Some Sex-Demon AU! Yay!
Remember the Sex-demon AU? And how at one point Sho (and Aiba) found Nino naked, dead, and covered in jizz on the floor at the end of Into the Parlor? Yes. This.
For aeslis. She knows why. (Hint: Because she's awesome!) I will say that I didn't expect this when I started writing it. I hope you like it anyhow.
(Yes, I AM supposed to be doing other things. No, I am not doing them. Do I care? Yes. Enough to stop? Nope. It's my handful of minutes and hours and I'll do what I like with them.)
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Approaching home-Nino's home, which is Sho's home no matter where he lives-Sho's heart trips nervously. He can't stop touching the bruises and bite marks on his skin. Last night…
"It's okay, Sho-chan," Aiba says, touching his shoulder, his ears twitching in amusement. "Nino's had sex before so he's…well, he's going to understand most of it, okay? Maybe not all of it because that was pretty wicked. That was pretty kinked out. But he's done some of that stuff before, I'm sure. He's definitely had sex. I have had sex with him."
Sho knows that Nino's had sex before. Sho used to politely turn his back and quit listening while it happened. He's left the apartment while Aiba has giggled and sighed into Nino's skin. Nino has had sex before. Sho hasn't. It's something he needed to do but at the same time. "We left him in that place to go-" he can't say it. "What if he's mad?"
"You had his back," Aiba reassures him. "Jun said that blessing was too strong. And besides, he was with Jun's friend, so you know he's got to be all right. He's probably waiting for us. And he's probably going to give us both shit."
Probably. But Sho's heart still pounds.
As an angel he didn't have a heartbeat, nothing that rattled the inside of him with the force of his emotions. It still feels alien and strange to feel it now, thumping away at his chest. It's why, when the door opens and he sees Nino, the only thing he feels when it stops is normal.
"Nino?" Aiba laughs. "You got some too, huh?"
Nino is naked on the floor, sprawled out, a tiny smile on his mouth. His skin is mottled with dark, mouth-shaped bruises and little red bites. There are scratch marks and semen everywhere. Nino is laying there, pale in the early dawn light.
Sho's heart starts again with an almighty slam that makes him stagger. "Nino," he breathes. "No. No, no, no, no, no." He has watched over that sort of paleness before, he's watched over Nino his entire life. Sho knows what Aiba can't yet recognize.
"There is come everywhere, Nino. Gross!" Aiba giggles.
He can't really hear him even as he hears every single sound in the small, shabby apartment. "Nino." He's across the room without a thought, wings spread wide, as though his wings can protect Nino now. "Nino." There's no breath in Nino's lungs, no soft surge of life in his chest as Sho's hands light on him. There is no Nino in Nino's body, this fragile human vessel that has always-for all of time-held Sho's greatest love.
"Nino?" Aiba sounds alarmed now. "Sho?" But Aiba is Aiba. "Maybe he's just passed out, you know? Like we sort of almost passed out on Jun? Nino's human? Let me just-touching his balls always wakes him up, yeah?"
Aiba fondles but there's nothing.
Closing his eyes, Sho lays his hands in supplication over the place where Nino's soul should rest, just behind the thin walls of his heart, that stupid useless human muscle that Sho gave everything to save.
"Maybe-see, maybe if I lick him? You know he hates that. I-"
"Aiba, stop," Sho says harshly. He doesn't mean to but he can't think. The thunder of his heart in his ears-he can't think.
"I can find who did this to him," Aiba says. "I just need to taste-well, if it's Nino's I should know anyhow because it won't taste-"
"Aiba, stop," Sho hears himself yell, the word an angelic roar of power more than sound. He can't think.
He can't. That moment in the hospital, in the Room, is nothing compared to this. Sho has no way to change this moment, nothing left to exchange for Nino's life. Almost nothing.
In everything, in all this time, Sho has wondered about his prayers being heard. His blessings on Nino cover him as completely as always, he has not changed beyond his eyes and his wings and his damning tattoo. He is still Sho. After everything. He gave up his feather, he gave up Heaven, but somehow…somehow his grace remains. He's not sure how to reach it, how to draw it out of his soul and give it to Nino and bring him back. He doesn't know how to reach Nino but he knows how to reach God. And he will offer to God what grace he managed to hold on to, he will lose all that he has left, for Nino. His grace is Nino's, is Nino.
He tips his head onto his hands, his hands over Nino's heart. "This imperfect love," he whispers. It is the still and resonant sound of his heart, his soul, this soundless prayer. "There is nothing but this." He can't live without this. He's given up too much to lose this now. He will lose himself, he will be nothing. Or he will be worse. He can feel it like a shadow, lurking outside of this love. Something awful and other, the reverse of this feeling. He cannot be come this. He needs Nino. He cares more for Nino than for the will of God but surely, he thinks, surely God-if anyone-can understand this, this one thing, this human heart. "Please."
Grace floods him, lives in him, is him, and for a moment Sho understands completely and perfectly all that has happened. He understands that he hasn't really fallen but has been raised, that he is mortal and yet an angel still. He understands fully the half empty passion of an angel, the breaking, broken love of the mortal soul. He understands the mercy of it all.
And then, under his hands, Nino's heart trembles. It struggles and lurches and then it beats, just once. Sho feels the rush of air and of the breath of life. He feels… "Nino."
"Sho-chan," Aiba's hands are on him, on his wings. "Sho-chan, you don't look so good." Aiba's tail whips against him absently. "He looks better. You did something. I felt it. You went away and you brought him back."
Back, but not back to life. Not entirely. That one beat and the one that follows are too far apart. That one breath has yet to find its second. "I can't-" he says. He can't bring Nino all the way back. Not yet. He has to find a way. He has to save him. Sho feels something burn in his eyes and he doesn't understand until Aiba wipes the tears away.
"Don't cry, Sho-chan. Don't. Heaven won't let him die here, right?"
Sho looks at Aiba through the salt and water and sorrow. "Heaven was going to let him die in that hospital, all that time, all this time…"
Aiba is energetic and enthusiastic but he's not dumb. Sho sees the understanding blossom. "Okay," he says and his hands are firm and steady, strong. "Okay, you saved him and now it's my turn."
"I love him," Sho says, shaking his head.
Aiba's smile is sweet. "Yeah, so do I. I can help. I can do it this time. I'll help you save him."
He doesn't understand, Sho thinks. He doesn't know. "I love him. I love him." He touches the place where his own heart is-its beat matched to the falter of Nino's. "Aiba."
But Aiba's smile is there and crooked and real. "You're kind of a douche, Sho-chan," Aiba says. "I love him, too. Would I rub his nuts and lick spunk off of him if I didn't?"
Honestly? "Yeah."
"Well, I threesomed you and a sex demon-don't you think I'd do that for Nino?"
Sho blinks. "You'd do that for you."
Aiba grins. "But I'd do it for him, too, even though he'd pitch a fit."
The laugh is a surprise, a shock, like sleeping or eating or having sex for the first time. Light in the darkness, given to him by somebody else instead of drawn from his own soul. "You-"
"I love him, too. Maybe not like you do. Maybe not even like you can, but I can still love him. I can still love you. The Hidden World has love just like the human one, just like…" Aiba touches his hands, still over Nino's heart. "Just like Heaven does."
Heaven does not have love like this. "You're better than that," he says, leaning against Aiba. "You love better than that." He knows. He's seen it. He's felt it.
Aiba's hands leave him, warmth in their wake. "If you can keep him here," he says, "I know something that might bring him back to us. It's going to take me a while to get there. It's hard getting there. But I'll do it. I'll get it." He stands. "Trust me. Can you hold on to him?"
Sho can do nothing but. He nods.
"Sho-chan," Aiba hesitates. Then. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? Stay with him until I come back. Keep him here."
He looks at Aiba and he wonders if Aiba can see the roiling, churning deep that has opened in him: the terrible love and despair, the hope and the promise, the inherent fury of a heart. "I'm not leaving his side until he tells me to."
When Nino does tell him to leave, to give him space, Sho will find the person who did this and he will…what he will, he doesn't know. Right now, he only knows that love will bring Nino back and that he just has to hold on and wait for it.
For aeslis. She knows why. (Hint: Because she's awesome!) I will say that I didn't expect this when I started writing it. I hope you like it anyhow.
(Yes, I AM supposed to be doing other things. No, I am not doing them. Do I care? Yes. Enough to stop? Nope. It's my handful of minutes and hours and I'll do what I like with them.)
Keep the page
Approaching home-Nino's home, which is Sho's home no matter where he lives-Sho's heart trips nervously. He can't stop touching the bruises and bite marks on his skin. Last night…
"It's okay, Sho-chan," Aiba says, touching his shoulder, his ears twitching in amusement. "Nino's had sex before so he's…well, he's going to understand most of it, okay? Maybe not all of it because that was pretty wicked. That was pretty kinked out. But he's done some of that stuff before, I'm sure. He's definitely had sex. I have had sex with him."
Sho knows that Nino's had sex before. Sho used to politely turn his back and quit listening while it happened. He's left the apartment while Aiba has giggled and sighed into Nino's skin. Nino has had sex before. Sho hasn't. It's something he needed to do but at the same time. "We left him in that place to go-" he can't say it. "What if he's mad?"
"You had his back," Aiba reassures him. "Jun said that blessing was too strong. And besides, he was with Jun's friend, so you know he's got to be all right. He's probably waiting for us. And he's probably going to give us both shit."
Probably. But Sho's heart still pounds.
As an angel he didn't have a heartbeat, nothing that rattled the inside of him with the force of his emotions. It still feels alien and strange to feel it now, thumping away at his chest. It's why, when the door opens and he sees Nino, the only thing he feels when it stops is normal.
"Nino?" Aiba laughs. "You got some too, huh?"
Nino is naked on the floor, sprawled out, a tiny smile on his mouth. His skin is mottled with dark, mouth-shaped bruises and little red bites. There are scratch marks and semen everywhere. Nino is laying there, pale in the early dawn light.
Sho's heart starts again with an almighty slam that makes him stagger. "Nino," he breathes. "No. No, no, no, no, no." He has watched over that sort of paleness before, he's watched over Nino his entire life. Sho knows what Aiba can't yet recognize.
"There is come everywhere, Nino. Gross!" Aiba giggles.
He can't really hear him even as he hears every single sound in the small, shabby apartment. "Nino." He's across the room without a thought, wings spread wide, as though his wings can protect Nino now. "Nino." There's no breath in Nino's lungs, no soft surge of life in his chest as Sho's hands light on him. There is no Nino in Nino's body, this fragile human vessel that has always-for all of time-held Sho's greatest love.
"Nino?" Aiba sounds alarmed now. "Sho?" But Aiba is Aiba. "Maybe he's just passed out, you know? Like we sort of almost passed out on Jun? Nino's human? Let me just-touching his balls always wakes him up, yeah?"
Aiba fondles but there's nothing.
Closing his eyes, Sho lays his hands in supplication over the place where Nino's soul should rest, just behind the thin walls of his heart, that stupid useless human muscle that Sho gave everything to save.
"Maybe-see, maybe if I lick him? You know he hates that. I-"
"Aiba, stop," Sho says harshly. He doesn't mean to but he can't think. The thunder of his heart in his ears-he can't think.
"I can find who did this to him," Aiba says. "I just need to taste-well, if it's Nino's I should know anyhow because it won't taste-"
"Aiba, stop," Sho hears himself yell, the word an angelic roar of power more than sound. He can't think.
He can't. That moment in the hospital, in the Room, is nothing compared to this. Sho has no way to change this moment, nothing left to exchange for Nino's life. Almost nothing.
In everything, in all this time, Sho has wondered about his prayers being heard. His blessings on Nino cover him as completely as always, he has not changed beyond his eyes and his wings and his damning tattoo. He is still Sho. After everything. He gave up his feather, he gave up Heaven, but somehow…somehow his grace remains. He's not sure how to reach it, how to draw it out of his soul and give it to Nino and bring him back. He doesn't know how to reach Nino but he knows how to reach God. And he will offer to God what grace he managed to hold on to, he will lose all that he has left, for Nino. His grace is Nino's, is Nino.
He tips his head onto his hands, his hands over Nino's heart. "This imperfect love," he whispers. It is the still and resonant sound of his heart, his soul, this soundless prayer. "There is nothing but this." He can't live without this. He's given up too much to lose this now. He will lose himself, he will be nothing. Or he will be worse. He can feel it like a shadow, lurking outside of this love. Something awful and other, the reverse of this feeling. He cannot be come this. He needs Nino. He cares more for Nino than for the will of God but surely, he thinks, surely God-if anyone-can understand this, this one thing, this human heart. "Please."
Grace floods him, lives in him, is him, and for a moment Sho understands completely and perfectly all that has happened. He understands that he hasn't really fallen but has been raised, that he is mortal and yet an angel still. He understands fully the half empty passion of an angel, the breaking, broken love of the mortal soul. He understands the mercy of it all.
And then, under his hands, Nino's heart trembles. It struggles and lurches and then it beats, just once. Sho feels the rush of air and of the breath of life. He feels… "Nino."
"Sho-chan," Aiba's hands are on him, on his wings. "Sho-chan, you don't look so good." Aiba's tail whips against him absently. "He looks better. You did something. I felt it. You went away and you brought him back."
Back, but not back to life. Not entirely. That one beat and the one that follows are too far apart. That one breath has yet to find its second. "I can't-" he says. He can't bring Nino all the way back. Not yet. He has to find a way. He has to save him. Sho feels something burn in his eyes and he doesn't understand until Aiba wipes the tears away.
"Don't cry, Sho-chan. Don't. Heaven won't let him die here, right?"
Sho looks at Aiba through the salt and water and sorrow. "Heaven was going to let him die in that hospital, all that time, all this time…"
Aiba is energetic and enthusiastic but he's not dumb. Sho sees the understanding blossom. "Okay," he says and his hands are firm and steady, strong. "Okay, you saved him and now it's my turn."
"I love him," Sho says, shaking his head.
Aiba's smile is sweet. "Yeah, so do I. I can help. I can do it this time. I'll help you save him."
He doesn't understand, Sho thinks. He doesn't know. "I love him. I love him." He touches the place where his own heart is-its beat matched to the falter of Nino's. "Aiba."
But Aiba's smile is there and crooked and real. "You're kind of a douche, Sho-chan," Aiba says. "I love him, too. Would I rub his nuts and lick spunk off of him if I didn't?"
Honestly? "Yeah."
"Well, I threesomed you and a sex demon-don't you think I'd do that for Nino?"
Sho blinks. "You'd do that for you."
Aiba grins. "But I'd do it for him, too, even though he'd pitch a fit."
The laugh is a surprise, a shock, like sleeping or eating or having sex for the first time. Light in the darkness, given to him by somebody else instead of drawn from his own soul. "You-"
"I love him, too. Maybe not like you do. Maybe not even like you can, but I can still love him. I can still love you. The Hidden World has love just like the human one, just like…" Aiba touches his hands, still over Nino's heart. "Just like Heaven does."
Heaven does not have love like this. "You're better than that," he says, leaning against Aiba. "You love better than that." He knows. He's seen it. He's felt it.
Aiba's hands leave him, warmth in their wake. "If you can keep him here," he says, "I know something that might bring him back to us. It's going to take me a while to get there. It's hard getting there. But I'll do it. I'll get it." He stands. "Trust me. Can you hold on to him?"
Sho can do nothing but. He nods.
"Sho-chan," Aiba hesitates. Then. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? Stay with him until I come back. Keep him here."
He looks at Aiba and he wonders if Aiba can see the roiling, churning deep that has opened in him: the terrible love and despair, the hope and the promise, the inherent fury of a heart. "I'm not leaving his side until he tells me to."
When Nino does tell him to leave, to give him space, Sho will find the person who did this and he will…what he will, he doesn't know. Right now, he only knows that love will bring Nino back and that he just has to hold on and wait for it.