Theo had to scramble to put together some kind of sermon and was honestly ashamed of how long he went without even thinking about it.
It was only a Wednesday night service, so it only had to last for about 30 minutes—hence why he was able to finish it in time— but that didn't make him feel any better.
He was so worried about the sermon that he had actually forgotten about Val while writing it. He left him at the window, allowing him to do whatever he pleased.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit scared when he finally realized that the demon could be anywhere, having been left alone for so long. The thought brought him to his feet in an instant and he walked as quick as he could to the room where he had left the demon.
When he got there, however, the demon was still just staring out the window. He had pulled a chair up but otherwise seemed to not have moved an inch.
"Val?" Theo spoke without thinking.
The demon glanced over for only a second before looking back out the window.
"Hello" he spoke calmly.
"Have you.. even left the window?" Theo half mumbled, but the demon didn't seem to have a problem hearing him.
"Nope," Val answered with a shrug, "there isn't much else to do, besides this is incredible" he explained, his voice melting into an impressed sigh.
Theo hesitated before taking a step forward to glance out the window. In the yard behind the church, just before the line of trees, was two red birds.
"Birds," Val hummed peacefully, "they're so interesting. And so different from one another too"
Theo began to smile, but wiped the look off his face as soon as he realized. He couldn't become comfortable near a demon. He simply couldn't.
"People will start showing up for the service soon, you should go back to the basement" he ordered after clearing his throat.
The demon looked away from the window and back at the priest with a puzzled look. Nonetheless, he stood and walked over to the basement entrance.
"Do they come back here?" Val gestured to the room which was part of Theo's house, not the church. "The members of the church, that is"
Theo only nodded, though it wasn't true. Nobody hardly ever left the church part of the house during services. He felt he should feel bad about lying, but he didn't.
Val gave one last skeptical look Theo's way before making his way down the stairs, closing the basement door behind him.
All at once Theo noticed how tight his teeth were clenched together and how stiff he was standing. He relaxed as best he could, but it didn't make him feel much better.
The demon had only been around for a day and Theo already felt.. different. It was like he was in an endless cycle of being nice to the demon and feeling bad about it because he's a demon and being cold to the demon and feeling bad because he was being cold.
Part of him wanted to apologize to the demon, but he knew he wouldn't. He was a priest for goodness sake, what would befriending a demon say about him? He had already gotten too comfortable.
As much as he wanted to scold himself for all his previous kindness towards the demon—which he wasn't sure he necessarily regretted— a knock at the church door interrupted him.
"Right" he groaned, making his way towards the door.
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Super short chapter whoops 😅
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Crossed (BxB)
RomanceA priest at a small church accidentally summons a demon into his home. Now he has problems lining up- from being conflicted with the demon to being told a member of his own church could be just as bad. He goes down a spiraling path of trust and dist...
