#hirael

Michael finds himself in front of Hira’s apartment. Ever since he’s started running the neighborhood, night has been the time of day he learns to appreciate the most. It’s the only time he feels he can truly be himself, away from prying eyes… the humans would be asleep, and the demons would be mingling away in their own private spaces—where they’ve barely invited him to to begin with, but even less the more the reboots got out of hand. Not that it matters much to him any more, though, and only some of that holds true now. Because he’s started attending Chidi’s ethics lessons, he’s starting to feel like he could let down his guard around the humans—Team Cockroach is what Eleanor had christened their little band of misfits as—even though he still hasn’t fully realized it yet. Still, sometimes he needs some alone time, so nighttime to himself is good. But it seems like he’s getting used to having company with him, so his feet have absentmindedly taken him to where he is right now.

He could see that their bedroom light on the second story is still on. He doesn’t hesitate much as he climbs the staircase that vertically snakes along the side of the building, since he knows none of the other demons would want to actually stay that close to a human if they weren’t doing some torturing.

He knocks on Hira’s door. He hears what sounds like something falling over on the floor, and he raises his eyebrows. A distant voice calls out, telling him to wait. After a few minutes pass by, Hira finally answers the door, looking a bit frazzled in their pajamas as they try to greet him with a smile. “Michael! Hi. Um. Is…everything okay?”

“Sorry, I thought you were still awake. Do you wanna go for a walk?”

They blink at Michael. “A…you want to go–right now?”

“Yeah,” he answers nonchalantly. “No early ethics classes tomorrow, so it’s okay to stay up late.”

They stare at him for several seconds before nodding fervently–maybe too much. “Yeah…yeah! Okay! Um…let me just turn off my lights.”

===

“So,” Hira says as they walk alongside Michael, admiring their surroundings, “you’ve told us the gist about how the neighborhood works, but not much beyond that—and some of that might be just bullshirt you were trying to sell to us anyway.”

“You have to be specific. Not everything I said was a lie.” They give Michael a playfully accusatory look. “Ok. Most of what I said was a lie. But some of it is true.”

“I know that. Which is why I wanna ask…you designed the whole neighborhood, right? Can you–are you allowed to tell me about some of it?”

Michael gets taken aback slightly by the genuine interest he could hear in their voice. “Sure! Ask about whatever.”

Hira asks and continues to ask Michael about the neighborhood as they walk, and also a little about himself: how he got to be an architect, how he got to designing the current version of the neighborhood (which is largely based on the original version) and about other versions, how deliberate all of his choices were and why he picked out what he did… he doesn’t tell them everything, but he tells them enough to keep them intrigued. He could feel a sense of pride well up in his chest…he never really gets to tell anyone about how much thought he'd put into the neighborhood—not that he could find anyone who would give enough crap to listen, anyway. So it's nice to have someone sound so curious and…excited, even. Even if they are asking about how he designed their previously perfectly unsuspecting torture chamber.

Michael pauses his steps as he feels a shudder across his fake skin, something he's never really quite felt before he started attending Chidi's classes.

Hira lets out a sneeze, distracting him from what he’d just felt. He finds it momentarily fascinating how small and dainty they can make their sneezes sound like, when he knows they're just as capable of sounding like the horn of a ten-wheeler truck.

"Sorry," they say, with an audibly congested voice, their eyes a bit watery. "I have this all the time. Darn, I didn’t bring a jacket or a towel…thought I won’t need it.”

"It's a bit gross, but don't worry about it." Michael says before realizing he probably shouldn't have tacked on the first part of his sentence if he wanted to sound genuinely comforting. How to remedy this... Ah! Promptly, he reaches into the breast pocket of his coat and offers them his handkerchief.

Hira stares at his outstretched hand, contemplating. "Are you sure?" they ask, almost cautiously. "This is like...one of those hankies you're not supposed to use, right? Just for display to go with an outfit and all."

"Take it. I have plenty." He says, nudging them by pushing his hand closer.

They take it, their fingertips momentarily brushing against his. “Thanks Michael. Um…I’ll wash it for you and return it.”

"No need. Just keep it." He smiles.

They let out another thank you before sneezing into the handkerchief. Michael does all he can to avoid flinching, but he does take a few (hopefully unnoticeable) steps back. They groan in between the sniffling. "It's a bit chilly tonight. I should've brought a cap or something..."

"I thought you like chilly nights?" That's why he had made tonight this atmosphere.

"Yeah, but my nose is weird. Sometimes all it takes is a slight breeze..." They make a gesture with their hand, sweeping it across to imitate the wind. "Y'know, it's funny. You could've used this to torture me."

"Well, that would be physical torture," he says, reflexively straightening out the edges of his coat, swallowing the small bit of wounded pride in his voice. "That would be easy, but it wouldn't be smart."

“Like Eleanor’s furniture isn’t torture.”

“That was just a little discomfort to embellish the whole thing.”

Hira giggles, lightly nudging his arm with their shoulder. “Okay, I mean it sucks but it’s a little funny at least. But I know you're smart because you put so much thought into this neighborhood. You don’t have to tell me.”

Something small tugs the corners of Michael’s lips upwards. He slightly leans down sideways to get closer to them. "You know, if you want, I could literally change the weather with a wave of my hand." He says in a low voice, with a twinkle like a child whispering to an accomplice. It's not like he hadn’t made a few subtle changes to the neighborhood here and there for the benefit of his newfound…comrades, and it’s also not like they hadn’t seen him demonstrate a little magic before, but this feels like a new opportunity.

He has all the power in the universe and he's doing what right now, exactly? Trying to impress some measly weak little human? A voice in the back of his head snidely hisses at him. He rolls his eyes at it internally. No, that's not how he should think any more. Remember what Chidi says. He’s not just bringing it up to impress, anyway.

“T’s okay,” Hira responds, trying to fold up the handkerchief neatly as they walk. “I’ll be fine. Plus, I wouldn't wanna ask you to go all willy-nilly on the weather without asking the others how they feel about it first.”

He just nods in return. Of course... But what else could he do to help them at this moment? He thinks to himself, putting his hands in his coat pockets.

Oh, right! He has a coat. He starts unbuttoning it.

Hira notices what he’s doing and stops, a bit confused and surprised. “Uh…banasin ka pala?”

"No, I don't get hot. Or cold. Temperatures don't bother me because this is just my human suit." Well, that was the deal. Afterlife human skin suits are designed to only imitate some human bodily functions but not actually have them; he's not supposed to actually feel anything. Yet somehow, Michael feels like attesting to this claim.

Hira silently watches him as he takes his arms out of the sleeves, successfully leaving him in just his french cuff shirt. He places the coat on their shoulders. "There. You need it more than I do."

They, stunned for a moment, can only manage to sputter. "I–uh–wait, don't let go of it yet, I'm gonna adjust it so it won't fall..." their voice cracks and trails off toward the end as they try to busy themself with balancing the coat, ignoring how this makes their hands accidentally brush up against his (again), or how they can feel Michael’s arm in the space behind them, or how this is probably the first time they’ve seen him not wearing layers…

Michael's shoulders are wider than theirs, but somehow, the coat fits snugly. Instantly they feel much warmer, though it's probably not only the fabric material's doing. They're worried the warmth would make its way to their cheeks, so they drop their eyes towards the floor. "Th–Thank you..." they say, letting out the breath they didn’t even realize they were holding.

"Don't mention it." He pats them on the arm before letting the coat go.

They finally look up at his face just in time to see him smile, one of the most genuine ones they've seen on him by far. They can’t help but smile back. “Hey, y’know, I don't think I've seen you in anything else other than these suits. This is perfect for a chilly night like this but–I can't imagine you having to stay in it all the time. When it's just us—Team Cockroach—" (they do a little fist pump) "—you know you could loosen up a bit more, ok?"

Michael is taken aback by this. He hasn't really considered it before. "I'll... keep that in mind. Thank you, Hira.”

They hold onto the coat for the rest of their midnight stroll together, until he walks them back and they arrive home.

A/N: should've let them keep the coat too

there's like one line of dialogue in filipino bc it doesn't feel right when i try to write it in english pbfbtbt