Chapter 36

Several weeks later...

Ah, weekends. Sleeping in was something that had to appreciated. Even just laying in bed, hours after Alfred usually woke up was pure bliss. The weather was starting to get a little bit warmer, a little lighter earlier in the day, just adding onto a lovely early-Spring morning-

Alfred's eyes snapped open as an ungodly shriek shot from downstairs. He threw his blankets back and ran out of his bedroom without even thinking about it. Matthew came out of his own room at the same time.

"You heard that screeching?" Alfred asked, "Was that Dad?"

Matthew pushed by with only, "Let's go!"

Alfred made sure he was down the steps first, but stopped in his barefooted tracks just before he went into the kitchen. Francis cupped his hands over his mouth, gawking at the looming figure on the other side of the counter. "The Devil," his French slipped as he crumpled onto the floor.

"Dad!" Alfred squawked and shoved by Ivan, stupid, stupid Ivan with his stupid wings and stupid demon-ness hanging out like it was okay. "Freaking...ugh!"

What was he thinking? What did the angels threaten him about this? Matthew must not know what was going on either, and sounded as ticked as Alfred felt, "Why are you not disguised?!"

Alfred pulled their Dad up, at least onto his lap so his back wasn't against the floor. No head bleeding or lumps or bumps, so maybe it was just a normal reaction someone would have from looking at such a thing; promptly passing out.

Matthew knelt next to him, tapping Francis' face, but he didn't respond. "At least there's no blood." He shouted at Ivan, "Use that jewel thing before he wakes up again!"

"Why?" The dumb creature started to come around the counter, and Alfred defensively gathered his father into his arms. "He already saw me."

"Who's fault was that?!" Go Mattie! "What were you thinking?!"

Ivan had to the nerve to flinch, and then try to grab Francis' legs. Alfred shoved by him, but he quickly followed, anyway. He let a grunt as he set his Dad on the couch, and pulled back with a big flourish of his hands, an attempt to make sense of it all. Well, the old man will probably need an ice pack when he comes to. "I can't freaking believe...stupid...freaking..."

When Alfred came back from the kitchen, he stopped before living room doorway as Ivan must have been explaining himself, "...he would have been accepting as you were of who I am. What I am. I have been with you for months now, and I have shared many fond conversations with the man. It is very sad to see him react in horror like that."

"Oh, Ivan," Matthew babied the dumb dude with a hug. A hug, after almost giving Dad a heart attack! "Okay, maybe we can talk to him about this."

"I am just a horrible creature, aren't I?"

"Stop that. Dad was a little taken back. That's all."

Alfred rolled his eyes from their little show as Matthew's tone sharpened, "Seriously though! You should've talked to me first before you planned something like this!"

Now that was more like it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Alfred smacked the door frame before they could go on. "For real?" Their stumped faces followed him to the couch as he pressed the ice pack onto Francis' forehead. "You guys did this neutralization thing so something like this wouldn't happen."

"I-I know," Ivan panicked, "I know! I think I should go before Francis wakes up and sees me again."

"What, no!" Matthew threw himself at the guy. "Come on, please don't! I want you here."

Gag.

"I want to be here, too, Matthew."

Double gag.

Ivan continued with that super sad pout, "What if your father-"

Francis thrashed, and Alfred almost dropped the ice bag. "Dad!"

Dad sat up, stared at Ivan for a moment, and screamed again. Alfred dropped the ice for real and clamped his hands over his ears.

"Dad!" Matthew hurried to the couch, "Chill!"

Nope; no chilling for Francis. He leaped to his feet, snagged Matthew's arm and yanked him away from Ivan. "Just what are you?!" Alfred flinched, taken back from how loudly their father freaked out, "You stay away from my sons! They are good boys!"

Ivan held out a hand. "I know that! There is no reason to be alarmed!" He stupidly took a step toward Francis.

"Stay back! Stay over there, or else...or else I will call the police!"

Alfred hurried to stick to his Dad's side, trying to bring sense back to him, "Dad, I don't think you should call the cops on a demon."

Ivan so better not be smiling about this. "I will stay over here if it makes you feel better. Not that I have intentions in bringing harm to you or your family-"

Francis hollered to nothing in particular, "Then I will call an exorcist!"

"Stop!" Matthew begged, "Just hear us out, okay?!"

"What?! Us? You're with him?!" Francis whirled on Alfred. "You are not freaking out either. Both of you know of this?"

Alfred hissed under his breath. "Fuck, uh, yeah..."

Matthew wrestled their Dad's fingers from pulling on his shirt, and shoved away, "I've been with him for how long now? That's the same Ivan that has been here ever since you came home!"

Francis gestured wildly to Ivan, "He is a demon creature!"

Ivan held up a hand, "Just demon is fine."

"I-I saw those...those things come out of him!"

"All I need is a trident now, yes?"

Alfred snorted.

Matthew groaned in annoyance as Francis latched onto his night shirt again. "Ivan, you are not helping matters! We're supposed to be getting my dad to breathe right again, not freak him out more!"

By the looks of it, Francis was freaking out more. He grabbed onto Alfred's arm now, too, not minding of his nails poking into his skin.

"How do I do that?!"

"Oh, my God," Francis wobbled, and Alfred propped his free arm behind his back. "I need to sit down."

"Yeah." That was a better idea.

Francis shook a finger at Ivan, "You stay right there!" He slowly sank into the couch with a much more quieter murmur, "I need a glass of water."

Before Alfred could do anything, Matthew said, "I'll get you that! Stay put, all of you!"

Alfred rolled his eyes and plopped next to Francis. Arthur would never be stupid enough to just pop up, wings out and everything in front of the old man. In front of any random human, really. At least he was up in Heaven right now, out of this mess.

"Did you know?" Francis asked when Matthew came back with a glass. "Did you know the whole time that your friend was...this?!"

"I-I've known since the moment I met him."

That didn't seem to make things better. "Is this some kind of contract? Are you going to take my boy's soul after a set amount of time?"

"Contract?" Ivan tipped his head. "Why would there be a contract? Matthew's life is his own, and I will stay by him no matter what he choses to do with it."

"You're a demon!"

"Ah, thank you for clarifying that."

"From Hell!" Francis shook an arm. "With the screaming and eternal torture by pitchforks and flames?!" He took a loud breath to get some air in, but thankfully, Matthew put a hand on his shoulder.

"Papa, he doesn't like it when people say that."

Oh, poor demon. "Now I know where you got all those ideas from, Matthew!"

Francis furrowed his brows at Mattie, whispering, "You are all right with this?"

"Uh, since he has been here for at least several weeks, and I already know that he is a demon...I would say yes."

Alfred grinned and nodded, but their Dad just put a palm to his face. "What did I do wrong?!"

"You didn't do anything wrong!" Matthew hurried around the couch to kneel in front of Francis. "I'm not running around, knocking up girls or getting arrested or doing drugs!"

Alfred eagerly nodded some more. "Neither am I!"

Francis snapped his head toward him, "How long have you known about this?"

Alfred clamped right up. "Um. A while?"

Ivan came close, speaking in a sickly sweet murmur, "You have not done anything wrong, Mister Francis."

Francis flailed a fist, hollering, "I said to stay over there!"

The dumb creature tripped backwards, speaking much more quickly, "Matthew is not in the wrong for showing me kindness, especially when that is hard to come by for someone like me. Just for being born the way I am does not justify the way your people and yourself scream in my true face!"

Alfred's mouth popped open, but eh, the guy was kind of right. It's not like he has rained any fireballs onto Earth yet, and he's been behaving himself for a month ever since the angels flaunted that demon-be-gone stuff on him.

Francis let out an empty chuckle, "Are you trying to make me feel bad?"

Ivan sprung a cheeky smile, "I could easily turn that question around and victimize myself sir, but I will not because I try not to be a bad demon."

Matthew goaded, "Yeah, Dad."

Alfred stuck his tongue out, making Matthew scrunch his face at him.

Francis slowly leaned back on the couch, giving his knees a good rub. "So, you do not plan on eating my son, or consuming his soul?"

Ivan shook his head, still smiling. "That would most likely hurt my stomachs, so no, I will not eat your son. I am certain we both would be sad if I ate him! Hee-hee!"

Wait, did he seriously just say stomachs?

"Why are you here, on Earth?"

"Uh, I was born from my mother's womb, just as you and your sons were? And before you start asking, no, there is no eternal damnation. Humans cannot get to Hell without wings, and we actually have water below the surface, too!"

Matthew added, "Warm water. Yuck."

Alfred and Francis did a double take. Francis, for more horrified reasons, "You would know that?"

Uh oh, for Mattie. "Um, I been there before. I was curious..."

"What?!" Francis leaped to his feet, almost dropping his cup of water as he faced Ivan, "You took my baby to Hell?!"

A little louder, please, for the neighbors to hear!

Ivan pointed out, "He is walking perfectly fine, is he not?"

"What if something ate him?!"

"I would not let that happen."

"What if it did?! Ugh! I, ugh! I-I could just...I could just throw this water on you!"

"Ah," Ivan didn't really seem fazed. "Okay?"

"Dad!" Matthew sprung up and planted his hands onto their Dad's shoulders. "Didn't you say yourself that Ivan was protective?! Not only would he make sure I would not get eaten, which I should tell you, I'm a little too big for creatures of Hell to swallow whole!" He shook his head, as if to himself, "I would try to make sure nothing would eat me either."

Ivan's eyes went wide, and he exclaimed to Francis, "You said that about me? How kind!"

Francis blanched, "That was before!"

Matthew gestured to Ivan, "Before you found out he was a demon? Because that suddenly changes everything you knew about him?"

Aw man, Alfred wished he could have gotten this on video. He leaned back, propping an arm over the sofa and enjoyed the view. Francis shuddered, holding up his hand, blocking out the dumb creature, "His gaze makes my blood run cold."

"As if it didn't before?" Matthew whispered.

"I...this is a lot to take in. An actual demon?"

"They're a bit different than the myths," Matthew admitted with an uneasy smile. "At least now they are." His nose curled a bit, "Well, I'm sure there are evil ones out there, but it's the same with us. He's not the bad guy, Papa."

Alfred's leg gave a little jerk as Ivan glided over to the gathering. "I'm not the bad guy, Matthew's papa. I try not to be, at least. Although...it can be a little fun!"

Francis weakly cleared his throat. "I...I suppose you do. And I suppose you will take my son somewhere I will not see anymore?"

Alfred leaned over to catch Ivan's face. "No! No, we can visit whenever Matthew wants!"

"Okay." Francis set his cup on the coffee table before collapsing onto the couch again. "Need to sit."

Alfred plucked the ice pack from the floor and shook it in his face, "Do you still need this, Dad?"

"No, no," Francis weakly flapped a hand. "You can put that back into the freezer."

Alfred rushed to the kitchen to get rid of the bulky thing. He rubbed his hands on his pajama bottoms, trying to get the chill out, and shakily sighed. "Woo, okay. Guess Dad's onto this now. Yeah."

What a freaking wake-up call.

Commotion rose from the living room again, in the few moments Alfred was gone, and a funny feeling dropped to his stomach. There was a new voice. He nearly sprinted out of the kitchen and stuck himself in the living room doorway. Oh, great, there was little Artie, shoving Ivan and yelling at him, but it's not like the big lug would move.

"You yell and manhandle me now, after how much time passed?"

Alfred just wanted to go over there and throw his arms around the angel, to finally hug him again after weeks, but found himself stupidly rooted to the doorway. Apparently, Arthur is stupid enough to just pop up, wings out and everything in front of the old man.

"Well, I was busy, and had not noticed!" Arthur glanced to Francis chilling on the couch, and back again. "Francis?!"

"Ah," Francis uneasily smiled and pointed, "Let me guess. An angel."

"Yes. How observant of you."

"Ha. Ha-ha! So both of my boys are running around with strange creatures!"

In Alfred's defense, strange creatures were better to run around with than underground mob bosses. Matthew grumbled something, but Alfred blurted, "Arthur! What are you doing?!"

Arthur whirled on him, putting his hands on his hips as his wings gave a little twitch, "Demon business! Again! Of course!" He then turned to Francis, snapping, "And strange creatures?! How rude!"

Yep, good to know he was still full of fire and spite.

Francis clamped his hands onto his head, lowered himself to lie down, and started to sob.

Ivan told Arthur, "Look! You made him cry!"

Arthur stood on his bare toes (ankle bangles pass as shoes, apparently?) to square up to the big lug, "If anything, it is the ungodly sight of you that causes tears. What are you doing, showing yourself to humans that do not need to know of our existence?!"

Ivan equally got in his face, although sounded much calmer, "He is the boys' father. It would be rude to take in his sons without a word of our plans together."

Arthur balled his hands into his fists, turning his face away from the demon's hard look. He glanced in Alfred's direction, not really meeting his eye, and stuffed his arms underneath each other. "As much as it stings me to agree, I must. It would be rather awful to take Matthew away without warning. There would be police searches and everything."

Alfred went over to the couch to see if his Dad was still kicking. Matthew swiped some hair from his forehead, whispering, "I think he should be all right."

"Could have taken it better."

"Well, yeah, but..." Matthew just shrugged.

Francis sniffled, keeping an arm over his eyes, so Alfred just let him be, and hurried to escape to the kitchen.

"Yes," Arthur said, "That is something Alfred would claim anyway."

"Huh?" Alfred tossed a timid glance over his shoulder. "What?"

"What? Nothing."

"Oh." Yikes. Alfred made his escape. He paced around the kitchen counter, obviously feeling weird, but tried to ignore it as he opened the fridge. Lots of snacks, like cheese. That was nice and all, but his stomach wasn't exactly open for business after all of that.

Francis sobbed from the other room, "Get me some tissues!"

Alfred snorted and shook his head. Hopefully this entire mess didn't mess up the old man in his noggin. Somebody cleared their throat from the doorway, nearly scaring the skin off of his bones. "Argh! Hi! What are you doing?"

Arthur huffed and rolled his eyes as he propped himself against the door frame. "They dragged me all the way down from Heaven, telling me this was my mess, and I have to deal with it. Damn demons. This is exactly what I was worried about when all that shite went down."

"Oh." Alfred took a slow step around the counter, getting all fluttery and stuff. "Yeah, poor Pops, huh?" He looked down, gnawing on his lip. "Is that a new toga? It looks good."

"Right. No, I mean," Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thank. You. Would you get me a glass of water? Don't I need it?"

"Sure!" Alfred squawked a little too loudly. When he turned around with a cup in hand, he jumped, water sloshing as the angel was already sitting on one of the kitchen stools and hunched over the counter. Al didn't even hear him move. "Uh, here."

"Yeah, thanks."

Alfred hovered to Arthur's other side, not really knowing what to say, not really knowing what to do. He glanced down, captured by the shiny bangles around his biceps and gave one a flick, "Are these real gold?"

Whoa, that was a real nasty look Arthur just gave him. Alfred yanked his hand away. "Yes, they are." A pause, and he slid out of his chair in a flurry of feathers and light. "I need to go back up now. Lots to do."

"Oh, so you're..." Arthur was gone. "...still busy."

'Busy' took a month before. 'Lots to do' will probably take another month. Alfred flopped against the counter and sighed.