Chapter Text
All of the brothers of the House of Lamentation thought they were Natalie's favorite. Even Lucifer, who seemed unbothered by her presence most of the time was secretly thinking this way. They never sat down and talked about this, hell no, it would turn into a fight pretty quickly but each of them felt this way and knew the others were thinking the same thing. But they were all wrong. She was his and his only. She loved him back.
Satan was thinking about this while Natalie and he finally find a place to sit down in the library to study for tomorrow's human history exam. They both liked the stories of history but when it when it comes to remembering the dates and the names of the wars, it quickly changed. So they needed this last minute cramming.
“Which one of these is mine?” Nat looked at the two cups of coffee sitting on the table and picked one randomly. She took a sip and made a face that made Satan smile. “Eugh, definitely not this one. It is so bitter. Here, take your tasteless coffee.” She pushed the cup to the demon and took the other one, the one with lots of cream and sugar because that was how she could tolerate the bitterness of coffee. Satan took a sip of his hot coffee, very aware of the fact that her lips touched there before his.
“Are you sure you like that?” She pouted at him. “Do you want to try mine?” This was maybe the tenth time she did this, she couldn't believe how he was content with his choice of coffee. He was sure about what he liked or what he disliked but he really liked taking a sip of the sweet coffee the girl had been drinking, thinking of it as a taste of her rose-tinted lips.
“I think I will stick with the black coffee.” She sighed at his response. But defeated, she opened her book.
“We have to get a good grade or Lucifer is going to kill us.”
“I wouldn't let him touch you.” She looked at him with doe eyes.
“You are so sweet, thank you. But i also don't want us to fail so we have to study.” She said as she tied her hair up. Satan loved it when she had her hair up like this. Her cute side profile was all there for him to stare for hours. Of course without her realising it. He would be redder than a tomato if she catched him staring at her face.
“Shall we start with the foundation of America?” Satan asked as he also opened his book.
She groaned. “Eugh, I hate that chapter so much..no.. actually I hate every chapter about America so much.” She was American ("Thanks to my stupid immigrant parents!") but she hated American history with her guts. She hated every coloniser country but to her, America was absolutely the worst because they never really paid for the crimes they commited. And they kept doing things that are definitely against the international law with no consequences whatsoever.
“I know but isn't it best that we study that chapter first so that we have things you actually love for later?" He poked her cheek with his pen. "Also professor specifically mentioned a question about this chapter to be on the exam so we kind of have to study it.”
“Unfortunately you are right.” She sighed defeated. “Okay, let's get this over with, shall we?”
They studied for a good amount of time until she reached for her coffee and realized it was empty. “I need more coffee.”
So they got up and walked out of the library to go to the coffee shop across the street. Nat held onto Satan's arm as they walked, she’s been doing it a lot, lately. And so naturally. As if it was obvious that they had something going on between them.
They gave their order to the sleepy looking barista and waited for the coffee to be ready. Natalie was watching the light of the “OPEN 24/7” sign outside. And Satan watched her but it was unnecessary, every detail of her face was engraved in his mind already. Her cute little nose, her big doe eyes, her eyelashes which were so long and curled even without any mascara, her small pink lips which made the cutest pout when she was deep in thought…He was just obsessed with the harmony of the face of this human. To him, she was prettier than the angels, so-called the prettiest beings in the entire universe.
Her eyes turned to him. “Hm? Are you watching me?” Satan blushed with a sudden loss of words, she just smiled. She seemed amused with the idea of Satan staring at her face.
“I feel so tired.” She whined.
“Already?” Satan chuckled. They took their coffee and got out of the coffee shop.
“You know, i wouldn't even be able to bring myself to study tonight if you weren't also here with me.”
“Then you wouldn't get a perfect score tomorrow and would fall into insecurity about your intelligence."
Natalie shook her head considering that possibility. “Maybe.” She took a sip of her coffee. And put her tongue out immediately. “Hot!” Satan laughed at her.
They sit down to study again, losing themselves between the pages. After another two hours, Nat put her head on the demon’s arm resting on the table. Satan gulped with excitement at the unexpected touch. His crush on the girl bubbled up inside him.
“You know all these wars could've stopped after the first year if they weren't so stupidly prideful.” She exclaimed.
“Isn’t everything about humans like this?”
“I guess so. Sometimes I question why pride is such a big sin? But then I look at people being dorks just because they think so highly of themselves. Then I get it.” She spun her pen in her hand.
“You could just take a look at Lucifer.”
She chuckled. “He isn't as bad as you make him sound like.”
“Hm, you might be right. He is worse.” Her laugh was music to his ears, he felt a smile forming on his lips.
“I thought after the body-swap incident you started respecting him more.”
“Yeah but I still find him painfully irritating.”
She turned her head to look at his eyes. “I really like the way you articulate your sentences. It sounds so..poetic. As if I'm reading a Shakespeare sonnet.”
“You are exaggareting.” Satan felt his cheeks get hot.
“Look at you, getting all flustered!” She found his blushing adorable.
“Hey, we have to get back to studying.” Satan tried to change the subject.
Natalie shook her index finger. “Not before i get another coffee.”
“You’re gonna overdose on caffeine.” Humans were so sensitive with everything.
“If i get an A in the exam, it's all worth it.” She shrugged. Satan would normally feel a hot rage in his stomach if someone else disregarded him like this. But not with her.
“After all this cramming we should get A+, don't you think?” He said, as they get up to go to the coffee shop again.
“I doubt it, the professor is too much of a perfectionist to give us that grade.” She didn't look as hopeful.
“Are you the one saying that?” Satan raised an eyebrow.
“What? I am a very understanding person, far from a perfectionist.”
“I have seen you cook. Once you measured the length of the dough while making pastry."
“I had to! I was making croissants, French pastries need very specific measurements-" She kept talking about this for 5 whole minutes. But it was fine by him, he loved listening to her talk.
𖹭𖹭𖹭
“After this, I will go home and just sleep for at least 6 hours straight.” Natalie said, yawning. It was 8 in the morning. They had spent their entire night studying; and now they were waiting in front of the classroom where they would take the exam.
“Didn't you have afternoon classes today?”
“Yes and I will proudly skip them.” She murmured. “I don't have the brains to understand math now.”
She rested her head on Satan's chest and Satan put his hands around her. She looked like she could sleep any moment. Humans, Satan thought. They were more sensitive to the smallest change in their routine.
“I hope I don't nod off during the exam.” She whispered. Satan caressed her hair.
"After that much coffee, i doubt it." He heard her chuckle.
She seemed more energetic after they were done with the exam. “It was so good, i think i got an A. How about you?”
“It was good, if i didn't misremembered anything i will get an A, too.” She held her both hands for him to high-five. This was another weird thing about humans but Satan got used to it because of how much Nat seemed to like it.
“I am going home, what are you up to now?”
“I need to go see Diavolo about some paperwork.” She seemed disappointed that they couldn't walk home together.
“See you at dinner then?” She hugged him before they both go to their own way. Her sweet scent lingered in his nose for a while.