2

Yuri scrambled into the corner of a stone, blood red room, bringing up his legs to hide his face.

The door to this windowless room locked shut, Yuri's lip quivered as he heard footfalls coming closer.

"Why won't you look at me?" A low, soft, voice wondered.

Yuri's head ducked further between his arms.

Victor sighed. "Ah well…you are new here I suppose it is terrifying."

Yuri lifted his head with a start. "No shit! I- urk!"

Victor rubbed Yuri's bare shoulder with his right thumb. "And then you started to cry. Do you remember?"

On his side, Yuri pulled the sheet about his shoulder. "Yes. It's coming back to me."

Victor brushed back Yuri's hair with his left hand. "Good, and don't worry, it's a story I don't mind repeating."

Yuri cocked an eyebrow. "But, it must be exhausting to tell every time I wake back up."

Victor smiled. "It comes with a happy ending of course!"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Good grief…yeah. 'Once Upon a Time, a lonely, twenty-something, virgin loser with crippling anxiety and depression commits suicide one day and finds himself in the depths of Hell,'" Yuri summarized sardonically. "Gee. What a best-seller in the making."

Victor extended his arm towards the ceiling, making an arch in the air with his hand. "Despairing within the endless lines of the Eternal Reaping the loser is saved by a hero," he narrates loudly and carefree. "This hero swooped down and scooped him up, determined to keep the loser's soul for himself to treasure."

Yuri stared at him with half-lidded eyes. "You. An. Ass."

Victor had pulled out his right arm from out under Yuri's back by now and was about to pretend he had action figures to act out the rest that was in his head. However, Victor gave Yuri a classic grin instead, tapping Yuri on the nose with his right pointer. "What? Were you expecting Prince Charming?"

"I was expecting to burn, Victor. Not be holed up in a secret lair."

Victor's tail twitched. "What, do you think it's not fair?"

Yuri huffed through his nose. "Hell fair? Ha! But still…isnt' there some order to this chaos?"

Victor's blue eyes danced. "And that's where the rest of the story comes in."

"And then you said...well, I think your eyes tell me enough."

Routinely, to least Victor, the two remained on their sides on the mattress as he accounted their twisted romance.

Brown eyes sparkled as Yuri caressed the pale skin of the devil's cheek. "Victor…thank you…"

Victor pulled Yuri close and kissed his treasured soul deeply.

With each lustful kiss, Yuri felt his aura shudder, sending trills of pleasure down his whole self.

"Phwa~ Ha…how can-?"

"No more talking." Victor cut Yuri off, covering his lips again with his own.

Under the blankets, Yuri let Victor spoon him from behind.

Victor nuzzled Yuri's neck, sending open-mouthed butterfly kisses down the side.

"Are you sure you're not an incubus?"

"Heh, I'm sure."

"Why me then?"

Victor always had the same answer to the same question.

"Why anything?"

Yuri turned over and buried his face into Victor's chest. "I don't deserve this. I feel too good."

"You deserve everything. You're perfect."

Yuri scooted closer if that were possible.

Victor, resting his cheek on top of Yuri's black hair, solemnly looked at his shaking hands behind Yuri's form.

'I'm out of time…'

Ten hours. That was it. No more, no less.

Victor shifted and pulled away. "Ney…Yuri?"

"Yes?"

Victor tapped his lips as his heart squeezed in his chest. "There's one last thing…"

He'd always save this part for last.

Yuri's eyes eventually became like saucers. "N-No…please no, I don't want to!"

It was another dance, another round of coaxing, Victor had found himself needing to do in order to keep Yuri with him.

'Keep him safe.'

Yuri felt his eyes grow heavy within moments after the contractual exchange. "Victor…"

Once again, habitually, Victor would kiss the insides of Yuri's scarred wrists before hugging Yuri about the shoulders as he yawned. "Please say it...before you sleep?" He'd ask, resting his silver head on Yuri's chest.

Yuri would pet his silver hair. "Goodnight...my little devil…"

To Victor, ten years of Eternity would go by. Only for Yuri to forget all over again.