think I was so touchy-feely with you and our brothers? It helps with the whole prickly-burning sensation.” He finally left the closet, with a bottle of lotion in hand. He shoved it into Satan’s hands. “But this helps for a few hours. Just apply it anywhere and everywhere, and in a few hours reapply. Now hurry up and leave before I regret giving it to you.”

“Thank you, Asmo,” Satan said in a rush, as Asmo pushed him out of the room.

“Yes yes, I am very kind and considerate. Now leave already, shoo!” The door all but slammed in his face. Satan would’ve felt a bit hurt if he didn’t understand where Asmo was coming from.

“Well,” he said, speaking into an empty hallway. “Guess we’ll see if this really works.”

~~~

Asmodeus felt the sobs bubble in his chest. Now that he was alone again, in the dark room, he realized just how badly he wanted Satan to stay. Or was that just his greed talking, greedy for Satan’s time and energy? The thought made Asmo squeak out a sob.

He hated this. He hated how greedy he was. Why couldn’t he have something easy to deal with? Being a bit more prideful or getting a few more extra hours of sleep would’ve been better than this. He was now some greedy bastard–he would rather die. He already hated himself and his sin and what it made him, but now? His self-esteem was at an all-time low, and Mammon’s damned Greed was to blame for that. 

Well. It was his Greed now, wasn’t it? He was the new Avatar of it. Diavolo, how horrible. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of it. Every time he felt that gut feeling of wanting to just horde and keep everything, to not use his makeup so he won’t run out, he wanted to rip his hair out. And he never felt like that! Not since he fell out of Heaven. 

He pulled against his horns, the pain stinging horribly and wonderfully. The pain helped, it kept him grounded. But it didn’t help with the sobs that built in his chest, didn’t help with the horrible ache he felt in his bones after resisting the urge of not sharing his lotion with Satan. Nothing helped with the uneasiness he felt whenever he fought against the voice that told him to just take, take, take, keep on taking.

And so, Asmo went to the sole person who could help him with this. Because even if he was an idiot, he was a smart idiot. Or, at least, smart with situations like this. He would know what to do. He always did. 

Mammon could be found in his bedroom. He was doing whatever the fuck scumbags do–appreciating his cars or prepping for a night at a casino or whatever–and when Asmo burst down the door, he stopped his activities.

“Yo, Asmo!” Mammon greeted with a smile. Asmo didn’t smile back, and was happy to see how his older brother’s smile disappeared. “Is, uh, everythin’ alright?”

“No,” Asmo snapped, “everything is not alright. I have been having to deal with your stupid sin all day and it’s horrible! I can’t do a single thing without having all these stupid thoughts of wanting to take and steal and I can’t stop it!” And just like the thoughts, Asmo couldn’t stop the anger that bubbled over and the tears that started to fall.

He didn’t even hear Mammon move, or see him. All his thoughts went towards trying not to cry, but he gave up when he was brought into a bone crushing hug. A loud sob escaped his lips, and Asmo refused to let anymore go through as he brought a hand up to cover his mouth.

Asmo’s head was forcibly tucked under his brother’s chin. And while on literally every other occasion, he would’ve loved the attention, but there was no prickly sensation that needed to be quenched, no need for physical contact. There was only a desire to greedily take up everything Mammon was willing to give him, and that feeling made him wrap his arms around Mammon and squeeze tightly back as he let tears soak into his brother’s shirt.

“I hate it,” he sobbed, voice cracking but ending up being muffled as he buried his head into the second-born’s chest. “I used to be just some dirty whore who wanted sex, and now I’m some idiot, dirty scumbag and I don’t know what’s worse!” Mammon’s grip tightened. 

“Hey, c’mon, just breathe, alright?” his brother advised. He pulled back, and Asmo felt another sob build up as he lost contact. The familiar prickly feeling wasn’t there, no, but every fiber of his being wanted to take everything Mammon had to give him. “C’mon, breathe, I know you can do it.”

His wings shuttered and flapped wildly in distress. He hiccuped out another sob until he was finally able to match Mammon’s breathing. It was hard, but he was able to calm himself. He caught Mammon’s eyes and locked into a stare with him, as he looked down at him with only sadness and, what Asmo could only assume was, pity. 

“C’mon,” he said gently, tugging at Asmo’s hands, head nodding towards his bed. “Let’s sit and patch ya up, ‘kay?”

Asmo only realized how hurt his arms were when Mammon hovered over the injuries. He really did a number on himself, huh? Angry red scratches went up and down all across his arms, and only now did he start to feel the sting. His horns were no different, but they were instead more of a dull, throbbing pain.

He gave a nod, not wanting to give his voice a chance to break once more. He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand, and walked with Mammon over to the bed. 

“Where is…ah! There it is.” Mammon pulled out what looked to be an old and unused first-aid kit. He pulled Asmo’s arms in to get a closer inspection. “Think ya broke a bit of skin with a few of those scratches…no prob though, the Great Mammon is a great medic and will patch ya up in no time!” He applied the tiniest bit of antiseptic (“just in case,” he muttered to himself), and pulled out a roll of gauze.

“Now, this is more of just so you won’t try an’ hurt yerself as much. Don’t go pickin’ this off, ya got me?”

“...Yeah.”

Asmo stared down at the comforter, but he could feel Mammon’s gaze on him, along with the frown he was without a doubt wearing.

“You don’t gotta tell me what happened,” Mammon started quietly, trying his best to wrap Asmo’s arm. “But I want ya to know that ya can always come and talk to me, or Luci, or whoever ya feel comfortable with. This whole swappin’ sins shit is overwhelming, I know. But we’ll be here if ya need us, okay?”

Asmo gave another nod. The tying job that Mammon did with the gauze was poor, but it kept it all together. He moved onto the other arm in silence. 

“I’m sorry,” Asmo said, deciding to finally add his own two-cents.

“Nothin’ to apologize for.”

“I insulted you and called you a dirty scumbag.” Asmo shifted a bit, but Mammon made sure to keep his arm still. “I didn’t mean to do that. Greed…I don’t know. It’s hard, and I’m sorry that I didn’t realize that you struggle with your sin, too.” Tears were starting to well again. Dammit, can’t he just stay calm for three minutes to talk? “And I know I’ve always gave you a hard time with your greed, and I-”

“Oh, that’s it? Yeah yeah, apology accepted or whatever.” Mammon waved his free hand in the air, as if to wave the problem away. “It’s whatever. Really, it’s fine. Yer hurtin’ right now, and that’s what I wanna focus on. But…thanks. I appreciate the apology. Sucks it has to be in this situation though.”

After a few more seconds of Mammon trying his best to finish off tying the gauze, he gave a little “Ta-da!” once he removed his hands and the gauze stayed. He offered his little brother a bright smile, and Asmo couldn’t help but smile back.

“Now, let’s go and play some Blackjack, eh? Or whatever card game ya want to play–although it’ll just be the two of us…ya think maybe the twins would want to join?”

Asmo shrugged. He hasn’t really taken the time to check up on his younger brothers. “Blackjack’s fine.”

Mammon flashed another smile, as he pulled out a deck of cards out of nowhere. “Awesome. Now, wanna check out some new shuffling tricks I’ve been workin’ on?”

~~~

Beelzebub knew he shouldn’t be feeling like this. He should be happy. He knew how strained Belphie and Lucifer’s relationship was. Lucifer was too prideful to reach out first, and Belphie was too spiteful and stubborn to do the same. Those two were never going to reach an understatement, or even try to. So, he should be happy to see them in one room and not fighting or giving each other scowls. He should be happy to see Belphie fine with sleeping on the same bed as Lucifer. So why wasn’t he?

He originally started to go through his normal exercise regimen to take his mind off of everything, especially the new found sin that started to grow in the back of his head. By the time he was done, a few hours had passed, so in the end he did at least succeed a little bit in ignoring the problem. 

He also lost track of where his twin was.

Beel wasn’t too surprised to find him up in the attic. Belphie tended to go there when he wanted peace and quiet, or whenever he was upset over something. He was a bit surprised to see Lucifer there, though. And even more so to find his twin tucked underneath the eldest’s chin, laying on his blackened wings and fast asleep. Lucifer was asleep too, snoring even. They both looked so comfortable and happy.

And so why was he so angry over it? They seemed to have been getting along. If Belphie was willing to put up with Lucifer long enough for them to fall asleep, then surely something good should’ve happened, right? 

So then why did he subconsciously ball his fists and frown at the scene? Why did a surge of anger go through him?

No, it wasn’t anger. It was jealousy. Envy started to affect him and his life more than he would like to admit. Taking his mind off of it through exercise helped, yeah, but he wasn’t able to shake it off first thing in the morning, during breakfast, and certainly not looking at the scene before him of his brothers bonding.

He should be happy, dammit. But the only thing running through his head was, “what about me?”

Why wasn’t he included? Well, obviously, because he was busy. He wasn’t there for it. They were having a special moment, and if Beel were there then there was a huge chance he would’ve ruined it. Would he have ruined it? In the end, he would never know, but maybe. Maybe he would’ve ruined the moment. But he still wanted to be included, so, so badly.

Beel didn’t like feeling this way, not one bit. It made his stomach twist and knot in a way Gluttony never made him feel. It felt horrible. He ended up heading back downstairs, not wanting to ruin the serene scene by acting out in a way he would only regret later. He didn’t want to be like Levi.

Levi. He would know what to do with this awful, twisty feeling. He dealt with it on a daily basis, right? Surely he would know how to help Beel. He was always willing to help.

Well, usually. Apparently not today though, as it was made clear with his overbearing music. Beel could hear it loud enough at the end of the hallway, and it only grew as he approached the third-born’s room. Luckily, his knocking was louder than Levi’s goofy game music.

“Levi?” he started, voice loud enough that carried through the hallway, and he knew loud enough for him to hear. “Can I ask you something?” No answer. Beel frowned, and another set of knocks was given. “Levi?”

At first, Beel thought that maybe his brother had just forgotten to turn off his music and was busy with something else. Or maybe he just fell asleep, and Lucifer hasn’t taken the time to properly scold him for having his music too loud. It gave Beel another unpleasant feeling, one that made him feel like maybe Levi was too good for him, that he was ignoring his little brother on purpose.

Beel shook his head at that, clearing his mind of those thoughts. Surely not; Levi cared about his brothers, and would always be there. If Beel needed help, then Levi would be there. Of course, that went down the drain when the music was turned up even louder.

Okay. So he was ignoring him on purpose. Probably thought he was better than Beel, and the rest of his brothers. Beel growled at the thought. Why couldn’t Levi just be there on time? Beel doesn’t ask for much from him, but the one time he felt like he could count on him, the one time-

The buzz of insect wings grew into a low hum as they twitched and beat against the air. Why couldn’t Beel just relax like Levi could? Was having Pride all that great? Maybe it was…Diavolo, why did he have to get stuck with Envy? It was horrible, he had no idea how Levi lived with it. And now he got to have Pride? Why couldn’t he have it, huh? Why didn’t he end up being the all powerful and prideful one?

The beating of his wings grew. Whatever. It didn’t matter–if Levi wanted to be an ass, fine. Beel could handle it. It was okay–really, it was. Sure, he was a bit agitated, but, in the end, he didn’t need Levi’s help to handle this new sin. He didn’t even need Belphie to handle it either, he was fine by himself.

(Alright, that was a lie. Having Belphie with him made everything bearable. Just his presence made him at ease, and knowing that he was napping, with Lucifer of all people, made his jealousy and anger flare up like never before.)

Beel gave an aggravated sigh, but soon left and headed back to his room. He was fine. Beel was going to be just fine. Solomon would find the witch who did this, and then things would go back to normal. Never in his life would he ever think he would miss being hungry all the time, but damn it, it was better than whatever the hell Envy was or made him feel.

All he had to do was just a bit longer, until whenever Solomon figured it all out. Which he hoped was soon, because he didn’t want to think about having to stay like that for longer than a day. Being stuck like that forever… sounded absolutely horrible.

But it would all be fixed soon. Beel just needed to hope that Solomon knew how to make things go back to normal.

~~~

Belphegor liked naps. All kinds of naps–cat naps, REM naps, coffee naps, the oh-so popular CEO nap–they were all great in their own ways. But now that he wasn’t the Avatar of Sloth, Belphie found it really hard to enjoy them. Especially now since he was being forced into it by his horrible older brother.

Honestly, this was just another reason added to the millions of others on why he hated Lucifer. For a while, yeah, Belphie was pretty comfortable. The feathers underneath were surprisingly comfortable, and being held close by his brother and using the cape as a makeshift blanket to cover them both felt…nice. It was almost as comfortable as sleeping with Beel.

(Possibly even more comfortable than with Lilith, but if he thought about her too long, he feared that Wrath would take over. Although, as time went on, he debated whether or not that was really a bad thing or not.)

But now, after some amount of time had passed–Belphie cursed at himself for not ever putting some sort of clock in the room–he was wide awake, and not a single bone in his body was sleepy. No part of him was going to fall back asleep, and this was made clear to him after staring at the ceiling for Diavolo knows how long.

As much as Belphie hated to say it, he wanted to get out of the bed. He wanted to get up and do something. At least hang out with Beel. But instead, he was being crushed by his older brother’s sleepy grip. And whenever he tried to wiggle his way out of it, all Lucifer did was groan and mumble in his sleep, and end up tightening his grip. If Belphie were to move anymore, he feared Lucifer would cut off air flow. What a horrible way to die–Satan would never let it down.

So, Belphie found himself stuck. He grew more and more uncomfortable as time moved, but unconscious Lucifer didn’t seem too keen on letting him go anytime soon. He moved to try and leave one more time, only to be met with failure once more. He huffed, balling his fists, making his claws dig into his palms. This was getting old very quickly. 

“Lucifer,” Belphie said, not caring to keep his voice low or quiet. “Get up already, I’m tired of this.” The first-born didn’t move–not even a single reaction came out of him. Belphie wasn’t too surprised, but he still gave an infuriated growl. What were ways he woke up out of his naps?

“Luci,” Belphie started, voice raised, “wake the fuck up. Mammon found Goldie and went over his limit by 20k.” Nothing. “Levi bought an ultra-rare Ruri-chan figurine during an auction with your money.” Still snoring. “Satan enchanted your study so that everything in that room will fight back against you and you won’t get any work done.” Not even stirring. “Asmo spilled nail polish all over your paperwork.” He didn’t even twitch. “Beel broke into your liquor cabinet.” Yeah, not even Mammon would fall for that one. “Diavolo’s coming over to help us out.” A small twitch, and the eldest furrowed his brows. Jackpot.

That motherfucker could hear him. He fucking knew it. Lucifer never, for as long as Belphie had known him, actually fell into a real sleep. He was always somehow aware of what was happening around him. Now he just needed to keep pushing.

“Yeah, apparently Mammon told him about the whole situation we have, so he said he’ll be over to help us out. Then he’ll find the whole mess our brothers have, without a doubt, made and find you not doing your work, which may I remind you is already a day late since you’ve done jackshit yesterday and today. So…get off me already and get to work.”

Well, that seemed to work. Belphie smiled as he watched the oldest open his eyes, blinking slowly. “...Diavolo?” he asked, a baritone rumble leaving his mouth. Belphie gave an enthusiastic nod.

“Yep. Probably already on his way here, so you should, y’know, get the whole House ready and stuff.” If this didn’t work, then Belphie was fucked. He was also this close to killing Lucifer, so this better fucking work. But there was no reason for it to not. So Belphie was in the clear, he was more than sure that Lucifer would finally get up.

But, there was one detail that Belphegor had forgotten. A detail that struck him like a train as he realized it when Lucifer gave a long-winded sigh and settled back down. What?

“Diavolo can handle himself.” What? “I’m going to sleep for a bit longer.” What? 

Because the detail that Belphie had forgotten was that Lucifer hasn’t slept in who knows how long. He hasn’t ever taken the time to truly rest. And now as the Avatar of Sloth? Nothing was going to get in his way of catching up all on that missed sleep. Nothing.

“Fucking dammit,” Belphie hissed, as the snoring picked up again. “Oh fuck you! Get off me you big oaf! I swear to Diavolo, if you don’t get off right now, then I’ll destroy everything in my fucking path, and take our brothers down with us!” His little speech garnered no reaction. With what little wiggle room he had, Belphie moved so he could scratch and hit Lucifer’s chest.

“Let me go already!” he yelled. His tail started to thwap around and thump against the large comforter underneath them. “I fucking mean it! I’ll never forgive you, you asshole!” 

“Calm yourself,” Lucifer grumbled, pulling the youngest closer. “Let’s just rest until dinner is done.”

“No! Fuck you old man! I actually wanna do shit for once, and I’m not gonna let you ruin that!” His tail thumped louder, even hitting against Lucifer’s legs. “Let! Go! Of me!”

Lucifer gave his own growl, and held Belphie impossibly closer. Belphie tried to push away, but, as he should’ve known, it didn’t work.

A wave of anger washed over him. Never has he ever felt this pissed off at Lucifer, not in a long, long time, but he was just so fed up with all of this, he couldn’t contain the wrath that coursed through his veins.

“Lucifer,” he growled, trying to make himself sound as scary as he could, “you better let me go now or I swear to Diavolo I will ruin your life for the rest of our damned lives–I will make sure you will never get another good night’s sleep again, and that you’ll rue the fucking day you decided not to listen to me.” He pushed against him as hard as he could, which was making very little progress. He gave the biggest scowl he could muster, as he was not willing to deal with any more shit Lucifer wanted to throw at him.

But, alas, the oldest just gave a sleepy smile, and a low chuckle. “Just like Sat’n,” he muttered, and shifted his wings underneath the seventh-born to bring him close again to hold. Belphie started to shake in rage.

“Are you even listening to me?” he shouted. He tried his best to hit Lucifer, but he could only do so much being practically pinned underneath. At least his tail could do some harm, and if he angled his head the right way, his horns could probably do some good damage, too. 

“Let.” A hit against his chest. “Me.” His tail went up the highest it could and slammed into Lucifer’s legs. “Go!” He slammed his head against his chest in hopes of hurting him with his horns. Turns out, as always, Lucifer was two steps ahead of him.

Lucifer outstretched his arms so he could properly wrap them around Belphie’s torso. He suddenly felt constricted, as he was being forcibly kept close in Lucifer’s grip, without any room to even move his arms, as they were kept between Lucifer’s body and his own. The black wings curled up against his back too, adding another layer to retain the youngest. And what was worse, was that Lucifer tucked Belphie’s head underneath his head, something like how they did when they were kids. It was something Lucifer did to comfort someone, and Belphie refused to be comforted by someone like Lucifer.

“Calm down,” Lucifer said, the vibrations from his chest hitting Belphie, with an air of finality in his voice. “I swear, you’re just like Satan. Now sleep already, I promise we’ll get up once dinner is done. Just sleep, Belphegor.”

Belphie scoffed. “So you get angry whenever I indulge in my sin, but now, since you’re the Avatar of Sloth, suddenly it’s okay?”

“Yes.”

Belphie growled. “I hate you.”

“I love you, too.”

Belphie froze at that. That wasn’t what Lucifer was supposed to say. He was supposed to scoff, or give that annoying smirk, and pair it with some witty or sarcastic remark. He didn’t–Lucifer never spoke about his feelings. He doesn’t–that’s not what he does. 

“Shut up,” Belphie growled. Lucifer squeezed him, and Belphie wondered if Lucifer thought he could get rid of the pent-up anger by just hugging it out. 

“I know I don’t say it enough-”

“Shut up.”

“-And I should probably tell the others too-”

“Stop it already, I get it, okay?”

“-but I want you to know that I care about you. I love you.”

Belphie didn’t know how to react. How the hell was he supposed to yell at him and be angry when all Lucifer did was be soft? How was he supposed to stay angry at that?

“Whatever,” he scoffed. “Just. Sleep or something.” He couldn’t wait until Solomon figured out how to fix the whole situation. And then Belphie can actually sleep again and Lucifer would be prideful again and never talk about his feelings and it would be easy to hate him and things would just be normal again.

Another squeeze, as if he was proud of the work he had done. Fucking stupid dumb idiot man, stupid stupid how dare he, piece of shit-

“I love you.”

~~~

Solomon opened a spellbook with a sigh. Finding something powerful, as well as fun and flashy, but wouldn’t end up killing anyone was always a hard task. He looked up at his captive. “Easy way or hard way?” he asked the witch. Red curly hair–less curly and more unruly and unkept–with a giant wart on her nose, and a name that started with the letter M. This was the witch he was looking for.

Currently, she–Miranda? Meriam? Solomon couldn’t find himself caring–was being hung upside down from the ceiling via rope given by a certain Avatar of Lust for some fun sexy times. Now it was being used for fun torture times–hopefully Asmo wouldn’t mind all that much. 

“Just let me go already, please!” she pleaded for the nth time. Solomon rolled his eyes; when would she shut up? “I already told you, I don’t know what I did! I haven’t broken any laws, and I’ve paid off all of my debts! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Ah, but that’s where you are wrong,” Solomon responded, slamming the book shut up, a kind smile on his face. It didn’t seem to calm her down, though. Whatever, it wasn’t his job to make her comfortable or happy. “You see, you cursed the Seven Avatars yesterday, and I am here to find out how and also how to reverse it.”

“But I–I never ran into any of them, I swear!” she said, voice thick as tears rolled down into her hair.

“None of them?” Solomon asked with a tilt of his head. “How curious, because Mammon recalls running into you and how you spoke about cursing him. Are you calling one of the Brothers a liar, then?”

“Of–of course not!” she squeaked. “I just–yes, yes I remember now!”  Good. Solomon didn’t care for the idea of having to waste any spells or potions to make her talk. “I did run into Mammon! I had asked him to pay what he owed me–and of course he told me he would pay me back next week. I didn’t quite believe him, seeing as he has told me that for the past five weeks now.

“And so we argued for a bit. But then, in the end, he left without paying me. I of course got angry, and then started to yell about cursing him and his dumb brothers–they too, have angered me in the past, and everything just festered together all at once. But I promise I didn’t actually curse him! I was just talking myself up, saying whatever came to mind. I am weak, I would never be able to curse someone like the Avatars!”

Solomon hummed. “Well, at least we agree on one thing–that Mammon is a scumbag. Forgive me though when I say that I don’t believe you.”

“Huh?”

“Because, you see, you did curse them–all seven brothers are all cursed, and it all leads back to you,” he explained. “Now, what I want to know is how someone like you, a no-name witch who probably can’t even cast a luminary spell, was able to cast a powerful curse that not even I can do.” He pushed her a bit, making her swing back and forth slowly. “So, how did you do it?”

“I-I don’t know, really! I didn’t mean to curse them, so if I did then it was an accident! Maybe someone else did? I would never do that, and-”

Solomon sighed, as he opened the book again. “Hard way then, I suppose,” he said to himself, while the witch whimpered in fear. But no one gave a shit about that. A smile tugged on his lips, as he read a line of text from the book. Fire that was the color of obsidian and dark purple danced and intertwined colors in the palm of his hand, appearing from what seemed out of nowhere.

“Now then,” he started, approaching the witch, “I’ll ask again: how were you able to cast such a powerful curse?”

“I swear! Please, I don’t know how I did it–all I did was talk about cursing them! Please, you have to believe me, I-” Solomon held the fire close to her face. “Please!” 

Solomon sighed. “At least try to think about what might’ve happened. Maybe some sort of cursed item you had? Or maybe some sort of mystic help that powered your magic?”

“I-I don’t know! The only magical item I had on me was my grandmother’s ring, but that hasn’t worked in centuries-”

Solomon paused at that. Finally, something of possible use. “Explain.”

The witch stuttered a bit as she gathered her thoughts. “Well, I–my grandmother gave me her ring, you see, and apparently it was supposed to grant my deepest desires. You know, that sorta dumb shit. And it worked for a while–wished for free ice cream, boom! Free ice cream. Wanted to make sure I came home with some winnings at the casino, and the ring would make sure it happened. But after a month, it just stopped working! Have no idea what happened, but it hasn’t done jackshit since like, twenty years ago. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for…? Now please let me go, all the blood’s flowing down into my head!”

Solomon hummed. He looked around a bit, then saw a shiny ring on one of her fingers. “Is this the ring?” The fire dissipated, and he slipped it off her to get a closer look. A normal looking ring, save the small crack that ran across. 

If it indeed was a magical item, then it was more than likely the magical properties was spilling out. It would make sense as to why it stopped working, like she said, and why the magic was sparse. It didn’t lose all of its properties, which was obvious enough, and it probably ended up reacting with her strong emotions. It used the little magic it had to fulfill her request, with her appropriate anger acting like a catalyst. 

“Have you tried sealing the crack?” She cocked her head–well, as best as she could, because hanging upside down wasn’t the best position to do so. 

“What crack?” she asked, clearly clueless as she was stupid. Solomon sighed, and pocketed the ring.

“Well, I suppose I can see if I could fix it, then maybe see if it has enough charge to be able to be used to fix the curses…unless you have any other items similar to this one?” She shook her head. He gave another sigh. “Of course you don’t. Let’s just hope this works out, Merinda, or Lucifer will have your head for this.”

Her brows furrowed. “My name’s M-” she was interrupted as a small fire bolt Solomon casted burned through her rope, causing her to fall face first on the ground. He smiled at her yelp.

“Have a nice day, Merianna. I’ll contact you if this doesn’t work.”

“I think you broke my nose!”

“Again, I’ll contact you. Now leave, there’s work that I need to tend to.”

He twirled the ring between his fingers while the witch staggered away and out of his room. 

“Solomon?” Of course Simeon would poke his head in. When has he ever just minded his own business. “Who was the young witch? And why was she bleeding everywhere?”

“Nothing, Simeon. Just a nice lady who was willing to help me out with some work. Do you mind making dinner today? I know I said I was, but I’m afraid work comes first…”

“Of course!” Simeon answered enthusiastically. “I’ll be happy to cook! Luke can help me too. You just keep on working on whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Simeon. I don’t mind taking over once I’m done working-”

“No, no! I couldn’t ask you to do that! You just keep working long and hard! Take as long as that, I’ve got food covered!”

Simeon seemed a bit too excited to cook…but whatever. Less things for Solomon to worry about.

“Thank you once again. Now let’s just hope I’ll be able to finish this by nightfall.” And have it finished and working before Lucifer took the chance to hang him up on the ceiling.

~~~

Satan ended up on dinner duty. Originally it was Levi’s job for that day, and Satan only noticed something was off when he realized dinner hadn’t been served, and it was already a few hours past the set schedule for meals.

He had gone to tell Levi that he was late, and that Lucifer was going to be pissed about it, but when he entered the room, he found a distraught demon who seemed to be on the verge of tears. Satan left when he threw a controller at him. He really didn’t seem stable enough to cook, so Satan decided that he would just cook for the night. Levi could cook some other day.

Dinner was finished a few hours later, and by then night time had already taken over the House. It was about the time when Beel would be having his second after-dinner snack, when Asmo started preparing his nightly routine before getting a good night’s rest, and when Satan started to read books full of fluff to unwind before bed. And dinner was being served. Lucifer was surely to be on his case about this, but Satan couldn’t find enough energy in him to care.

Lucifer, in the end, didn’t seem to mind all that much. Belphie did, but he just seemed more angry towards Lucifer than to anything else, and that anger was just spilling over and affecting other things. Satan understood.

Mammon ate heaping piles of food, with Beel trying his best to remind him to eat slowly and pay attention to what his body was telling him. Asmo stayed quiet, only ever pushing his food around with his fork. He ate a total of one forkful of food when Lucifer asked him to. Levi, surprisingly, stayed quiet this dinner, while Belphie glared daggers at anyone who even made the attempt to talk to him. Even towards his own twin, and Satan couldn’t help but worry about that. Lucifer simply thanked him for the food and ate in silence as well.

It was probably the quietest meal times they ever had together. Satan had never experienced something like that before since he was born. It was almost scary if it weren’t for the fact that at least Mammon was trying to strike up conversations with people. Only Satan and Beel indulged, but even Beel sometimes trailed off and went quiet.

And hey, since when was everyone in their demon forms? Were they all really struggling that much? The cream Asmo had given him helped wonders, so Satan never really thought about it while he busied himself with books and TV. Seemed like no one else shared the same sentiment, though. 

Heh. The thought of Lucifer struggling forced Satan to hide a smile the best he could.

Dinner, thankfully, was interrupted by a certain sorcerer walking in. A proud smirk on his face as he strolled in gave Satan hope that maybe he had figured out how to fix the whole mess. Everyone immediately sat up and stopped their actions when Solomon walked up, giving all of their attention to him.

“Well?” Lucifer prompted. Satan wondered to himself how hard Lucifer was focusing to keep himself composed. “Do you have something to help us?”

“Yes,” Solomon answered with a smile. “Not only did I find out exactly what happened, but I believe I’ve found how to fix it.” Believe, as in hopefully. As in “not totally 100% sure it’ll work”. How joyous.

“And?”

Solomon pulled out a small, golden ring out of his pocket. “This should be able to fix all of your problems. Apparently this, in the simplest of explanations, grants the user’s any wish. Of course, it’ll be a bit of a struggle, seeing as how a bit of its properties leaked out…but I’m sure it’ll do the job well enough.”

“And what if it doesn’t work?” Satan asked. Solomon shrugged.

“Then you guys will be stuck like that until I find something else. But I’m positive that this’ll work, so no need to worry. Worst case scenario, the ring will need to react to a strong emotion to work, which I’m sure one of you could supply. It’ll all work out.”

Solomon started to slide the ring on. “Hey, wait!” Solomon continued to slide the ring on.

“What, Levi?” the sorcerer asked. “I found a way to fix this, is this really important that it can’t wait until I’m done?”

Levi seemed a bit surprised to have all eyes on him, but he kept his ground. Satan couldn’t remember a time when his brother was this confident in himself or in what he had to say.

“What if I don’t want to change back?”

“Don’t be silly,” Lucifer said, quick to shoot it down. He looked back down to the sorcerer. “Solomon, hurry up and start it.”

“Wait, but I-”

“Solomon, ignore him.”

Solomon made brief eye contact with Levi, before giving a nod. “Of course, Lucifer.” Satan and the others stayed quiet as they watched Solomon do his work.

Levi, however, was not having it. “What! Lucifer, at least let me-”

“Leviathan. No.” He spoke with finality in his words, and even Satan knew that Levi needed to stop. But the idiotic third-born never knew when to quit, did he?

“Lucifer, I’m for once happy with myself-”

“I said no.” 

“Oh, so your brothers don’t matter, huh? Because as long as you’re unhappy, then everything has to change for you.”

“Levi, all of us are unhappy!” Asmo yelled. “Stop making everything about yourself!”

Levi stood up from his seat. “But I’m finally happy! What do you expect me to just go back to my gross, otaku ways? I’m finally not doubting myself all the time!”

“Levi, you were always a gross otaku, being the Avatar of Envy or Pride doesn’t change that,” Belphie grumbled. “Now shut up already, your argument is dumb.”

“No, none of you understand! I-”

“Shut up, need to concentrate,” Solomon interrupted. Purple sparks started to fly off of the ring.

“None of you are listening!” Levi yelled. Satan debated whether or not to ignore the small tears that Levi obviously tried to blink away. “I’m finally happy for once! I’m finally not jealous anymore, and I’m proud of myself for once! I’ve never felt like this before, and now you just want to rip that away from me?”

Lucifer got up from his own seat, and took a step towards the third-born, towering over him as he glared down. 

“Levi. Stop. We both know that this is just your Pride talking.”

“Better than my Envy talking,” Levi shot back. “You’re just pissed that I’m stronger than you.”

“No, I’m concerned because I know how Pride is, and I know that it’s too strong.”

“Oh, so you don’t think I can handle it? You think I’m weak?”

Lucifer furrowed his brows. “I don’t think you’re weak Levi.” A smirk appeared on Levi. Satan knew that this would not end well. Not at all. “I know you’re weak. I know you won’t be able to handle it. You’re incredibly weak, only ever staying in your room and coping with Envy. If you had to live with Pride for the rest of your life, it would drive you to insanity. So weak, I doubt that you would be even able to handle a week of it. Hell, you wouldn’t be able to handle it overnight.”

Levi looked stunned. Satan didn’t know what to say. And from the look of it, no one did either. A part of Satan wanted to stand up for Levi, to jump on the chance to piss Lucifer off. But he also knew that there was no lie in what Lucifer had said.

A sudden bright flash, and Solomon gave a heavy sigh. The magic and sparks were gone, and the sorcerer pocketed the ring. “It’s done,” he announced, and looked up at all of them. “How do you feel?”

Satan felt…angry. Which was a good start. But anger was a basic emotion, he could feel that any time without being the Avatar of Wrath. Although, the second he looked back at Lucifer, whose wings were out and extended out to make himself look bigger, and Levi, who looked so angry with unwavering confidence, even if the tears in his eyes and how his tail coiled around his leg said differently, made him feel something else. Something bigger than anger–an emotion that made him want to just burn everything in his path and destroy Lucifer. A feeling of Wrath coursed through his veins, and while he knew he should be happy that he was back to normal, the ire within him surpassed any other emotion.

“Well, don’t feel hungry anymore,” Mammon mused, reminding Satan that the others were still in the room. Mammon gave a big smile. “So yeah! Gotta say that I think we’re all back to normal!”

“Thank Diavolo,” Asmo said with a sigh. “I don’t know how much more I could’ve taken. Being a scumbag really was the worst.”

Belphie yawned. “Guess it didn’t take all that long for my sin to kick in, huh?”

“Now I’m hungry again…”

“Don’t worry Beel, we can have a quick snack before we go to bed.”

“Need I remind you we’re still eating dinner?” Lucifer said. “A late one at that, but I suppose we have a certain third-born to thank for that.”

Levi shrunk away, and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. He stayed silent.

The oldest responded with a dissatisfied hum. “Well, I suppose you can just take over Satan’s day.” Everyone else stayed quiet. No one knew what to say or what to do. Satan had a feeling few wanted to celebrate, whether it be on their own or with the others, but Lucifer and Levi’s fight was making the environment pretty awkward.

“...Do you want me to leave, then?” Solomon asked. No one answered, as Lucifer continued to stare down Levi. He nodded. “Alright then. I can see when I’m not wanted. Asmo, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a nice night,” Asmo responded, not with the usual enthusiasm he normally would give. Satan was quick to finish his meal, because honestly it was starting to get on his nerves. With a loud escape of the chair against the floor, Satan murmured a quick excuse before leaving the room. He was sure that the others would follow suit as well.

Whatever. He just wanted the day to be over already.

~~~

Lucifer, despite being back to normal, was tired. He knew he should do his paperwork and catch up on all the missed work that he had slept through, but a part of him wanted to rest. A part of him just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep and forget everything. Tomorrow would be better. Everything would go back to the way it was in the morning, and everyone would be back to normal.

He knew he should work, but dammit he deserved to take a break, just for the night. Surely Diavolo would understand his need to get at least eight hours of rest (he didn’t need to know about the afternoon-to-evening nap he took).

So, after taking what felt like hours trying to convince himself, he left his study and stayed in his room. Even just taking the time to unwind by picking a book off the shelf and getting comfortable in bed made him feel the stress from the day just melt away. 

But then there was a knock on his door. How bothersome.

He tucked his reading glasses away, and put the book onto the nightstand. He opened the door, only to reveal a sleepy pair of twins. Belphie stood in the forefront, in his pajamas and his pillow held tightly under one of his arms. With his other hand he held Beel’s, with the taller in his own pair of pajamas and rubbing his eyes sleepily. Both were clearly tired, so why they were even at his door in the first place confused the oldest.

“What do you want?” he asked. A tad more venom than needed, he’ll admit, but at least it got across his annoyance.

Belphie rolled his eyes. “Jeez, the second we’re back to normal and you become a real asshole like usual. Don’t know why I’m surprised.” Belphie shook the hair away from his eyes. “We’re here to sleep in your bed,” he stated simply. At least he was straight to the point.

“No.” Lucifer started to close the door, but Belphie’s foot stopped it. 

“What, so now you don’t wanna sleep on the same bed as us?” Belphie huffed. “Honestly, I’m starting to think I liked you better when you were the Avatar of Sloth.”

“Okay then, why do you want to sleep on my bed?” No one had asked to sleep with him on his bed since…forever. Last time was when they were still fresh to being Avatars, and Asmo had a breakdown. They all stopped asking for that sort of comfort after a while–something Lucifer was quite frankly grateful for, actually, because having to deal with them as he tried to rest was annoying. He needed to have his own time, and having one or multiple of his brothers crash his night, wanting to be held or have words of affirmation, was not an ideal night for him. Because having his brothers with him were more irritating than it was reassuring.

(Because, in the end, it was reassuring when his brothers seeked him out. It made him feel wanted, and made him feel like he, in the end, is a good brother. That since they went to him for comfort, he still deserved the title of being the oldest brother. But of course, his pride would always choke down that side of him). 

“Because your bed’s nice,” Belphie answered. And then added, “Also, I figured that we had a long day, and that we deserve to sleep somewhere comfortable, alright?” Lucifer couldn’t help but wonder if Belphie had some other ulterior motive. Sure, he could’ve just wanted some sort of comfort like old times, after having to deal with a long and stressful day, but this was Belphegor–he hated Lucifer, and was proud to admit it. So why in the world would Belphie seek out Lucifer willingly?

“You don’t even have to worry about your space old man,” Belphie continued. “You got an Alaskan-sized bed in there, I doubt you'll be affected too badly if we sleep in there.”

Lucifer looked over to the sixth-born. “Beel? Any thoughts?”

Beel gave a sleepy shrug. “Dunno, I don’t mind all that much. Your bed is pretty comfy though.”

Lucifer sighed. It was probably best to just let them in already, to save trouble and time. 

“Fine,” he said, caving in. “Just don’t bug me, and I am not afraid to kick either of you out.”

Belphie gave a smile as he walked in. “See? Wasn’t so hard, now was it?” 

“Again: not afraid to kick you out.” Just as Lucifer closed the door behind the twins, another knock interrupted the night. Fucking dammit, can he not just catch a break?

He swung the door open, to reveal Mammon, who wore his “cocky but so fucking nervous about concenquences” smile–a smile Lucifer was all too familiar with. He, too, was in his pajamas, and his hair was a mess. Lucifer could tell with just a glance how tired his little brother was, even if he was trying to say otherwise with the smile he had.

“Hey Luci!” he greeted, voice carrying down the hallway. “So uh, Asmo, Satan, and I were all saw the twins headin’ this way, and figured that they were probably going over to sleep with you on that Texas-sized bed of your’s, so we thought, ‘hey! What if we went over ourselves too?’ and so boom! Here we are. Mind if we stay in your room, even just a bit? It’s pretty comfy too, and-”

“Mammon,” Lucifer said, interrupting the second-born. He knew whenever Mammon was nervous, he tended to rant and try to justify every little thing he could so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Whether Mammon wanted to join in because he was jealous or seeked comfort himself, Lucifer wasn’t sure. So, instead, he decided to ask about something else.

“Where’s Asmo and Satan?”

“Oh, they’re right he–aaaand they’re not here. Fuck.” Mammon took a few steps down into the hallway, and shouted “Hey! Get your asses back over here! If I end up gettin’ in trouble, then so are you! I ain’t going down alone!”

It had taken a few seconds, but two more demons appeared. Asmo seemed visibly upset, tugging at the wrappings around his arms and looking almost as tired as Mammon. Neither seemed eager to be there, but Satan out of them all seemed the least happy about the situation.

“Fine,” Asmo hissed, “but if Lucifer punishes us, then I’ll make sure you never get to see Goldie again.”

“Hey, now that’s just cruel!”

Lucifer sighed and shook his head. “Fine. The three of you, get in here already.” He opened the door a bit more, as Mammon’s eyes widened.

“Wait, really?”

“Just get in already before I change my mind.”

Mammon flashed a smile and walked in, his brothers in tow. “Thanks, Lucifer!”

“Thank you, Luci.”

“...Thanks.”

Despite Satan’s obvious annoyance, he still entered. He still joined his brothers in bed, with Asmo going immediately to cuddle with him. Belphie made many disgruntled noises when the three climbed onto the bed, but eventually went silent again as he used his twin as a pillow instead of using the one he had brought with him.

But, instead of joining them and inevitably sleeping in an awkward position that would lead to joint problems in the morning, Lucifer stared down the hallway. Because, if he focused hard enough, he could see a faint glow of orange-blue eyes staring back at him.

“Levi,” Lucifer sighed. “Just get over here already.” 

Levi hesitated, but soon started to move slowly towards Lucifer. The demon was obviously distraught–he hadn’t even taken the time to clean up his face that had trails of tears down his cheeks–and Lucifer wasn’t surprised that Leviathan, too, wanted comfort.

“I-” Levi paused, and Lucifer kept his patience in check, not wanting to scare his brother more than he already did. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.

“I know that already,” Lucifer said. “Come on.” He grabbed his younger brother by the arm and pulled him into the room. He was too tired to deal with Levi’s bullshit in all honesty, even if he was probably three seconds away from having a breakdown.

He gave a sigh when he saw the situation on his bed. Turns out, not even a sizable bed like his own was made to hold seven demons. When Lucifer climbed in, he had to deal with Beel against his legs, pushing them into an uncomfortable position, and the second he turned onto his side, someone–Asmo, he could tell from the long nails brushing against him–took up the spot against him. And of course, Levi ended up right against him, his head buried into his chest. He pretended to ignore the damp feeling of Levi’s tears soaking his shirt.

“Am I really that weak?” the third-born asked, breaking the silence. Lucifer wondered whether to answer truthfully or not. But, then again, he really didn’t want to have to deal with Satan or Belphie’s temper so late at night if he said something wrong. Lucifer didn’t want to deal with any of this, but it was too late to kick them all out now.

“No,” he answered slowly. “Not in most things.” Levi tightened his grip on Lucifer’s shirt at that.

“Most things?” he repeated, voice sounding like it was going to break with another word.

“Yeah,” Belphie interjected. “Like, you’re a pretty cool general of the Navy.”

“You just wouldn’t be able to handle being the Avatar of Pride,” Lucifer finished. He then felt a sudden burst of rage when he felt someone climb on top of him.

“Don’t worry Levs,” Mammon said, top half perched on top of Lucifer. “Don’t think any one of us could handle it, y’know? Only Lucifer over here can handle it, but that’s just because he’s been the Avatar of it for like, ever. Which is why he’s so good at it, right? And like, how you’re good and fit for being the Avatar of Envy. Ya know?”

Levi sniffled a bit. “I…think?”

“Good. G’night then.” Mammon flopped back down, landing on top of Asmo.

“Mammon!” the fifth-born whined. “Get off me!” Lucifer grunted when Asmo kicked into him as he struggled to get the second-born off.

“Guys, some of us are trying to sleep,” Belphie scolded, with Beel giving an agreeing hum.

“Well tell Mammon to get off of me!”

“Can’t. You're too comfy, Asmo.”

“Ugh, you lazy–!”

“I cannot believe I have to help you all settle down like children,” Lucifer hissed. His little brothers all went silent, and Mammon slowly slid off of Asmo. Satan mumbled to himself as his space was now being compromised, but otherwise stayed quiet. Levi moved to get more comfortable against Lucifer.

“Thanks,” he said. “I…I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Lucifer reassured. “Just sleep already.”

“...M’kay.” Levi shifted again, and Lucifer just accepted his fate that he himself would never be comfortable. He sighed, the presence of his brothers all surrounding him gave him a mix of a weird, heart-warming feeling and also a small bit of annoyance. He wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep, was he?

But maybe that was fine. They all had a hard day, Lucifer knew that much. They all deserved to rest, and if Lucifer had to sacrifice something of his for that to happen, then he was more than willing to let them sleep.

They deserved it, and even if he would never say it aloud, he was incredibly proud of all of them.