Voxto AUs

1♢Dumb, dumb demon.

Just as he was about to pounce at the young assassin in front of him, Vox feels a dagger punctuate the back of his right shoulder, the sensation of it all too familiar. Shoto's already done this once when they first met.

"It was entirely my decisions and plans. Sorry, love."

A painful reminder that most, if not everyone in his clan had warned about getting caught up with a demon slayer, only with the safety of their Lord in mind.

Yet here he was, fine and unscathed by the consequences of his own actions, while his people perished for it.

"I'll kill you Sho, I promise I will." Vox managed before the poison kicked in and he blacked out.

-

"You will not speak of this you hear me?" Shoto bunched the front collar of his younger brother's clothes in his fists.

"As far as Vox is concerned, I did this. I killed everyone. If he's to go after anyone, it'll be me. So you stay the fuck away from this side of town and never speak a word of it."

After the young assassin ran out of sight, Shoto sighed, exasperated.

Growing up in a family that reinforced the idea of demons as these horrible villainous beings, he should have noticed sooner what his brother was planning to do.

If only then would the demon passed out cold on the tatami mat have been saved from the pain of losing so many loved ones.

Shoto's fingers traced the features of the unconscious demon, still in awe of how beautiful Vox was, with his sculpted face and lashes longer than most people he's met.

Vox was the nicest of them; of the demons Shotou had ever encountered.

Yet he knew that the demon who had a calm expression laced across his features now, was gonna be anything but nice when he regains consciousness.

When he took the fall for his brother, the younger had unsheaved his dagger and made a move in the direction of the demon lord, wordless intention of just killing the demon lord in his defenseless state.

Shoto had stood up from where he was seated next to Vox, blocking the way between the young assassin and the demon.

-

"I'm so sorry." he leans down to plant a kiss on the demon's forehead, so head over heels in love.

Rationality had gone out the window long ago.

When this dumb demon had looked at him like he was the most precious treasure despite knowing full well he was a demon slayer, trained from a young age countless ways to take down a demon like himself.

Every time Shoto goes home to tell of the demon lord's escape and gets chided for his incompetence, he had wished they were both just regular townspeople.

Now, more than ever, Shotou prays and prays that should there be a next life for the demon, they'll both just be ordinary folk.

No demons, no ruthless training; just Vox and Shotou, sharing an apartment together, possibly getting kids and growing old and wrinkly together.

No words could describe the joy that would come with waking up to Vox first thing in the morning without having to rush home and appease his father.

-

Shoto lies down next to the demon, dagger and any other possible weapons he owned had been left in the corner of the room, far away from either of them.

If Vox woke up and chose to end his life, he'd take it without complaint.

It was his own negligence that caused pain to the other anyway, yet even then it was hardly fair; just his life in return for all those lives his brother's people had taken?

It takes awhile for Shoto to drift off to sleep, and when he does, he doesn't dream.

-

Shoto does end up waking up, alive, the demon no longer by his side.

He turns, the sliding door of the main entrance open, the back of the demon seated on the porch facing him.

It makes him choke out a laugh, humorless.

Even after he allegedly made the plans that killed his entire clan, fucking Vox Akuma still has his back facing towards him.

Shoto can't exactly tell if this was still a sign of trust that seemed very much like mocking at the moment, or just the demon's blatant disregard for anything now that he had no one left to care about.

"I know it wasn't you." and voice demon indeed, even in this ridiculous situation, his deep voice still has Shotou entranced.

"If it was," he had continued, back still facing the rogue, "you wouldn't be stupid enough to lay there, fully unarmed."

It's when Vox never turns around to look at him while speaking that Shoto comes to terms with the fact that things couldn't possibly go back to the way it was.

He was all too aware that Vox wouldn't be able to look at him after all this and not be reminded of all the lives of his loved ones that were lost the previous night.

Shoto couldn't bring himself to find joy in the way Vox knew him enough to know he wasn't behind it either.

So Shoto does what he does best, the only thing he's ever really learnt from his mother.

He gets up wordlessly, picks his stuff off from the ground, and proceeds to leave.

As he walks past Vox, he feels a grip around his wrist and yet he doesn't look down.

If he did, he'll probably break.

"I gave you a chance to kill me, Akuma. You didn't, now let me go."

The demon does, and Shoto starts walking again until he knows he's out of the demon's sight, never looking back once.