Like a Falling Star. - Ezekiel
Ezekiel x Cupid!reader, Falling For You, Valentines event, gender neutral reader
Cws: spoilers for Seraphim Slum, religious themes sorta
There was a woman walking down the corridors of the slums, her eyes glazing over every person she passed. Every poor little angel, all of those who were abandoned by God, all of those who were damned and forgot. She saw their deepest, darkest desires, after all she could see right through them.
Three of the girls she loved were already gone, Macy, Salxire and Oriel, the three sweet angels, she helped them find the parts of themselves they missed and watched them fall. Fall to their freedom, fall to their happiness.
She helped many, most of the slum was gone, they all disappeared since she joined them, she knew how to help them, she knew what to say for them to find their ways.
Yet, there was someone, an angel she missed. Their name was Cupid, or at least that's how they called themselves. They were known for helping everyone in the slums find their significant other, as if finding love would be a solution for all damnation and pain.
As if it wasn’t just their selfish way to purge the guilt and blame off of themselves.
She saw them, she saw you at the other end of the corridor. With a sweet smile glued to your face, a bow with heart shaped arrows in your hands and the emptiness in your eyes. You were talking to someone, two girls holding each other's hands, whispering their thank yous to you.
You didn’t care. You didn’t care about their love, you wanted to tell them to be damned. She felt it, she saw right through your sweetness, through that sickly sweet mask you were putting on. You were no angel of love, no guide through the tedious ways of romance.
You are only ██ after all.
“Hi, do you need anything?” Ezekiel’s eyes met yours, you were standing in front of her, talking to her. Were you hoping that you could give her love now? FInd her a lover and gain God’s understanding? Understanding of your sin?
She thought for a second. Maybe this was her cue to guide you. “Hmm yes, that would be great.” She replied, a wicked glint in her eyes, contrasting the innocent smile she was giving you. To you she’s someone who’s looking for love, to her you’re someone who needs a push to gain freedom.
“Then you came to the right person, I’m… Cupid, what’s your name?” You were unsure of our own name, you hated it, it tasted wrong on your tongue. It wasn’t yours. You stole it, you stole it from a story someone told you when you were young.
She took you by your hand, it was romance you seeked, it’s romance she’ll give you, she raised your hand to her lips, kissing your palm with a charming smile. “So you’re the one I heard so much about, the one guiding those who seek love.” These words served as an invitation, an invitation for you to open up “Tell me, do you truly believe in the love you’re spreading? Does it make you feel like you have a purpose?” She tilted her head to the side, your hand still held firmly in hers, she wasn’t letting go.
Your brows furrowed, you felt endangered by how easily she read you. How dare she, who is she, who does she think she is? Your mind was flooded with thoughts, you almost let your confusion and defensiveness show. “Ah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I help poor little angels who seek love, that’s all there is to it.” You replied with a sweet smile, it didn’t reach your eyes.
Fake smiles won’t lead you far, my darling archer.
Ezekiel was following the angel around, watching them as they consulted every couple or hopeless romantic throughout the day. If only the love they tried to share reached their heart, if only it gave the desired effect, if only He would see your efforts and applaud you for them, admitting that you were right in your beliefs. But He’d never do it, forgiveness and understanding wasn’t in His style after all.
You never let your mask slip away, not even for a moment, you couldn’t let the emptiness in your heart be known, you couldn’t show your hate for this feeling. This wretched feeling that stole everything from you. That destroyed you.
She was sitting on the staircase with you, you played with the arrows you always carried, like they were a vital part of the identity you stole, like without them you wouldn't be Cupid. Ezekiel’s watchful gaze never left your form, she was studying, studying the perfect romantic you tried to shape yourself into.
Her gaze reached your eyes, the beautiful eyes she wanted to leave as a memory of you, but you needed them more than she desired them. Without them you would never see the world you could slip into, you would never see the filthy and rotten love humans have, the love you desired to have and the love you wanted to give. In your eyes, the mirrors to your soul, there was light some time ago. She remembers. Now there’s nothing left of that light, there’s just this…
“Oh, look at this.” She cupped your cheeks with her hands, a knowing look in her eyes, a look that infuriated you. “This is it, the sight I was waiting for. Your soul. It’s empty, it’s tired, it’s sad.” Her words felt like knives, knives cutting you with precision. “What do you feel when you watch them all love each other, is it satisfying to watch the happiness, or is it pain, tugging on your heart. Are you ever tired of this show you’re putting up? Tell me darling, are you happy with this beautiful play you trapped yourself within?”
You tried to push her away, push her words away, defy her, defy the truth about yourself. You wanted to bury it all. Bury it deep enough so no one would see it, not even you, especially you. But she, Ezekiel, waltzed into your life, seen through your cracks. And now she taunts you, taunts you with her words, taunts you with her truths.
“Stop! Stop saying that!” You pushed her away. She fell on the dirty ground of the slums with a quiet thud. “You’re wrong! I know love, I am Cupid!” You covered your ears with your hands, trying to block out any sound, as if the wind could pursue you into accepting the truth. The truth… There’s no truth, no, no, no. She’s wrong. She’s so wrong about this, about you, about everything.
You felt her fingers wrapping themselves around your wrists, like snakes, she pulled your hands away from your ears, her face so close to yours, you could feel her breath against your cheek. “Stop denying the truth, you know it, sweetheart, you’re not meant to play this role.” She whispered the sin tainted words, the truth was the greatest sin she could use against you. The sin you couldn't accept yet. A sin you ran away from, escaping into the darkness of the night. Hoping that the shadows would become the sanctuary for your filthy, sinful, dead yet beating heart.
But she had to leave you with the singular truth for the night.
She will make you understand another day, a day meant for broken hearts and hate.
You invited her into your room, it was full of hearts, pillows, mugs, posters, everything had an innocently pink heart on it. The innocence you ought to be yours, This room screamed love and sweetness from the entrance. It looked exactly like the room Cupid owned in the book you showed her so long ago. Did you still dream of a love arrow shooting through her heart to love you?
You weren’t even looking at her, you were looking through the window, up at the sky covered by the dark clouds, the clouds that blocked the filthy slums to be viewed by the perfect heaven. “Hoping that He will see you, love?” She stood behind you, her arms wrapped around your waist, chin resting on your shoulder.
Your lip trembled, Gods, you were so tired. Tired of all of this, tired of the weight of this burden you were carrying. “... Do-don’t… please…” You pleaded, weak, quiet. You felt like hearing her truth would break your facade, ruin the mask you were sewing so carefully. You didn’t want the empire of love you created to slip from your fingers, not when you had so much to prove to Him.
She was quiet, her silence was hitting harder than any words she could say. The lack of her persuasion, her whispers, it made you want to vomit. Vomit because of the truth, the truth creeping into your mind. The truth you were unable to hide anymore.
“Ezekiel… I hate it… I hate the lovers, I hate this slum. Why must I be punished for loving?” Your voice shook, your whole form was shaking. The pain, the hatred, the heartbreak. It all drove you to this point, it all drove you to not accept who you are, basing yourself after a book and hoping that God would notice you. Hoping that he’d understand that love wasn’t a sin. That it wasn’t lust you felt, but pure unconditional love, the same one you felt for Him as an angel.
‘Shhh, it’s okay, my darling. Let the strings of love go, it isn’t your saviour if you share it with everyone. My little archer, let your arrow fly with your hunger, let it fly with your desire.” Her arms were like serpents, tight around your waist, giving you comfort while her words were tempting you, pushing you into acceptance. Persuading you into the open arms of freedom. To love is to be free. And to be free, you have to fall.
She turned you around, your eyes glued to hers, like you would find answers in them. But there’s no answers, there’s just your reflection, the person you built yourself to be.
The Cupid who shared love and happiness.
The Cupid you so desperately tried to become.
“I… I am not Cupid. I-’ Her chuckle made you pause. It was unsettling, wicked, dark.
“Yes! Yes, you are not Cupid!” She leaned in closer, her face barely inches from yours. “Come on! Tell me, tell me your name, my archer!” Her words brought destruction, her words gave freedom by stripping you off of every lie you so carefully dressed yourself into.
“I’m… I’m…” The answer she waited for so long. The words she tried to have you say ever since she spoke to you that they. You would finally admit who you are.
You are only Y/n after all.
The angel who let their love lead them and turned into lust.
Her lips met yours once your name left your mouth. Like the last act of your damned romance. Like a prize for accepting who you were.
But the true prize awaited you. The prize of falling and becoming a new person, a person who could love freely. Free of all the rules and binds.
“You were never meant to be an angel my love. You were meant to love the one you choose, not the one who created you.” She whispered into your ear while holding you close to her body. It was only a matter of time before you would slip away from her. Joining her three other loves and all those she freed.
“I love you too, little archer.”
