As Theo cleaned Val's back, as softly as he could, the demon stayed silent.
Theo searched his mind for some kind of comforting words to say, but came up empty almost every time.
"You don't have to be so tense" he whispered after a few minutes of silence.
Val still kept quiet and, if anything, tensed up even more.
Theo let one of his fingers glide gently across one of the smaller scars on Val's back that was close enough to the scratches to not seem intentional.
"It's really not that bad, Val. Not as bad as you're making it out to be" he tried one last time to comfort the demon.
Val let out a dry laugh. He leaned his head back a bit and a strand of his long hair fell back onto Theo's hand, which was putting small bandages on Val's scratches.
"Not that bad?" He asked humorously. "Theo, you can see them from a mile away. They make literal indents on my back. I cant take my shirt off without them being the most noticeable thing about me. Don't even try to convince me they're "not that bad"" he scoffed, standing and turning to face Theo.
"It's fine." He sighed. "They're there and they're not going away, it's whatever. There's nothing anyone can do about it so.. just drop it. They're fine"
Theo stared up at the demon wide eyed. At the moment Val just seemed so.. unbothered. He stood casually and his face no longer showed any signs of stress, or worry, or secrecy. He just seemed unbothered by it all.
Theo knew he must be acting, though. Just minutes ago he was tense. He was clearly uncomfortable.
It was remarkable how quickly the demon had put up a facade that seemed so convincing.
"Let's go. I'll help clean up your guest room" Val spoke again, calm as ever.
He pulled his shirt back on before turning and walking towards the room.
If it wasn't for his slight limp, he would've seemed completely normal. As if nothing happened.
Theo followed a few paces behind, observing Val as they walked.
Reality seemed to hit them both once again when they entered the guest bedroom. Not a single thing in the room was in its place. There was clear remnants of the fight. It was something straight out of a movie.
"I don't know where to start" Theo mumbled, not taking his eyes off the room.
"We should find a way to patch up that window first. Anything could get in, plus it's cold" Val suggested.
The demon walked towards the window and stood in front of it for a moment.
The two let a few seconds of stillness pass before Val turned back to the priest.
"I'm not sure how to go about doing this" he sighed, running a hand through his hair and his fingers snagging a bit at the end.
Theo stepped up to stand next to the demon and gave the window one last glance. He shivered slightly at the cold air coming from outside.
"Let's clean up the glass first" he decided.
The two slowly cleaned up the room. Val lifted the dresser and put it back in its place while Theo taped some trash bags over the window. They fixed up the bed and Theo even had to wipe up a bit of Val's blood from the floor—which made him a bit nauseous just thinking about.
The longer they cleaned the more tired Theo got. He had partially forgotten that it was the middle of the night until his eyes started to droop and he got more and more lazy with sorting out the room.
"You doing alright over there?" Val asked mockingly from the other side of the room.
Theo was sat down on the bed observing the room. There were still small items scattered throughout the floor and the window was obviously a mess, but other than that it looked as if nothing was wrong. You wouldn't be able to guess something so awful had happened only an hour earlier.
"I'm fine" Theo answered blandly, staring down at a broken piece of glass they had failed to pick up.
"Getting tired?" Val laughed a bit, walking over and sitting beside Theo on the bed.
Theo glanced up at the demon for a moment. He couldn't help but notice how sincere he looked. Despite how frustrated he had seemed all night and what he had said about his scars no more than an hour prior, he seemed calm. Nice, even.
"I'm fine" Theo smiled a bit as he spoke.
Silence passed over the room but, oddly enough, it didn't make Theo uncomfortable.
Maybe it was because he was so tired, but the stillness in the air seemed soothing. It was calm, and it gave Theo a moment to simply think about nothing after a night of rabid thoughts.
"You should go to bed" Val suggested, his voice soft.
Theo tried to respond but paused when the demon stood from the bed.
"Come on" he nagged, gesturing towards the door.
Theo just sighed instead of giving a response. He was going to say he wasn't all that tired and that he was fine staying up, but he knew it was pointless. Val seemed set on getting him to bed and Theo was too tired to argue otherwise.
He stood slowly from the bed and observed the room one more time. The window in particular gave off an unsettling feeling, just looking at it making Theo a bit off put.
Nonetheless, he followed Val back to his own bedroom.
As he sat down on his bed, a thought occurred to him.
"Where will you sleep?"
Surely the demon couldn't go back to the guest bedroom. There was no way that was even an option.
Val, who was still standing at the doorway, looked back at Theo with a blank expression.
"I don't think I can" the demon chuckled weakly. "I'll just walk around for the rest of the night. See if I sense anything"
Theo couldn't help but feel a bit upset at that response. He didn't know why, but he was almost sad.
"There isn't any use in staying up all night, is there? I mean we tried that last time and the demon never came back" Theo suggested.
He wasn't sure why he was so persistent that Val go to sleep, but something in him felt bad knowing he wanted to stay up. Something felt off knowing that he was going to wander the house for the rest of the night.
"Last time the demon didn't break into your house and try to kill me" Val spoke, his tone growing more annoyed by even mentioning the demon.
Theo paused for a moment. His mind roamed until an idea entered his head and he was speaking before he could think long enough to hold his tongue.
"Well you said it was like the demon didn't want me to see them, right? If you stay in here I'm sure you'll be okay"
Once the words were out Theo couldn't help but feel like he should regret speaking them.
Should.
Val stared back at Theo. His face made it seem like he wasn't too against the idea—though Theo had noticed Val was fairly good at keeping a blank expression.
"It would assure we are both safe, right?" Theo spoke again after a few moments of silence.
Val finally sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I suppose"
The demon sat on the opposite side of the bed from Theo. He leaned his head back on the wall behind them and sighed deeply.
"Goodnight, Theo"
The priest situated himself under the covers and faced away from Val to avoid any awkwardness.
"Goodnight, Val"
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YOU ARE READING
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...
