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Spending a day in Hell is usually a nightmare for humans. For monsters, it's a bit more normalized. Brian's already done a few things worthy of being sent to Hell, so it's surprisingly easy for him to visit the 8th Circle. Seeing the various tortured and damned souls makes Brian feel a little better about being undead. It sure beats spending eternity here.
But a day or two isn't so bad. It's his first time going to see Damien's place. Compared to Miranda, who always flaunts her royal status, Brian sometimes forgets Damien is the Prince of Hell. He seems like your standard evil pretty boy, but if there's one thing Oz's dating simulators taught him, there's a secret soft side he's yet to see. Part of him hopes he'll see it today.
He sticks his hands into the pockets of his jacket. It was a bit weird walking around school wearing Damien's jacket, but it was better than no jacket at all. He tried to keep it in the same condition it was in before, and he's proud to say that while it's dirty, there's not a single tear or stitch. He remembers when Damien gave it to him after comforting him in the bathroom; it's not often Brian loses his composure like that, but he's sort of glad it was Damien that found him.
Plus, he also managed to confide in someone about his past. It was like a weight was lifted and he could breathe slightly better. He's still working on telling his friends, but for now, he's happy that out of everyone who could know, it's Damien.
Arriving at the entrance to the mansion, Brian takes a deep breath. Damien said he was fairly certain his dads weren't going to be home. It's not an issue if they are, but Brian's wearing their son's jacket and he isn't prepared to debunk any theories they make. He also isn't sure if he's ready to meet anyone's parents in general. He's seen Vicky's mom once, but he basically ran out of their apartment when he learned she was visiting. He's happy Vicky, Damien, really all his friends have good relationships with their parents.
He can't stand in front of the door forever as he monologues about his shortcomings. He's been doing just fine as a lone zombie. Damien said he could simply walk in so it must be ok if he does?
He slowly opens the door and sticks his head in. There's a few guards and servants walking around. Some glance at him and continue walking. Huh, guess it is fine. Brian walks in and closes the door right as a servant walks up to him.
"You must be Brian. Prince Damien has been waiting for you. Wait here." he quickly walks off before Brian can say anything. Instead, he waits and looks around. The place was huge , bigger than anything Brian could've dreamt of. He once thought his old studio apartment was big but this? He really does forget Damien is royalty.
Speaking of the devil, he hears Damien swearing before he sees him appear with the servant from earlier. "Hey, noob!" Damien grins, waving the servant away. "What do you think?"
"It's… big." Brian answers. That seems to be the right thing to say.
"Fuck yeah it is! C'mon, I said I wanted to show you my GhoulStation. I got it custom painted red!" He grabs Brian's arm and starts dragging him somewhere. This is quite common, Damien dragging him to places. It's usually to areas he wants to light on fire, or where the ice cream wizard is, or both. As Brian is led through the castle, Damien is excitedly rambling about the console and other random facts about the items lying around. Trivia facts are mainly about the decor his dads found and gifted to each other; it's both sweet and horrifying.
Brian's already physically exhausted when they make it to Damien's room. Maybe he should take up Scott's suggestion to join the football team, dodgeball doesn't seem to be enough exercise. He tries to hide the fact he's out of breath when Damien tells him to sit on his bed and wait. He disappears into what Brian assumes is a closet. A few clothes with skulls and dried up blood get through outside along with the occasional swear.
Brian takes a peek at the GhoulStation while he waits. Damien's room is bigger than his apartment, and the GhoulStation is just one of the amazing things he has here. Of course he can afford all this, he's Damien fucking LaVey. Everyone always jokes about how you shouldn't be born poor, but now Brian wonders what exactly being rich would be like.
"Found it!" Damien yells triumphantly as he emerges from the closet. "Still in pristine condition!" In his hand is the reason Brian had come over, his iconic jacket. The sleeve looks brand new, contrasting the worn down and dull fabric of the rest of the item. It's been carefully sewn with red thread to match the rest of the stitches. Brian immediately gets off the bed and grabs his jacket.
"Holy shit." he mutters as he examines it to make sure it really is in pristine condition. The thread and needle he kept in one of the pockets is still there, and it looks like the jacket wasn't touched since the sleeve was attached. He shrugs Damien's jacket off and throws it on the bed as puts his old one on. It smells a little like hellfire and brimstone, but that's to be expected considering it's been stuck with Damien's clothes for the last few days.
"This is perfect." he settles on saying. Usually a man of few words, the amount of gratitude he has right now can't be properly conveyed with any language. The new sleeve admittedly looks out of place, but a few days at Spooky High will make it easily blend in with the rest of his jacket. Damien grins as he watches Brian excitedly zip up his jacket.
"Glad you like it noob, but I don't think you need a jacket in Hell." he teases. It is a little hot, but Brian needs to feel the fabric against his skin for a little before taking it off. Damien throws the jacket he gave Brian into the closet and slams the door shut. "Now, let's fucking play!"
The two end up spending a majority of the day playing on the GhoulStation. It's addicting, and Brian ends up getting extremely into it after just a few rounds. His quick reflexes come into play, a skill he refined after playing dodgeball for every single gym class. He's sweating slightly from the heat and the effort he put into playing when Damien forces them to take a break.
"Holy fuck, you're good." Damien sighs, tossing his controller to the side and lying down, "How often do you play?" Brian does the same, finally unzipping his jacket but not taking it off. The smell is starting to grow on him. It's like when Damien first gave him his jacket and he spent the day smelling like he committed arson.
"I don't play games that often." Brian answers. "I just, I don't know, get this feeling when I'm doing something I really like. Like, when I play the drums I can go on for hours until someone reminds me I need to sleep."
"You play drums?" Damien asks, turning onto his side so he can look at him. Brian turns his head and nods. "That's fucking metal! How come you never told me this?"
Brian shrugs. "You never asked and the topic never came up."
The wildfire in Damien's eyes calms down for a moment. It might be the lights, but it seems like his face is also a little pink. "Still, it's pretty badass when I see you like this."
He must be imagining it. "Like what?"
"You know what I mean!" Damien huffs, looking away for a moment only to continue looking at him. "I like seeing when you're in the zone. We play dodgeball and it doesn't matter if your friends are on the other team because you start thinking about winning. You manage to keep up with the Wolfpack some days just because you want to. Shit, when we played just now you were so into it I wasn't sure if you'd stop on your own. For a guy that can be so chill to the point of looking apathetic, you have this nice little wild side that can appear at any moment."
The sincerity of it all nearly makes him blush. "Thanks."
Now he's sure Damien's blushing. "Don't get used to me saying things like that! It's just because I know the past few days have been rough. How… How were the past few days?"
Brian shrugs again. "Almost the same. It… it meant a lot to finally tell someone. Ideally it wouldn't have been on the bathroom floor but things happen."
"I'm still fucking sorry about that."
"You already made up for it."
"Sweet, I hate feeling guilty for shit." Damien grins, sitting back up. "Alright, break's over. Few more rounds and then I want to show you around some more."
"It's already pretty late though." Brian points out, turning on his phone to check.
"So? Then just stay the night. It's the weekend, my dads won't care." Damien replies. Brian isn't going to turn down an invitation to stay. He texts Oz to let them know he's staying and grabs his controller.
After a few more rounds and Brian stopping Damien from breaking the controller out of rage, the two end up wandering around the mansion. They're in the library, looking for the most cursed tome when Damien suddenly groans.
"I can feel the dad vibes from here. They're home." he explains. Even though he sounds annoyed, Brian sees a tiny hint of a smile when he looks away.
"I've never seen them before. What are they like?"
"Well they're so in love with each other it's disgusting but they're also pretty badass." Damien explains. "There's Lucien, you'll know it's him because he doesn't really have a visible mouth so he sorta speaks like Oz, and Stan, who's basically all muscle and like, a better version of Dahlia."
Brian nods. "Alright," he says, continuing his search when he finds a glowing purple book covered with glowing green chains sitting on the top shelf. That's definitely an extremely cursed tome. He tries to reach it, but his hand can barely touch it. "Hey, can you reach that?"
Damien looks to where Brian's pointing and jumps up. Like Brian, he can barely reach, briefly feeling the book's glow before groaning in frustration. "Too high. Pretty sure we have a ladder or some shit— HEY!"
Brian ignores him and starts climbing onto him, using Damien's height to give himself a small boost. Damien almost falls before quickly standing his ground and holds onto Brian. "Maybe warn a guy before you climb on top of them!"
"Sorry." Brian lies, now the perfect height to reach the tome. Fuck, there's an eye in the center of it and everything. Perfect. He's about to pull it out when the library door slams open, frightening both of them and making Damien lose balance.
"Damien, the guard said you'd be in here—" the demon is cut off as the two monsters fall on top of each other. Brian groans in pain and looks up to see a red demon with no mouth. Shit, that's Damien's dad!
"Um, hi." Brian says, trying to wave but he can't feel his hand. He can't really feel anything, actually. Come to think of it, he did hear something similar to a crack…
"Oh fuck, your head!" Damien yells as Brian realizes there's a reason why he's suspiciously close to the ground. The impact of the fall caused his head to disconnect. He can't turn his head to see, but he hears and somewhat feels Damien toss his body to the side. "Shit, does that hurt?"
"Not really. No pain receptors." Brian explains, doing everything he can not to look at Lucien and his disappointing stare. Not the best first impression he's made, and he hasn't made a lot of good ones to begin with. Much to his embarrassment, Lucien picks up his head.
"I believe your friend needs this back." he says uninterestedly as Damien snatches him and props his body against the bookshelf.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks dad." Damien says, blushing slightly as he tries to stick Brian's head back on his body. "How the fuck…?"
"Just give me a mirror, I can do it myself." Brian laughs, smiling at how flustered Damien is. It isn't often he loses a limb, but it's fun seeing other monsters react when they aren't used to it. He pulls out the thread and needle from his pocket when a mirror materializes in front of them.
"We'll save the introductions for dinner. I won't ask what you were planning to do with that tome either, there's a reason it's on the top shelf." Lucien says, about to walk away before Damien interrupts him.
"Wait, who said he's staying?"
"You said he'd be leaving at six and it's now nine. I assume he's staying the night." Lucien replies before walking away. Damien huffs and grabs the mirror.
"Well, it could've been worse." he smiles. Brian laughs as he puts his head back on.
"Alright, just hold my head in place and I'll sew it on. It won't take long." he explains. Damien cooperates, using one hand to hold the mirror and the other to hold Brian's head while he uses both hands to sew. It's a relatively quick process that goes by faster with the extra help. For a change, the two sit in silence while Brian fixes himself up. He ignores the way Damien is staring intensely at the stitch marks and his neck in general.
"Alright, I'm done." Brian says, proudly admiring his work while pocketing the items. Damien nods and quickly gets up, leaving the mirror on a table and already halfway out the door.
"Don't be surprised if they start interrogating you and you don't get to actually eat." Damien explains before pausing. "Wait, do you even need to eat?"
"I like how stuff feels." is the only explanation he gets.
"Well anyway, I rarely bring friends over so they're probably gonna try and get in your head and shit. Nothing personal, they just care way too much about me. You'll probably be fine."
You'll probably be fine are some famous last words said by a lot of people who weren't fine but Brian is determined to not be one of them, especially because he wants to eat whatever high class food demon royalty eats. Though knowing Damien, it'll all be charred beyond belief.
Still unused to the level of fanciness that is Damien's place, Brian tries to hide the fact his poor ass will never be able to pay back anything if it breaks. The table especially, made entirely of obsidian and sharp enough to cut a bitch. He sits next to Damien, avoiding the stone cold gaze of Lucien sitting next to his husband on the opposite end. Luckily for him, Stan seems to ignore the slightly tense atmosphere and smiles warmly at him.
"You must be Brian! Damien has told us so much about you. I was wondering when he'd finally let us meet you."
The situation feels oddly similar to when Brian once brought a girl over to his house before he reanimated. It was the first time he brought someone of the opposite gender home and that interested his parents. It was embarrassing having to explain themselves multiple times, and he hopes that won't be the case this time. However, he's a little curious about something.
"He talks about me?"
Stan laughs, "Only every chance he gets! It's always Brian this and Brian that whenever we ask him how his day was."
Unlike the previous almost barely noticeable blushes, Damien's face goes bright red. "Dad!"
"Honestly, it feels like we already know you due to how often he mentions your name." Lucien joins in. "All I've heard this past month is Brian. "Dad, Brian has a huge fucking corpse collection." "Brian repainted Nancy and she looks even more badass." "You should see Brian's face when we play dodgeball." "
"OK THAT'S ENOUGH!" Damien yells, slamming a fist down hard enough to leave the tiniest indent on the table. "Brian definitely does not want to hear you talk about that."
Brian definitely does considering he just recorded the last few minutes of conversation but decides it'll be better to play along. "Uh, yeah."
The kings share what seems to be a knowing smile right as some servants bring their food. Like Brian guessed, it's charred beyond recognition, but that doesn't mean it doesn't taste amazing. They don't interrogate him right away, allowing him to eat a little bit of food before the questions start coming. He answers a few basic ones, like how he'll read most things once, he's thinking of joining the football team, his friends are planning on making a band and he plays drums, and yes, his limbs come off way too often for his liking. He must be doing a decent job because they seem rather content with his answers. The atmosphere, however, quickly takes a darker turn after an innocuous statement Lucien says.
"Your parents must be proud of you."
Brian almost chokes on his maybe alcoholic drink. It's a simple thing to say, something most people hear in their lifetime. Brian's heard it before during his first life. His second one? Fuck no. It brings back the awful pit that was in his stomach when he first sat down as his mind starts focusing on the facts in front of him. His life's a fucking trash fire. Damien has parents that are going to support him no matter what he decides to do and are going to love him unconditionally. His jacket feels suffocating.
Damien quickly catches on to his discomfort. "His parents are shit and they don't fucking matter." he growls, shooting Brian a surprisingly considerate look. His dads appear shocked by his words, but have some decency not to ask. After using the brief silence to calm himself down, Brian speaks up.
"They're not that bad," he counters, "but they're not exactly parents of the year." He doesn't like badmouthing his parents but for the sake of finishing the conversation quickly, he will. It's hard to start up another one, but Stan finds a way and suddenly everyone's in a heated discussion over how to properly torture people that manage child beauty pageants. Soon, plates are empty and Brian thinks he's earned some respect with his suggestions.
"Alright, it's the weekend but you two should go to bed. It was lovely meeting you, Brian." Lucien says, getting up and about to leave with his husband.
"Um, you too." Brian nods. Finishing the last piece left on his plate (don't ever waste free food, like his mom said), he's about to get up and follow Damien when Stan yells as he leaves "And keep the door open! Or don't, but use protection!"
" Dad! " Damien's face goes bright red again while Brian averts his gaze.
"Do they really think we're dating?"
"I don't fucking know." Damien groans. "If it bothers you, I can talk to them."
"Nah, it's fine. I'm ready to pass out."
"You looked ready to pass out hours ago."
When they make it back to Damien's room, Brian is ready to flop down on the bed and fall asleep right there. However at Damien's persistence, he borrows more of Damien's clothes to sleep in. He also learns Damien sleeps nude, but since he won't let Brian sleep on the floor he at least keeps his boxers on. The bed's big enough for both of them to sleep with some distance between them, to Brian's slight disappointment.
But even when Damien all but passes out once his head hits the pillow, Brian finds himself staring at his tattered and worn out jacket. He's not sure why it's starting to bother him again. Is he jealous? No, why would he be jealous of parents that are literally the kings of hell?
… kings of hell who'd love their children even if one became a zombie. Ok, maybe he's slightly jealous. Shit. His urge to sleep suddenly disappears at the realization. He does his best not to toss and turn, but at this point he's aware of every slight change in the room and knows sleep has abandoned him.
Accepting his fate, Brian quietly slips out the room. He might try and grab that tome again, this time with a ladder. He grabs his jacket too, somehow both a comfortable and uncomfortable weight. It's still a comfort item, plus it has big ass pockets. With the occasional sounds of flickering fire to keep him company, he ends up in the library reading a book on macguffins and ways to move the plot.
"Can't sleep?" A rough voice startles him and he glances up to see Stan. Still slightly spooked, he nods and sets the book down.
"Sorry."
"No need to apologize, restlessness is common. Mind if I sit with you?" he says, sitting down before Brian can even give a response. "I must say, you two remind me of Lucien and I from back then. We were both young and unafraid, ready to conquer the underworld. And Damien's face just lights up whenever he talks about you and it's such a sight to see—"
"We're not dating." he blurts out before he can continue. "Um, I'm sorry, but we aren't together."
Stan blinks. "You aren't? I assumed you two had a fight the other day, especially when Damien came home with a ripped jacket that didn't look like his. We were worried until he said you were coming over so I figured he was planning to apologize."
Brian can feel his face go slightly red. "We didn't fight. He just burned my jacket and offered to fix it." He leaves out the part where he had an emotional breakdown over it.
"Ah, my apologies! I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable." Stan apologizes.
"No, you were alright Mr. LaVey."
"Ha! Mr. LaVey makes me sound like an old demon. Please, call me Stan!"
"I can hear your shouting from down the hall. You're going to wake up everyone here." Lucien enters, sounding groggy as he shuffles into the room. Stan sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.
"Sorry, babe. I just wanted to check in on Brian."
Lucien squints before looking at Brian. He blinks and seems to register that he's here. "Oh, hello Brian. I hope you're comfortable. Would you rather use one of the guest bedrooms?"
Brian quickly shakes his head. "I'm alright. Thank you for letting me stay."
"So polite." Lucien notes, "I wish Damien could be somewhat like you. I understand he's going through his typical teenage phase, but I'd rather he not break or do anything radical to his body."
"Aw, but that's our boy!" Stan laughs. "Remember when he tried to give himself gun hands?"
Brian decides to not mention that gun hands were originally his idea. To be fair, he didn't expect Damien to actually try and do it.
"Either way, thank you for being there for Damien. There are some things we know he doesn't tell us about so I appreciate you being with him."
A little dumbfounded, Brian nods. Stan and Lucien start talking amongst themselves while he puts the book back. He's about to slip past Lucien and head back to Damien's room when he finds himself muttering "Thank you."
As luck would have it, Lucien hears him. "What was that?"
Maybe if he's silent he can pretend he fell asleep standing up. Or sleep walking, yeah, sleepwalking is another good option. He hesitantly turns around. "Uh, thank you. For being good parents to Damien. He always talks about how great you guys are and I'm honestly a little jealous."
"Jealous? Of us?" Stan asks.
"Yeah," Brian nods, "you love him even when he does all the shit he does. I mean, he can do literally anything and you'd still support him but I die once and suddenly—" Before he can stop himself from further digging his grave, a pair of arms wrap around him. He barely registers hugging back.
"It's a shame your parents have yet to realize they've been given a second chance with you." Lucien tells him. "But, know that friends of Damien are family to us."
There's a comforting hand on his back. "Exactly! Don't worry yourself about what you don't have. Focus on what you got."
"Fuck, I've already fufilled my breakdown quota." Brian tries to joke, a few stray tears falling down his face. Someone wipes them away, he can't tell who, and he pulls away from the hug. "I'm sorry."
"Please don't apologize for that." Lucien says. "Now, go and get some sleep."
Sleep sounds amazing. He leaves the demons in the library, overhearing a few hushed whispers about adoption. A slightly useless but sweet gesture. Still, Brian LaVey has a nice ring to it. He quietly slips into Damien's room only to find there's no need to be silent. Damien's awake, staring directly at the door with an intensity only slightly diminished because of his attempts to stop yawning.
"Hey, noob." he mumbles as Brian makes his way back under the covers. "Couldn't sleep?"
Brian nods. "Yeah, I just needed to clear my head." He wonders if his encounter with his dads is worth telling. "I think your dads want to adopt me."
Damien snorts. "What? Oh man, that'd be so weird." he starts laughing, and his happiness is contagious which makes Brian start laughing too. They really are high schoolers; sleeping in the same bed with a huge fucking gap between them while giggling like children. It's fun though, a nice change from the wackiness that tends to occur at Spooky High.
Like high schoolers, they drag on the adoption thing for much longer than necessary. Hey, in their sleep deprived minds it's fucking hilarious. "No, but hey," Damien says, still giggling, "if you do wanna become part of the family I know the best fucking solution, just marry me!"
Brian stops laughing for a second and stares blankly at him. Of course Damien doesn't actually mean it, they're just joking around. Still, the way he said it…
"You serious?"
Damien opens his mouth like he's about to retort when he closes it. "Maybe I am." he mumbles, looking away. Brian can feel his one brain cell overloading. Damien forces himself to look at him. "I do mean it. Fuck, I've liked you for a while now. I was gonna do this grand gesture and ask you out to prom, not confess right after I hurt you."
"I like you too." Brian can feel himself smiling. "And I would definitely like to go to prom with you."
"Fuck yeah!" Damien almost yells before remembering what time it is. "So… is it ok if I do this?" He inches a little closer to Brian.
To answer his question, Brian closes the gap between them. He quickly latches onto Damien, burying his face into his neck as he feels arms wrap tightly around him.
"Ya know, I've always wanted to hug you so fucking hard all the bad shit hurting you would go away forever." Damien whispers. "Sounds stupid when I say it out loud."
Brian shakes his head. "Nah. That sounds fucking metal."
A confession and night spent cuddling isn't enough to get rid of the thoughts plaguing Brian's head, as nice as it all was. But with his new boyfriend and his boyfriend's dads, things certainly get more bearable. Family doesn't always have to mean being related to someone by blood. Sometimes, family can be the Kings of Hell and their son.