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Belphegor was half awake when he walked into the second born’s room. He had flopped onto his older brother’s bed, leaning into the warmth of the comforter.
Just as he was about to doze off, he was woken up by a scream.
“I’MSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY MICHAEL PLEASE DONT LOCK ME UP AGAIN IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY-”
Belphegor quickly reacted and tried to wake Mammon up.
“You’re okay, Mammon! It’s me, Belphie, your younger brother!”
“IT HURTS IT BURNS” Mammon let out another scream, his demon form manifested. Horns growing out and his wings hugging his body as he curled into a ball.
”Mammon! Oi, Mammon!” Belphegor yelled, he placed a hand on Mammon’s shoulder and kept trying to wake him up.
Belphegor gritted his teeth, why was Mammon having nightmares? From what he knows, Mammon never had any nightmares. Well in celestial realm he did have a lot…
“Lilith!”
Mammon jolted awake, his wings still hugging his body as he sat up right. He sobbed and started to breathe heavily.
“Mammon, Mammon! Big brother, look at me!” Belphegor yelled, Mammon looked up and quickly pulled the younger one into a embrace.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” Mammon wailed, he hugged the seventh born tightly as tears fell down.
“Don’t apologise idiot.” Belphegor clicked his tongue before running his fingers through Mammon’s hair.
”It really hurted Belphie, it burned, my-my whole body was on fire when I fell! Too much too much!” Mammon cried out, still shaken up by his nightmare.
”I know, I know. Just calm down first. We’ll talk later.” Belphie says as he hugged Mammon back, just as tightly. Mammon whimpered and couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
If Belphegor had to be honest, all he wanted was some cuddles from a brother and a good sleep. He never expected to be dealing with the second born’s nightmares but there they sat on the couch with hot chocolate in their hands.
”Usually… I would be able to deal with it. I only had a few nightmares that made me… breakdown.” Mammon started off the conversation, the silence was getting to him.
“Usually?”
Mammon hesitated before nodding his head, sipping the cup of hot chocolate.
”You’re telling me that you have those kinds of nightmares almost everyday?” Belphegor asks, Mammon winced at the time of his voice but nodded. “I’m used to it by now. I just didn’t expect for you to be in my room.”
”What did Michael do to you?” Belphie asked as he placed down his cup on the coffee table. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
”No, no, it’s fine.” Mammon quickly shook his head and forced a smile. “Michael used to lock me up in a dark room and left me to starve. I got used to it but days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months… I couldn’t handle it anymore and i figured that if I was mischievous enough, Michael would hand me over to Lucifer. He also did cane or whip me then threatened to lock me away again if I told anyone of what he did.”
“He did what.” Belphegor stared at his older brother, his eyes widened and he brows furrowed in anger.
”Don’t worry! I was used to it! I’m really okay now!” Mammon smiled, Belphie gritted his teeth and grabbed Mammon’s collar.
“STOP ACTING LIKE YOU’RE OKAY WHEN YOU’RE NOT!” Belphegor yelled, Mammon was taken aback but he smiled sadly.
”I’m sorry.”
”Why are you apologising?”
”I should be stronger. I’m your older brother I shouldn’t be crying over these stupid dreams.” Mammon chuckled, Belphegor wanted to slap him but instead he hugged him.
”You’re so fucking stupid..! You don’t have to be strong just because you’re the second oldest!” Belphie tightened his grip.
Mammon fell back onto the couch, leaning into his younger brother’s warmth. He doesn’t remember the last time he cuddled with the seventh born.
”I can handle every burden, insult, attack and words thrown at me. However you, shouldn’t handle any of them.” Mammon planted a kiss on Belphie’s forehead.
”But I can handle them. You didn’t deserve those punishments. It was just abuse!” Belphie shouted, tears pricking his eyes.
”Hey, don’t feel sad for me! I’m already over it!” Mammon laughed dryly, ruffling with Belphie’s hair.
”When you said it burned, what did you mean by that?” Belphegor questioned, looking up to Mammon who looked surprise.
”I was awake when I fell. You guys were unconscious, which I’m glad you were.” Mammon paused before continuing, “all I felt was fire. It was as if I was on fire. I felt my wings burning and I felt my purity becoming tainted in devildom’s air. I managed to cradle Levi and Asmo as we fell. I also caught you and Beel.”
”You… cradled them?” Mammon nodded his head. “That’s means you hit the ground first…”
”Yep. It hurt like crazy, there’s a reason why I complained about my back for a few centuries.” Mammon chuckled and placed his arms on his brother’s back.
”Don’t think so hard about it. It’s all in the past, I’m over it.”
”If you were really over it, you wouldn’t be having these nightmares about it.”
Mammon groaned, “fair point.”
Belphegor hated Mammon for bottling up everything. He hated that Mammon felt like he wasn’t important enough to talk about his problems. Most importantly, he hates that he has done nothing to help, he just jabbed insults at Mammon while as all Mammon gave him was affection.
“You have a really bad habit of bottling everything up…” Belphie started to feel sleepy, either because of Mammon’s warmth or it was because of the time.
“I know. I’ll try my best to fix that.” Mammon planted another kiss on Belphie’s forehead.
”Night, Belphie.”
”Sweet dreams, big brother…”
The next morning, Lucifer opened the door to Mammon’s room. Both him and Belphie were missing during breakfast so he came up to check.
He wasn’t expecting to see Mammon and Belphie cuddling on the couch, two cups of hot chocolate left forgotten on the coffee table. Lucifer smiled slightly and took out his D.D.D, snapping a picture of it.
He wanted to relocate the two onto the second born’s bed but he would need Beel for that. So instead, he grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Mammon and Belphie.
The eldest then left the room, a satisfied smile on his face.
If anyone asked him why he looked so happy, he’ll say that he saw a sloth and a crow sleeping side by side.