The rain had slowed and the two had returned to their placed on the pew, sitting slightly closer this time.
Theo's tiredness had returned, more intense and growing worse by the second.
"It will still be hours until the sun rises, you being this sleepy is unreasonable" Val chimed into the quiet atmosphere.
Theo rubbed his eyes and picked up his head.
"If I was still a teenager or at least in my 20s it would be fine" he sighed "I'm 35, Val, my staying up all night days are over"
Val let out a small snicker, but didn't laugh.
Theo couldn't help but wonder how old the demon was. I mean, was he some irrational age like 200? Or did demons age the same as humans? Never once had Theo been so clueless as to someone's age.
"Maybe if you'd get up and move around a bit you wouldn't be falling asleep right now" Val mocked.
Theo let his head drop and rest on the pew in front of them.
He didn't respond for a moment. When he did though, it wasn't exactly a response to the demons comment.
"How old are you?" He asked, ignoring the idea to get up and moving completely.
He didn't bother to look up at the demon and let his head remain pointed to the floor. He wasn't a fan of his own bad manners but his tiredness kept him from caring.
"How old do you think I am?" Val questioned with a smug voice.
Theo groaned lowly. "I don't know. 25. 500." he mumbled.
Val laughed and Theo found himself a bit amused by it. The laugh sounded sweet to him, though Theo would never admit that aloud.
"I'm 32, not too much younger than you. Demons don't live much longer than humans, we just have a few more years on our life expectancy" Val finally answered.
Theo only responded with a hum. His eyes had closed and he was ready to sleep there and then.
"Come on, Theo"
Val elbowed the priests shoulder lightly, but Theo ignored it. Mostly.
He was actually woken up ever so slightly, shocked that the demon had touched him so casually—the two never made much contact with one another— but it didn't take long for him to brush it off and let himself drift back to his near sleep state.
"Theo" the demon spoke once more.
He grabbed the priests shoulder and pulled him back a bit, forcing him to sit up.
Theo finally opened his eyes and squinted back at the demon.
"What's the point of staying up this late anyways?" Theo groaned, his eyes watering from the sudden light. "I mean, is the demon really going to come back in the middle of the night?"
Val opened his mouth to speak, but Theo only continued.
"Plus, can't they sense you too? They must know you're here and are probably being cautious trying to avoid you" he rambled on, his voice growing quieter the more he spoke.
Val, once again, tried to speak but was cut off by Theo.
"They like.. probably won't do anything too bad. Not tonight at least. Nothing that we can't prevent when the time comes. But until then, just let me sleep a bit"
With that he laid his head back down and crossed his arms around it to block out the light.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there like that but he had certainly fallen asleep.
He was unsure of the time when he was woken up by Val shaking him lightly.
"Theo" the demon spoke, his tone bland.
Theo sat up, but looked down at his lap as to avoid looking at the lights.
The demon was stood in front of him, waiting.
"What?" Theo finally groaned, glancing up a bit and trying to let his eyes adjust.
"Go to bed. Sleeping like you were will just make your neck hurt" Val spoke calmly, though he seemed just slightly irritated.
Now that it had been mentioned, Theo did have a bit of stiffness in his neck and going down his back.
He glanced at the windows but it was still too dark to see out of them. He did notice the rain had stopped though.
"What time is it?" Theo groaned and rubbed his eyes, disregarding the demons comment completely.
He heard Val sigh, but was unbothered by it.
"You've been asleep for a few hours, so probably around 3am." He answered calmly.
Theo figured the demon had begun to grow tired as well, considering his words were slow and his tone was bland.
"Will you sleep in the guest bedroom?" Theo continued to ask questions, not fully thinking about them.
"I'm going to stay awake just in case. I was going to sit in your room since you seemed pretty scared earlier, but I can stay in the guest bedroom if you'd like" Val answered just as calmly as he had been before.
Theo found it a bit ironic how polite and considerate the demon was. He might've laughed if he hadn't just woken up.
"No, it's okay. You can stay in there. I only have one chair though, it's just a normal wooden chair" he yawned and rubbed his eyes, finally looking up at the demon.
Val smiled slightly.
"Right" he finalized. "Come on then"
The demon got out of the lines of pews and stood in the walkway waiting for Theo to get up before they both went on to Theo's room.
Theo instantly fell down onto his bed and got comfortable, still half asleep. Meanwhile Val had pulled the wooden chair slightly closer to the bed and taken a seat.
Despite his tiredness, Theo found himself flooded with thoughts—thoughts that he had had plenty of times before but still found himself dwelling on.
For what felt like the hundredth time he felt conflicted with his feelings and actions towards the demon, stuck in a loophole of trying to do best according to God.
He also found himself wondering if the demon felt the same about him. He wondered if the demon wanted to dislike him. He wandered if he resented Theo because he was a human.
Regardless of his thoughts, though, Theo drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
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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...
