#implied humiliation

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“Is there anything I can do for him?”

The question is so sincere that Jo sighs, frustrated to not have a good answer.

“I don’t think there’s anything any of us can do. He just...needs time. Rest.”

“But he’s not resting,” Seraphina insists.

Jo walks over to the bedroom door and peeks through the sliver that it’s open.

Inside on the bed Erystos is curled on his side facing away from the door. She can’t see his face, but Jo can tell he’s still awake from the way he shifts and sighs and readjusts the pillow.

 She steps back and looks at the angel.

“Listen, I - I don’t think either of us can give him what he probably needs right now.”

“I won’t know that unless you tell me what you mean.”

Jo knows she isn’t going to win this one. Seraphina still has plenty to learn about earthly relationships if she hasn’t figured it out herself...but she’s also stubborn. The most stubborn person Jo has ever met, breaking her own personal record.

“He was just captured, mocked, roughed up and humiliated by his own kind. He might not just be hurting on the outside, you know?”

The wording briefly confuses the angel but it’s clear on her face when she realizes what Jo means. Seraphina has felt her share of inner hurts, even the one Erystos is going through now.

Especially that one.

It’s not at all unlike the way her own kind caused her pain and cast her out. That sharp, unrelenting hurt of knowing you no longer belong.

“I see,” Seraphina whispers. She steps towards the door again and Jo doesn’t stop her.

-

Seraphina slips into the dark room and closes the door slowly. She goes to his side, her bare feet soundless on the carpet. A breeze from the window ripples the fabric of her overly long night shirt.

She sits at the edge of the bed.

Erystos goes still but his breathing gives him away. Still awake.

Seraphina puts a hand on his arm. She is quickly learning the importance of touch to earthly beings. What it can communicate without words; the ways it can harm or heal.

After a long silence the demon’s hand slowly creeps up and settles over hers. Seraphina scoots a little bit further onto the bed and Erystos shifts closer to the wall to make space.

Seraphina doesn’t speak as she curls her smaller body around the demon from behind. She loops an arm over his side and presses up against his broad, solid back. Her forehead comes to rest between his shoulder blades and her legs bend to fit into the shape of his.

Erystos is tense a moment longer before finally melting into the embrace. He gives in fully to the offered comfort, holding Seraphina’s arm gently to keep it in place. He even hums gratefully when the angel gives him a little squeeze.