Chapter Text
Thousands of years ago, Simeon had watched his former brothers fall for the sake of love; their love for their sister. And her? She had risked it all for the chance to love a human. They were willing to rebel against their Father and fall from grace all for the sake of their sister. At the time, Simeon had sympathized but he hadn’t understood. He loved them , but he hadn’t been willing to fight and fall with them. He didn’t understand their reasoning. But now? Now he found himself understanding Lilith. He finally understood why she was willing to risk everything. It didn’t make any sense that angels and humans couldn’t be together. There was nothing stopping him from loving other than an arbitrary rule.
“Simeon? Hellooooo?” The voice cut through his thoughts like a knife.
“Hm?” He looked up at the golden-brown eyes staring back at him, “Sorry. I was distracted. Would you repeat that?”
“I asked you to lower your head a bit. That angle is too hard to draw.” Their eyes wandered back to the canvas as they bit their lip, clearly frustrated as they continued from where they left off.
They stared at him so intensely that it made him feel nervous. Their eyes wandered over him, studying and analyzing every curve of his body. It was hard to stay composed under their gaze. It was critical and gentle. He wondered just how much of him they were really looking at. Was it just the way his form posed and moved, or were they able to see so deep inside of him that they could understand the thoughts that troubled him? He knew it was the former, but part of him longed for the latter.
They only spoke again once they were done with the sketch. They set the pencil down and stepped back to look at it fully, “This… looks awful.”
“It can’t be that bad. May I see it?” He stood from the spot where he had been sitting to try and move toward them.
“No way.” They stepped between him and the canvas, “This thing is never seeing the light of day.”
“But don’t you need it for your class?” That was the entire reason they had asked him to model for them, “Wouldn’t you like a second opinion?”
“Second opinions are only good if you have doubts about something.” They huffed as they stepped back to their original spot and threw the cover over their canvas and easel, “I have no doubts about this monstrosity.”
“You really should praise yourself more. I’m sure it looks respectable.”
They stared at him with disbelief clouding their eyes, “You know Picasso?”
“Of course I do. His works are famous across the realms.”
“Cool,” they started to pack the rest of their supplies in a hurry, barely paying attention to what got thrown where, “Imagine if a drunk sea monkey tried to recreate Picasso while holding the pencil in its teeth. That would still look better than this abomination.”
"You don't give yourself enough credit." He walked over to them, pushing back a single strand of hair that had fallen into their face, "If you are half as good of an artist as you are a writer it will be beautiful."
The blush that crossed their face was all-encompassing as their eyes looked away from him, "I don't want to hear that from the actual professionally published author with a mega-franchise and huge fanbase to his pen name." It was patronizing to hear him compare their little side projects and ramblings to actual works of quality.
"Well, maybe I would have a more thought-out opinion if you would share more of your writings with me." Everything he'd read of theirs had only been half-finished drafts. They always asked him for his opinion on how they were doing, inquiring if their themes and pacing were on point or not. However, they never shared the finished copies with anyone, as far as he could tell.
"Once again, I am not showing the professionally published author my excuse of a story." Half thought out drafts were one thing, since things often changed, but they could never bring themselves to share the completed works with him. How could they ever compare to his works? He was amazing and the entire world knew it…
“Is that so?” He watched as they slung their now full bag over their shoulder, letting it sway at their side as they turned to him, “Does that mean I shouldn’t show you my work either? That’s unfortunate. I thought we were having fun with our little exchange.”
“Huh? No way!” They stormed up to him, craning their head to stare into his eyes above them as they came chest to chest, “I thought you said I could read the drafts before you sent them to your editor. How else am I supposed to learn if I don’t read good writing?” Ever since the first time he had shown them a draft, they had insisted on reading everything he made. They were one of the few people that saw his works before they were polished and perfect.
“But you don’t want me to see yours, so it doesn’t seem fair for you to see mine.” He smiled innocently, trying not to make it clear he was playing them.
They didn’t fall for that kind of thing though. They knew an innocent face hiding devilish intentions when they saw it, “Hm… I suppose that is fair enough. What an unfortunate turn of events.” They turned on their heels and walked toward the door to let them out of the art room, “Now, are we going home or what? I have to start dinner or else it will never be finished in time.”
He should have known better than to try and manipulate them. Perhaps when the two of them first met they were more quiet and shy and willing to go along with what he said, but the longer they spent time together the more he realized just how much of a spitfire they were deep down, “I’m sorry. Don’t be upset with me. I was only kidding.”
“Were you now?” They opened the door and looked back at him with a smirk, “Glad to know. Let me know when you finish the next draft so I can read it. That will be your apology. That, or you can get me dessert tonight. I like blood berry cheesecake.”
He knew that. They got it anytime they went out to eat, usually asking to bring it home so they could enjoy it after their stomach felt less full.
When he doesn’t immediately start following them, they tilt their head in confusion, “I’m kidding. I don’t need anything. Don’t take me so seriously. Now c’mon. Unless you plan to come home later.”
He shook his head, “You go ahead of me. I remembered something I need to take care of and I really shouldn’t put it off.”
They look of befuddlement didn’t leave their face, but they shrugged and accepted his answer, “Alright. Just make sure you come home on time. You’re on dish duty tonight and I’m not doing it for you this time.” And they would head off before him, bag at their side as they passed by the other human exchange students that filled the Devildom these days. It had been a long time since the original exchange program had shown that humans could live alongside demons and now the Devildom was open to even more of them. They were just one of the newest batch of exchanges, currently being stationed at Purgatory Hall.
Simeon watched them walk away, waiting for his heart to steady itself before he made another move. The entire situation was too dangerous. Being friendly with a human was fine, but his feelings went beyond just being friendly. These days, he found himself staring at them more than usual; his eyes lingered on their face just a little to long; his thoughts drifted too quickly to wanting to hold them; and he had to stop himself from saying things to them he could never take back. Being around them had become too dangerous. Perhaps it was merely a consequence of spending so much time with them. He was being blinded by proximity and confusing kinship with affection; that was the only explanation he could live with.
So he waited until his feelings passed by so that he wouldn’t profess something he could never live down and so that he could clear his head of thoughts of them. There was no way he truly felt anything for them. It was forbidden. Of all the rules he knew, that was the one that had always stuck with him the most. He had already lost his brothers to the fall because of love, he refused to lose himself because of some mistaken feelings. However, he found it was taking longer and longer lately to push the emotions bubbling up inside of him back down. It was becoming inconvenient to deal with them. But for now, he could still do it. That was all that mattered.