#obeymegame

—

“I just don’t understand,” Simeon starts, a crease forming on his forehead. “Why were the emojis I sent… inappropriate?” 

“Simeon, a lot of people use the eggplant emoji to mean…” You glance around the mostly-empty hallway, and rise up on your toes to whisper in his ear. As soon as you’re finished explaining, his cheeks darken and his eyes are wider than you thought possible. He’s too cute for this world, you think as he raises a gloved hand to cover his mouth.

“So, you see now why I was sort of confused. Right?” You ask, a dusting of pink on your own face. 

“Oh dear, MC. I– I apologize.” Simeon cringes, realizing what he’d accidentally done. He could die of embarrassment. 

You laugh and pat the technologically clueless angel’s arm. He’s so special. Kind, smart, funny. But, despite being thousands of years old, somehow naive at times. “It’s okay. I knew you didn’t mean it like that.”

“Do any other symbols have secret meanings?” He asks, a scared look in his eyes. You stand next to him as he scrolls through his emoji keyboard and point out the ones that could have not-so-angelic meanings.

“That means what?!” Simeon asks, in disbelief, when you reach the sweat droplets emoji. His face is burning. And yours is no different. “I… can’t believe I’ve been sending it to Luke when it’s hot out.”

“I’m sure Luke has no idea. It only means that in… certain contexts. Like, if you paired it with an eggplant,” you explain softly. He sighs, thankful that at least he isn’t somehow sending dirty texts to his pseudo-child. Then he puts his phone away, unwilling to learn more.

“So, um, would you like to come over for some leftover eggplant parmesan?” Simeon asks, his eyes on the ground and his face warm.

“Sure.” You try your best not to laugh, but when your eyes meet his, you can’t help it.

—

Simeon had been drawn to you since the day you met. You were easy to talk to. You were sweet and friendly and helpful. You gave off a light, some sort of beacon in the darkness of the Devildom. He wasn’t sure where that light came from. Or why he could see it. Until recently.

He has feelings for you. Of this, he is certain. They are undeniable and unrelenting. And, as much as they frighten him, he can’t shake them. What’s more, he doesn’t want to.

So, that’s why he’s been walking you home. He’s in love and he’s not sure what to do about it, so he’s decided to follow you like a puppy as long as you’ll let him. And last week, when he invited you over for leftovers, you didn’t laugh in his face. (Okay, well, you did, but only because he’s technologically illiterate.) 

Besides inadvertently sexting you, Simeon thinks he must be doing something right. He cringes inwardly, remembering how he’d felt when he learned that people had some pretty vulgar uses for cartoonized fruits. But he shakes that away.

For the past week, or maybe longer, he’s been trying to find the courage to tell you how he feels. And while he’s written these feelings before, he can’t say he’s ever felt them. And there is a stark difference. 

For instance, when he’s writing, he controls each characters’ feelings and responses. He knows what one will say, because he knows what the others’ reaction will be. What if you were to go off-script? The idea is nauseating. 

So, now, on the walk to the House with you, he’s anxious. His stomach is in knots, and not just because he let Solomon help with dinner the night before. The two of you are walking side-by-side and he can vaguely hear you prattling about something, but he has no idea what. Because his heart is pounding in his ears. And he can barely focus on moving his legs in time to walk with you.

“Don’t you think so, Simeon?” You ask, looking up at him.

At the sound of his name, he gives you a confused look. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” Your eyebrows are scrunched.

“I’m afraid I wasn’t. My mind was elsewhere.” He admits, looking away sheepishly.

You smile, “Oh, it’s okay. I was just saying how weird it is that it’s always night down here. I’m still not entirely used to it.”

Was it night? He’d hardly noticed. Your smile has that effect on him.

“Oh, yeah. It is strange. Of course, where I’m from, you get neverending sun.” He replies. 

“Huh. That sounds kinda… awful. No offense.” 

Simeon laughs at your honesty. “It’s a big change, but a welcome one. I rather enjoy the night. How about you? Do you miss the sun?” 

The two of you are approaching the stoop of the House. He’s running out of time! 

“Oh yeah, I miss daytime for sure,” you say, rummaging through your bag. “I’m always terrified to walk anywhere alone here.” You add before triumphantly pulling out your keys.

Simeon is well aware of the dangers of the Devildom. He can’t imagine how frightening it must be to a human. The thought of anything happening to you…  

“I’d be happy to accompany you anywhere you go.” Simeon offers. 

Your eyes widen and you start to smile. “Really? That’s so sweet.”

He merely nods. Oh Father, his palms are sweating. That ruins his plan to hold your hands and pour his heart out. Think quicker! Simeon takes a deep breath as you turn to unlock the door. 

“MC?” He says, softly. Nervously. 

You turn back towards him, just in time for him to swoop down and place a kiss on your forehead, taking you by surprise. Your mouth drops open and you drop your keys. And you don’t have time to respond, because as soon as you feel it, he’s gone in a blur of white.

Simeon’s face is on fire as he soars through the dark, Devildom sky. He did it! He did it! Wait… He did what exactly? 

As he nears his own dormitory, he realizes that, instead of confessing his feelings to you, he’d slapped a kiss to your head and flew away. Like a coward. 

“Oh, feathers,” he says, bringing a hand to his own forehead. Maybe he at least got the point across?

You press your fingertips to the searing spot on your forehead, wondering what had come over the angel. You step into the House, still confused. Do… Do angels just spontaneously kiss their friends on the head? 

Stranger things have happened, I guess, you think as you step into the entrance hall, noting the cow hanging from the chandelier. “Hi Belphie.”

“Hmmph.” 

“Are you… asleep?” You ask, but don’t get a response. Lucifer must’ve strung him up for skipping class. You continue to your room and start to tap out a text. As soon as it’s sent, your heart does a flip.

There’s a knock on your door and, before you have time to pretend you aren’t there, it swings open revealing the Avatar of Lust. “Hi Asmo. What’s up?” You say, trying your best to seem normal.

“Hey darling, I just wanted to ask if this top looks okay with this neckl–” He pauses and gives you a once over, a smirk forming on his lips. “What’s got you so blushy?”

“What? I’m not blushy,” you deny, though you can feel the warmth in your cheeks. Asmo sits down next to you.

“Yes you are. And I thought only I could fluster you so.” He sighs, dejectedly falling backwards onto your mattress with an arm over his face.

“Simeon kissed me,” you blurt out. Asmo sits up immediately, with a grave look on his lovely face.

“He what?” 

“I… uh, he kissed me on the forehead.” You explain, pointing to the spot. 

Asmo furrows his brows, “That’s… odd.”

“It is?” 

“I… Sweetie.” Asmo takes a breath and exhales slowly. Instead of his usual, cheerful expression, he wears a serious one. “Our little sister, Lilith. She fell in love with a human…” He trails off, letting you fill in the blanks. 

“Oh. Right…” Your heart clenches and your hands clutch your DDD.

Asmodeus smiles sadly and puts an arm around your shoulders. “Don’t look so sad, dear. Maybe… Maybe He is more forgiving now.” He offers, but he doesn’t look convinced.

—

Simeon is still kicking himself for flying away like an idiot when his DDD makes a noise. It is, however; the special noise that it always makes when you text him, so he grabs it. 

You can kiss me properly next time. If you want to. <3

He reads it several times and has a smile on his face for the rest of the evening. 

—

You’d spent all night fretting over your situation. And you had eventually come to the decision that it was too risky for you to pursue Simeon any longer. For his sake, you had to put a stop whatever it was you had. Even if it broke both your hearts.

But, you supposed letting him walk you home one last time would be all right. So, you’re walking silently beside him, trying to figure out how to let him down gently.

“MC, may I take you up on what you said last night?” Simeon asks as you near the gate, shaking you from your thoughts.

You’d been hoping that he’d forgotten the message, so you wouldn’t have to turn him down. But… Now that he’s here looking at you like that, you can’t refuse. You nod slowly and he exhales before leaning down to press his lips against yours. 

His lips are soft. And warm. And angelic. 

You pull away abruptly. “I, uh, really need to head inside. I’ve got cooking duty tonight!” You lie, rushing up the stairs to the door. 

“Do you need any help?” He offers.

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll see you later!” You wave, then shut the door and leave the angel alone on the walkway confused. 

He was so sure that you… 

Maybe he was wrong.

—

Once Simeon gets home, he goes to ask for advice from his only other human friend. He finds Solomon in his bedroom, reading a dusty-looking book. The sorcerer listens intently as Simeon breaks down his last few interactions with you. 

“I just don’t understand. I thought… See, they said yes, but then they froze up and rushed into the house.” Simeon says, recounting his most recent encounter.

Solomon thinks for a moment. “Maybe they just got nervous.”

“Hmm.” Simeon considers it a possibility. “What do you think I should do now?”

“Try to be more direct? Tell them exactly how you feel.” Solomon says with a smile before turning the page.

Simeon nods. He can do that.

Wrong. 

Over the course of two weeks, he spends approximately six minutes alone with you. You’ve started walking home with one of your demonic housemates every day. You don’t answer your messages as quickly as before. And when you do answer them, it’s often with short, one word replies or stickers. 

It’s starting to stress him out. 

He can’t understand the radio silence. You tell him that you’re busy with class projects and he believes it for a while, but… You seem to have time for everyone except him. 

He finally catches you with free time and invites you over for lunch. When you accept, he’s relieved. And excited. He’s telling you today. Today! 

He’s just finished preparing something delicious for you, with help from Luke. (And Solomon, who’d agreed to stay away from the kitchen for the day.) Simeon dusts his hands off and takes a step back to admire his work. The table looks wonderful, all it needs is you sitting on one side.

The chime of the doorbell rings throughout the house, startling him. He checks his appearance with Luke quickly and rushes to answer the door. 

When he opens it and starts to usher you inside, you don’t move. You have a sad look on your face.

“MC?” Simeon asks. He notices Beelzebub on the sidewalk by the mailbox, leaning against the fence.  

You take a deep breath. “I just came by to say that… I don’t think we should see each other anymore. At least for a little while.”

Simeon’s mouth drops open. His eyes search your face, waiting for a grin to break out. For you to say ‘Just kidding! Let’s go have lunch.’

But you don’t. He can’t form any thoughts in his mind or on his tongue. “W-what?”

“I’m so sorry.” You say softly. Then you turn and rush down the steps to where Beelzebub is waiting. The two of you start in the direction of the HOL and Simeon stands stupidly in the doorway, watching you leave.

“Simeon, MC. The cookies are…” Luke starts, coming into the living room. But he stops when he sees his guardian standing alone at the door.

“Where’s MC?” The younger angel asks.

Simeon swallows the lump in his throat and shuts the door, leaning against it for a moment to take a breath. Then he turns. “They left.” Is all he says as he walks past Luke and to his room. 

—

Simeon spends the next few days hiding away in his room. He leaves to go to RAD and comes right back, to brood alone until bedtime. He does his best not to show how devastated he is, but it’s rough. He’s not even sure what he’d done wrong. He was so sure…

Regardless, he tries to keep a pleasant expression around Luke. And everyone else really. But there’s not really a point, because by now, everyone knows what happened.

Currently, he’s sitting on a chair in his room, gazing out the picture window at the dark, cloudy sky. He has the view memorized. Four small bushes, each of them filled with blooming roses. Four trees, one of which has a bird’s nest in it. The fence around the border of the backyard. A streetlamp on the far right side.

And… MC walking down the street with Asmodeus?

As soon as he sees you, rain starts to trickle down from the sky, making Asmodeus lift his coat over his head. And the two of you start to run. He watches until you’re around the corner, then becomes content with watching water droplets on the window pane, how they race to the bottom and fall. 

How melodramatic. Simeon huffs out a sigh. He has better things to do than stare out the window, hasn’t he? 

Simeon makes himself rise from the chair to go fetch his TSL notes from the desk. He settles himself back into his seat and starts to reread what he’s got. But, as he reads, he finds himself uninterested in it. 

“The pacing of this chapter is entirely too fast. What was I thinking?” Simeon rolls his eyes and starts to make notes for future him. 

“Too fast?” He repeats to himself. He drops his notepad and rushes out of his room, scaring the hell out of Solomon in the process. 

The wizard nearly spills the cup of tea he’d been bringing. “Where are you going so quickly?” He asks as he recovers.

“I have to talk to MC. I think I know what I did wrong.” Simeon says, opening the door. He doesn’t give Solomon enough time to talk him out of it. Instead, he unfurls his wings and dives off the porch.

It doesn’t take long for him to reach the House, even in the hastily deteriorating weather. He spots you and Asmo just reaching the stairs.

—

“I hate this weather. It was humid earlier and my hair is already hard to manage,” Asmo whines. 

“I know,” you sigh.

“Show a little sympathy, MC! It’s practically wilted—” Asmo cuts off to look behind you, mouth dropped open.

Your eyebrows scrunch, “What is it?” 

Asmo merely takes you by the arm and spins you around in time for you to see Simeon’s feet hit the ground. The angel’s cape is wet and his hair is plastered to his forehead.

“I need to talk to you MC. Please?” He asks as his wings fold up and disappear behind him. And with the look on his face, you can’t help but agree. 

“Okay.” You say with a small nod. Asmo gives you a look. “Go in, Asmo. Your hair is getting ruined.” 

“Oh, fuck.” Asmo curses, still with his coat over his head. The Avatar of Lust climbs the stairs and stands on the porch, waiting for you. 

“What is it?” You ask, with your eyes on the ground. You focus on a puddle forming in the dirt. Simeon steps closer to you.

“I have to apologize.” 

You make a face and look up at him. “For what?”

“For pressuring you. You see, I thought things were going well. I care so much for you and I thought I was taking the next step. But, if it’s too fast for you, that’s all right. We can slow down.” He says, an earnest look on his face. 

“Simeon.” You try to stop him, but he just continues.

“I just miss you. And I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Sim—”

“Please, give me another chance. I’ll fix it.” The angel pleads, staring into your eyes. You can’t believe what you’re about to say.

The corners of your mouth tremble. “No.” Your voice breaks, taking his heart with it.

“No?” Simeon repeats, devastated. His eyes are watery and the lump in his throat only expands, making it hard to breathe. “Why?”

Your own eyes are brimming over with tears and as hard as you try to blink them away, you can’t. They start to stream down your face, alongside the rain. Simeon reaches out for you, but you shake your head and he freezes.

“I can’t do this. I can’t–” You sob. The rain picks up. “I won’t be the reason you fall, Simeon. I love you too much. I won’t let it happen. Not because of me. So, please, just… Just go home.”

Simeon lets out an uneven breath. You’ve been worried about him this whole time, trying to protect him. It makes his heart swell. Of course falling had crossed his mind; it was a horrifying possibility. But you were worth it. Oh God, you were worth everything.

Simeon takes another step, closing the distance between you. “That isn’t your decision to make.” He says. Then he takes your hands in his and smiles at you softly, fondly. 

“Whether we are together or not, I will love you. Whether I’m an angel or… not, I will love you. Nothing can change that. These feelings are already in my heart; I’m afraid I can’t do anything about them. What happens to me now is up to my Father and no one else. You hold no responsibility for my fate.”

You gulp, “but–”

“I would rather be with you than be an angel,” Simeon insists. You blink again, new tears are forming, for a completely different reason. 

“But you…”

“Falling isn’t something I want to do, but if that comes, at least I’ll have a soft place to land.” He says, a smile playing on his lips. 

You snort a laugh, “Simeon–”

“I love you, MC.” He declares.

“I love you too.” You reply shakily, as if you’re waiting for a bolt of lightning to strike. Simeon beams at your words. You step forward, into his arms, and both of you can breathe again. The angel is wrapped around you, his cheek pressed against the side of your head. 

“More than my wings. More than my life.” He whispers into your ear. And he means it. Though, he does shudder when a clash of thunder shakes the ground beneath your feet. It’s… just a coincidence. 

“May I kiss you properly now?” Simeon asks, making your eyes widen. When you nod, he tilts your face up and presses his lips to yours. Thunder rumbles yet again as you break apart. 

“Awww!!! This is so sweet, I’m dying!” You hear from behind you. Both you and Simeon furrow your brows. When you turn to look, Asmodeus has his DDD pointed your way. He gapes at your murderous expression and bolts off, into the House.

“ASMO!” You shout, chasing after him and dragging Simeon behind you by the hand. You nearly trip over the rug in the entrance hall, but Simeon keeps you steady. He laughs as you hurl curses at the Avatar of Lust and adores the way his hand feels in yours.