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When it was time for the tide of seasons to change, you were a bit worried. This world and it’s mysteries were still new, and you had assumed that even the weather would contain some demonic danger. However, you found yourself pleased as you watched snowflakes drift down from the sky to coat the ground in a pleasing crisp white. As silly as it was, you’d thought maybe the frost would be black or some other dismal color. It was comforting, the familiarity of it all, and it eased some of your home-sickness. Although, you had discovered that the chill was much more intense than anything you had felt before. Anything within human standards, anyway. You’d tried sticking your hand out to catch a twirling snowflake the first time they’d begun to fall. As soon as it touched the bare skin of your palm, you shuddered, your whole arm nearly going numb. The demons you resided with quickly rushed to accommodate your fragile human body as soon as they realized you wouldn’t be able to handle the otherworldly winter. Thicker layers, little heaters, even magical charms and potions to shield you from frigid breezes.
Of course, there had been some close calls. The time you’d forgotten to wear gloves and accidentally got stuck to a frozen door handle. The time Lucifer had been so exhausted he’d locked the front doors without remembering you had gone off to Purgatory Hall for a short visit, rushing outside as soon as he got your message with a look of fear that he’d find you frozen. It hadn’t all been bad, however. Everyone in the household was far too eager to hold your hands to make sure your fingers were warm. There would always be a hot beverage nearby when you needed one. On more than one occasion, you’d been graced with several of the demon’s coats and sweaters.
Although, the memory you recall the most was when a quite an important piece of equipment met a swift and unfortunate end.
You’d woken up from your deep sleep as loud voices clamored in the halls. You sat up, your exposed skin feeling the sudden stinging chill. Already you felt like shaking. Grabbing one of the blankets from your bed, you pulled it tight around your shoulders as you shuffled outside your room.
“I-It’s freezing!” Asmo cried, rubbing his shoulders and mourning his beauty sleep. He always seemed to struggle with the winter. On one hand, he didn’t consider covering every inch of his body with fabric to be within ‘his aesthetic’. On the other hand, he absolutely despised being cold. Even right now, dragging his dramatically long dress robe behind him, he had half a mind to put on every article of clothing that he owned.
“I bet Levi turned it down again, he likes it colder!” Mammon growled.
Levi gasped at being accused, tucking his hands under his Ruri-Chan throw blanket he had wrapped around himself. “N-n-n-not this cold!”
“I bet it’s Mammon’s fault,” Belphie whined, wearing several layers under a baggy hoodie.
“Eh? Why?!”
Belphie simply shrugged.
Out in his own little world, Beel didn’t add to the bickering, instead, he closed his eyes and hummed to himself. “Mmm, soup or some hot stew would be perfect right now…”
You made it over to them, already shaking as the hellish cold seeped through your bones. The arguing came to a quick halt when they noticed the state you were in. Asmo screeched in a pitch high enough to make your ears ring. “MC is going to freeze!” He rushed over pulling you into his arms. “Which one of you-you hellions did this?!” He never got an answer, but even Asmo himself never expected to get one. “There there, I’ll help keep you warm.” His skin was rather cold but the inner warmth from his body was slowly seeping into yours. He took your hands and placed them on his chest, rubbing the cold from your fingers. The skin of his nose and cheeks turned slightly pink. “It’s best that we get your blood pumping, huh?”
But before you could start to truly heat up, he was quickly yanked backwards by the fabric of his robe, essentially dis-robing him till he was simply in his pjs. “What do you think you’re doing gettin’ all handsy with MC, huh?! If anyone is going to be keeping them warm, it’s me!” Mammon snapped at anyone attempting to approach, cuddling up to you, grabbing the sides of the blanket and pulling it around the two of you as he pressed his body against yours. He was much warmer compared to Asmo. You nestled into him, shivering less. Belphie bumped into the two of you, trying to wedge his way between your bodies. “Oi!”
The disruption let cool air seep in past your blankets, your teeth beginning to chatter as Mammon and Belphie started to push each other and fight for who got to keep you warm. Asmo didn’t get physical, but he attempted to sneak back to you while the others were distracted. Of course, they noticed, tugging him into the fight. You didn’t care. The only thing on your mind was searching for relief. Beel was still simply standing there, daydreaming about all the different types of warm foods. “...Seventh Circle Chili...Decadent Devil’s Hot Chocolate…” He was the only one who would be able to warm you up without resorting to whatever jealous contest they always put themselves under whenever you were involved. You planted your face in his body, surprised with how hot he was despite the frost already climbing its way up the windows from the inside. He jolted out of his thoughts. “MC? Are you cold?” You nodded and he frowned, pulling you tightly as his larger frame covered yours as much as he was able.
“It’s as I suspected,” A deep voice sighed as two other people approached the group. Lucifer strode up, his normal coat on top of his robe that he had underneath. His arms were folded, and overall he seemed relatively unaffected like his brothers, but you could see the very ends of his fingers tremble trying to keep themselves warm by digging into the fabric of his sleeve. “The heater has been frozen.”
“I t-told you I thought the winter would be colder this year,” Satan hissed, his terse tone falling short between his shuddering breaths.
“And what exactly did you want me to do about it?” Lucifer glared at him, trying his best not to twitch, to endure the cold by his sheer will. Normally, they would’ve kept their little back and forth going. Sometimes they went on for hours, and yet this time, the chill was even enough to snuff out the flames of contention before it really started. “At any rate...what’s done is done. It’ll be about a day before it’s fixed.”
“A whole day?!” Asmo gritted his teeth. “Luciferrrr,” he squirmed, trying to give him puppy eyes. “Can’t you get someone out to fix it now?”
Lucifer groaned and lowered his head. “I did, Asmo. They’re on their way now but with the rising snow and the state the heater was in, it’ll take a while before it’s--” He finally shook once, a brief and subtle quiver. “Before it’s warm again.”
A jolt of worry struck through you. A full day? Could you manage to make it an entire day with it being this cold? You were nearly fully clothed, wrapped in a thick comforter, and holding onto Beel so tightly you were a little afraid you’d be stuck to him, and yet despite all this, you were still absolutely freezing. Beel could sense this, doing what he could as he began to rub your back and shoulders, hoping some friction would warm you up a bit. “Lucifer,” he called out, directing the eldest’s head in your direction. Through your peripherals, you watched Lucifer’s eyes go wide as he quickly remembered that humans could easily die from the cold. “What do we do about MC?”
“Let’s start with something warm to eat.” He came over putting his hand atop your head. With him touching you, you could feel him vibrating. “Actually, I think we could all use something hot, couldn’t we? Who wants to--”
“Me!” A choir of voices rang out all at once.
Lucifer scowled. “I wasn’t even finished yet.”
“You were going to send one of us to the kitchen, right?” Asmo beamed. “To be right next to the fiery oven? I’ll go!”
It dawned on a few demons that Asmo was right. The heater might’ve been broken, but ovens, stoves, fireplaces, they all were still functional. Nearly all of them bolted down the hallway, pushing and shoving each other out of the way as they tried to get there first. Only Lucifer, Beel, and you remained. Again, Lucifer sighed, and you wondered if he was also trying to heat himself up with heavy breaths. “Fighting over fire, is that what they’ve been resorted to? Neanderthals, the bunch of them.” Despite his exasperated words, even the demon of pride had a difficult time lingering in this shadowed path. He grabbed some of the blanket’s slack, tightening it around your shoulders to keep the warm bubble you’d created inside. “Beel, can you please go make sure your brothers don't burn the house down?”
Beel hesitated, pulling you even closer to him, an incredible feat. You could feel him take up handfuls of the blanket as he gave you a protective squeeze. “But…”
“I’ll bring MC up to my room. It’s the only bedroom with a fireplace.” With that fact, Beel nodded, pulling warily apart from you. The air you’d been protected from rushed towards your body with a bite strong enough that you felt it in your soul. You gasped so loudly you couldn't breathe afterwards. Quickly you were tucked against another body, albeit one far from as warm as Beel’s. “Out of all the years of previous centuries for this to happen, it chose the year you stayed with us,” Lucifer whispered, growing immensely more worried when you could feel how cold you had become. “Let’s go, it’ll be faster if I carried you.”
It was still a new experience for you, being so easily lifted off the ground. But he raised you up, making sure to wrap the tail end of the blanket around your feet as he tilted your head so it could rest against the crook of his neck. You held yourself together, trying to not shake as much as you could, although the strain almost forced you to tremble harder. Thankfully, with his speed, he was at his room in no time.
Soon, you were settled on an armchair in front of the fireplace, the warmth from the devilish flames engulfing you in it’s sinful indulgence. The skin across your body burnt, adjusting to the new temperature as the painful numbness started to slip away. Lucifer squatted down, meeting you at eye-level. As his chilled hand tried to caress your face, you felt it send uncomfortable jolts down your spine. All it took was a single flinch for Lucifer to look at his own hand and think, for once, ‘it’s not good enough.’ He took his own coat off of his shoulders and placed it around you, scooting the chair just a bit closer to the fire. And then, in a strike of brilliance, he pulled you out of your spot for just a moment, sliding into where you had been, and then gently tugged to seat you into his lap. With a little breath, the light surrounding the room appeared to get darker. An ebony feather rubbed against your cheek, and then you realized what had happened. Lucifer’s wings tucked around the back of you, pressing you closer to him. One of his hands entangled the hair at the back of your head, guiding your face against his neck once more.
Rubbing your back, he pressed his cheek against the side of your head. “Any warmer?” The gentle intimacy and deepness of his vocals brought the smallest twinge of heat to your cheeks. You took a shuddering sigh before nodding, burying your body closer to his. You slowly unfolded the blanket around you, taking the ends and tucking it around Lucifer’s sides. As you did so, you felt the base of his wings. One of your fingers accidently rubbed against it. The touch sent sparks down Lucifer’s nerves, his wings involuntarily twitching. It wasn’t long till you could feel the heat of his body grow. You tried to let your fingers recede, but his hand touched your elbow, his thumb rubbing over the curved bone. You took this as a message that...it was okay. Reaching forward, you let your hand slide over the small of his back between the bases, then slowly you brushed your palm over the feathers. Lucifer shook, trembling a bit, and then he sighed contently, slouching forward, his chin resting on your shoulder. His steady heartbeat could be felt against your own chest.
The two of you stayed like that for a while, the heat from your entwined bodies comforting you both. At one point, you’d nearly dozed off, lulled to a light sleep with the rhythmic circles being massaged into your body and the reassuring scent of his faded cologne. But of course, it didn’t last forever. Lucifer’s bedroom door flew wide open, a clamor of demons stumbling through the doorway. The mixed smell of sweet and savory wafted through the air, and you sleepily raised your head to peer over Lucifer’s shoulder. The eldest let out a little groan only audible enough for you to hear as his siblings disrupted the peace.
“See, I knew something was up!” Mammon shouted. He hurriedly came over, careful not to spill a bowl of something steamy in his hands.
“Great detective work,” Satan scoffed.
Levi dragged in a rolling server tray, the clinking of silverware bringing you further to attention. Beel, ignoring the food, padded over to you, his brows furled in deep worry. He touched your face, grinning at the warmth flooding back to your skin. He turned his attention down to the table in the middle of Lucifer’s room. “How about we bring this closer to the fire?”
Begrudgingly, Lucifer straightened, letting you stand to your feet as the first-born pushed the chair aside. Beel helped drag the table over till the dancing flames reflected off the glass-top. One by one, the brothers helped set this little impromptu meal of theirs. Mugs were filled with hot chocolate with little bobbing marshmallows, and bowls containing steamy soup broth were settled down. You sat down at the floor, cupping your fingers around your mug to let your hands warm up. The brothers fought for a little, but eventually Levi and Mammon got to sit at your sides, moving so close to you your arms easily touched the two of them. It only took a few spoonfuls of food to warm you from the inside out.
“Feeling better?” Satan asked from across the table.
You nodded, eagerly continuing while for the next hour or so, the brothers went back and forth talking about cold nights like these. Nights where the harsh sounds outside were muffled against the snow. Nights where the simplest things tended to be the coziest. Nights where hanging out with each other wasn’t so terrible.
The heater might’ve been out, but you hardly remembered being so warm, especially with Lucifer’s heartwarming stare, Mammon holding you in his arms from behind, Levi wrapping your hands against his own, Asmo’s feet tapping against yours, Satan’s occasional palm against your cheek, Beel’s loving smile, and Belphie crawling under the table to rest his head in your lap. You tilted your head back against Mammon’s shoulder, sighing, giving Levi’s hand a squeeze, and then letting the fuzziness of your mind take you.