"if anything, you're more precious than Ruri-chan"

As the coffee brewed, he mulled around the kitchen on the hunt for more stars. He found the 459th (neon green) balanced on a pipe under the sink, and the 460th (his shade of blue) was against the wall on top of the highest cabinet - courtesy of Beel, no doubt.

Lucifer’s pocket was starting to bulge out by the time he added the 461st to his collection. He dumped them onto the counter next to his mug, the pile of eight resembling those too sweet human-world cereals you’d forced him to try.

He should’ve been angry - irritated at best - that you were practically littering all around his house, but as he poured himself a cup of coffee he found it hard to be mad. Not when the sound of your laughter was floating so clearly through the halls. Judging by the other voices, Satan or Asmo had said something to make you laugh. Despite himself, Lucifer found a smile forming on his face as he picked up star number 462 off the kitchen door frame.

The stars themselves varied in quality - he knew the ones with crisp edges and perfect folds came from you, while the small handful he found half-crushed clearly came from Mammon. You had been putting his brothers to work, and while he would have preferred the efforts to go to chores, he couldn’t help but appreciate all you’d done.

Lucifer gathered up his growing pile of treasure and his mug before heading upstairs, the sound of yours and his brother’s voices growing louder with every step. Along the way, he found several more - two green ones tucked into the banister, one (pale yellow) on top of a picture frame, and another pink one taped to the ceiling being a few. By the time he reached your door, his collection had reached 471.

The sound of laughter spilled out from behind the door - your voice mixed with Mammon’s loud boasting, Levi’s quieter commentary, and Beel’s occasional happy hum. Lucifer paused, listening. It had been a long time since the house sounded this… alive. Not just noisy. Warm.

He knocked once, sharply.

The laughter cut off. A beat of silence, then Asmo’s sing-song voice, “Come iiin~”

Lucifer pushed the door open.

The scene that greeted him was pure chaos in the best possible way. You were sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by colorful paper squares. Levi was demonstrating a particularly complex fold with intense focus, while Mammon kept trying to steal your half-finished stars to “improve” them (mostly by adding tiny doodles of himself). Beel was carefully eating snacks with one hand and folding with the other, somehow managing not to get crumbs on anything. Satan lounged nearby with a book, occasionally offering sarcastic suggestions. Asmo was folding the hot pink paper, placing his creations on Belphie's sleeping form.

Every surface had at least one completed star on it. Lucifer cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him.

You looked up with an expression that was equal parts guilty and delighted, “Hi, Lucifer.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out the entire handful of stars, letting them cascade onto the floor in front of you like multicolored confetti, “I believe these belong to you.”

Mammon immediately tried to play innocent, “Whoa, those are crazy! Where’d ya find ‘em, Lucifer?”

Lucifer gave him a flat look, “That’s 14 of 400, Mammon.”

The demon in question shrank back.

You bit your lip to hide a smile, “Sorry. We got a little carried away.”

“A little?” Lucifer arched an eyebrow, but there was no real heat in it. He crouched down, picking up one of the stars - deep red this time - and turned it over in his fingers, “You’ve been turning my house into a nesting ground for paper birds. I found one in my coffee mug this morning.”

Beel looked vaguely proud, “That one was mine.”

Lucifer exhaled through his nose, but the sound was closer to a laugh than a sigh. He sat down properly on the edge of the rug and began folding one of the spare sheets of paper with practiced precision. The room went quiet for a moment as everyone watched the terrifying eldest brother create a perfect, crisp star in under thirty seconds.

He set it in your palm.

“There,” he said, voice softening just a touch, “If you’re going to fill the house with these, at least make sure they’re properly made. I won’t have substandard stars representing the House of Lamentation.”

Your face lit up. The others burst into cheers, the energy in the room bouncing right back up.

For the next hour, Lucifer stayed. He drank his coffee, corrected Mammon’s sloppy technique with long-suffering patience, and quietly made sure you had the best paper and sharpest folds. Every now and then he’d find a new hiding spot suggestion from one of his brothers and pretend not to hear it, even as the corner of his mouth twitched upward.

By the time he finally stood to leave, the pile of finished stars had doubled. He paused at the door and looked back at all of you - his chaotic, ridiculous family.

“Try not to turn the entire Devildom into your craft project,” he said dryly. Then, quieter, almost to himself, “It’s… good to hear you all laughing.”

He closed the door behind him, but not before a bright yellow star landed perfectly on his shoulder.

Your mind continues to race as you stand up, all of your joints cracking in protest. You throw on your RAD uniform and regather your study materials before heading out into the hall. As you make your way down the stairs, the ever present headache throbs with each step. This is fine, it’s finals, it’ll be over in a few days.

Stepping into the dining room, the brothers are already engaged in lively conversation. Levi’s talking about a new anime he found, Mammon’s discussing a new poker strategy, Asmo is cooing over his newest lip gloss. Every word seems to rattle around the inside of your skull. You take a deep breath as you sit down at the table, blinking away the blur of your vision from sitting down too fast.

As always, the brothers are happy to see you, but you really don’t feel like being the center of attention, so you get away with a strained smile and the occasional nod before they go back to bickering amongst themselves. Thankfully, they don’t seem to notice your discomfort. You don’t know if you’d be able to deal with them fussing at you for not taking care of yourself. It’s only been a couple weeks of this, and everyone works extra hard during finals. Especially when they are learning subjects they’ve never even heard of, and are expected to preform at the same level as demons who grew up learning these things. Hell, some of them were even there for some of the historical events that took you days to get right in your mind.

‘It’s almost over,’ you tell yourself, ‘everyone struggles during finals week.’ Your stomach churns as you look at the food on your plate. After mixing it up a little so it at least looks like you ate some before pushing the plate in front of Beel. His eyes light up for a second before his brows furrow.

“Are you not hungry? You hardly ate any,” he says, showing just enough restraint to avoid digging in immediately.

“No, I’m not super hungry this morning. I’ll just have a big lunch later.” You send him the most convincing smile you can muster, hoping he’s distracted enough by the new plate of food in front of him to notice the insincerity in your tone.

Lucky, it seems to work as you breathe a sigh of relief. He starts eating and in the blink of an eye the food is gone. As you look away from Beel, you lock eyes with Lucifer. He has an intense look on his eyes, but you look away immediately to try to prevent him from reading you.

You stand up and grab your bag before speaking. “I think I’m going to head to school early, I’m trying to get some more studying in,” you announce in what you hope is a cheerful tone.

“I’ll go with you! The Great Mammon will keep you company. ” Mammon attempts to puff out his chest, but it loses all effect when he nearly trips over himself in an attempt to race to your side.

“No you will not! It’s your turn to clean the table.” Levi replies, and you see Mammon instantly droop in disappointment.

“You should just wait, and we can all go together.” Satan suggests.

You know if you walk with them you won’t get anything done before first period, and you were hoping to study your flashcards on the walk to school.

“I need to stop by purgatory hall on the way, so I’ll just head out early.” The lie slips out before you even really process it, but it seems to appease the brothers as they go back to finishing their breakfast.

“Just be careful! I can’t have any other demon gobbling up my favorite snack,” Asmo blows you a kiss as you walk towards the front door, and you try to ignore Lucifer’s eyes boring into the back of your skull.

—————

The walk to school is relatively uneventful, you only trip over a few pebbles as your focus stays glued to the flashcards in your hands.

You make it through morning classes, managing to hide the way your head spins every time you move.

You have a free period before lunch that you spend studying in a secluded corner of the library. You decide that if you get through the chapters you needed to, lunch with your favorite demons will be the perfect reward. It has been a while since you’ve had an actual meal, so it’s the perfect motivation to study hard.

But as time ticks by, you realize you’re getting through the content much slower than expected. As the lunch bell rings, it rattles around your skull for a few moments after it stops. Just a few more minutes, you’ll just be a little late to lunch.

You end up turning off your phone as messages from the brothers keep coming in. You end up studying through all of lunch. It becomes increasingly difficult to fight the blur of your vision as tears begin to force their way out.

It’s not that hard right? You haven’t even been studying that hard, haven’t missed that many meals, haven’t missed that much sleep. Sure, you know demons can tolerate more than humans, but you should be able to do this, right? You’re not the only exchange student, but Solomon and the angels don’t seem to be struggling. You should be able to handle this.

Your spiral into a full panic attack is interrupted by the alarm you set for the end of lunch. Two more classes, then your exam. Mammon sits with you during your next class. You have to pull it together before you see him. You can’t stand the idea of seeming weak in front of someone you care about so much.

After a few deep breaths, you stop to wash your face in the bathroom before you head to class.

As you walk into the classroom, Mammon glances up from his phone, eyes lighting up once he realizes it’s you. You make your way over and slide into the seat next to him.

“MC! Where were ya? Ya weren’t at lunch. Not that I was waitin’ for you specifically or anythin’,” he questions as soon as you sit down, a blush beginning to rise on his cheeks as his poorly concealed affection shows.

“Yeah, I ate in the library, just couldn’t handle the noise in the cafeteria today, y’know?” You lie, hoping it’s believable.

“Well ya should have told me! I texted ya, but didn’t get a response. Not that I was worried! I just know ya love spending time with the Great Mammon, and who doesn’t? And we haven’t gotten to hang out recently. After all, I-“

Your heart begins to swell with fondness at his clear failure to come off nonchalant. His ramble is cut off when the professor starts the lecture, and you force yourself to concentrate and take notes as best you can. This is the review for the final in two days, so you really need to absorb this information.

Throughout the lecture, Mammon looks at you, occasionally poking your side in an attempt to gain your attention. As much as you would love to goof off with him, you’re kind of struggling in this class, so you have to do well on the final. You ignore Mammon, giving him a light swat when he pokes you, causing him to pout like a scolded puppy.

Eventually the lecture ends, and your notes aren’t as complete as you’d like, but you guess they’ll have to do. Mammon always walks you to your next class, so he waits by your desk for you to gather your things. Finally free to talk, he yaps about some scheme or another, but you’re having a hard time concentrating on what he’s saying.

As you stand up, the room begins to spin, and Mammon’s panicked face is the last thing you see before you collapse.

—————

You come to in the infirmary. You look to your side to see Mammon in a chair next to your bed, chewing on his nails and staring off into space as his leg bounces violently.

You grumble as you stretch sore muscles, causing Mammon’s head to snap towards you as he jumps up and moves closer to your side. At this moment you notice Lucifer is also there, as he stands up from a seat across the room and moves towards the foot of your bed.

“What happened?” you ask, still groggy.

“You passed out when leaving one of your classes. Thankfully Mammon caught you before your head hit the ground.” Lucifer informs you, voice tight. “The nurse trained we had trained in human illness says it was likely due to stress and lack of proper nutrition and sleep. She believes you may have been studying too hard, since it is final exams. Was she correct in this assessment?”

Unable to hold his disappointed gaze, you look to the side. As you look away, you see the clock on the wall. Oh no. Your exam is in five minutes! And that professor hates you, there’s no way he’ll let you make it up on a different day.

You push Mammon back as you stand up from the bed. He holds your arms as you begin to sway, trying to get you to sit back down. He rambles, trying to convince you to take it easy as his voice shakes.

You feel a rush of irritation flare up inside you. “Let me go and get out of my way.”

You didn’t mean to say it as an order, but when your pact mark glows and Mammon stumbles back with a slight whine you realize you accidentally used the pact. Guilt washes over you but you ignore it as you move towards the door, only to be stopped as Lucifer steps in front of you.

“I have an exam in five minutes! Move, I can’t afford to miss it!” You tell Lucifer frantically, ignoring the dizziness that still swims around your skull.

“You are sick. The professor will understand. I will talk to him. Sit back down.” Lucifer orders, gently but firmly.

“You don’t understand! My grade is already borderline in that class, and that professor hates me! I have to do well on this exam! I can’t miss it!” Your voice cracks and you start to shake as you try to convince Lucifer to let you by.

Slowly, like he’s afraid of startling a cornered animal, he places his gloved hands on your shoulders. “Your health is more important than your grades. It pains me that you have pushed yourself to this point. I will speak to Diavolo, and we will talk to your professors. Please, sit back down.” His voice is gentle as he speaks.

All of the stress and anxiety and self-loathing you’ve been fighting the last couple weeks all come crashing down on you in an instant.

You flop down onto the bed, head in your hands as you sob. Lucifer’s hand gently rubs your back as you shake violently from the emotion that has overtaken you.

As you cry, your ears barely catch a shaky breath, as you glance up to see Mammon standing a few feet away, shifting the weight between his feet as he looks like he’s holding back tears.

The sight of him makes you sob harder as you throw open your arms towards him. “I’m so sorry Mammon.”

He rushes over to you, wrapping you up in a tight hug as he buries his face in your shoulder. “I was so scared. I thought I lost ya again. Please take better care of yourself. I don’t want to lose you.”

You feel the emotions running through both of you. You feel so guilty, but also so relieved. Relieved that you don’t have to carry this alone anymore, and your demons don’t think any less of you.

“I am going to speak to Diavolo. Stay here for a while, then when you’re ready head home and get some rest. You’re both dismissed from class for the rest of the day. I have to inform our brothers that you are awake and alright.”

You look up at the mention of the other brothers. How did they know you were here?

Lucifer seems to practically read your mind. “All of us felt something through the pact, and we ran to come find you. Mammon carried you to the infirmary, and all of us waited here while the nurse examined you. I sent my other brothers back to class when she told us you would be okay, since I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed when you woke up. But you will have a lot of questions to answer this evening. Now rest. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Lucifer gives your shoulder a comforting squeeze before leaving. As he walks out of the room, you feel any energy you had evaporate as you slump against Mammon.

“I’m sorry Mammon. I don’t mean to worry you all,” you whisper against his shoulder.

He pulls you closer against his side. “Jus’… don’t do that again, okay?”

You nod against his shoulder, finally relaxing as the sleep you’ve been running from finally catches up to you.