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"How's it going in there?" Damien made a face as he struggled with the tie on the suit.
"It's going, I guess." He muttered, playing around with it. He had to admit, the suit was pretty high quality, but he still wasn't very excited about the fact that he had to do this. Simon so owed him.
"Let me see you." Damien sighed and turned, pushing away the curtain of the makeshift changing room to face Bella and the two Demon Lords. Xisplate smirked.
"You clean up well, Damien." He said.
"Shut up." Damien advised before he turned to Bella. "So? How do I look?" Bella made a face and walked towards him. Once she reached him, she reached forward and started to do up his tie for him., Damien remained quiet as she did so, ignoring the girls proximity to him. Once she was done with that, she looked up at him.
"I suppose this will have to do." She said. "Well, actually..." Damien made a face as the girl seemed to be thinking. After she was done with that, she leaned upwards and ran a hand through Damien's hair. At first he tensed in surprise, but he realized pretty quick she was doing a half assed job at trying to make his hair look a bit better. After she was done with that, she leaned back and sighed.
"Good?" Damien asked.
"Enough so, yeah." Bella agreed. "Thanks again for filling in for Simon, it really means a lot."
"Mm hm, whatever, Let's just get this over with."
"Agreed." Bella made a face and raised a hand to her chin. "I think we're all set at this rate, if all the others are ready."
"Fantastic." Damien muttered sarcastically. Bella seemed to completely ignore his comment.
"Well, I guess I should go and check on the other girls, see if they're all there and..." Bella was cut off by something starting to ring. Turning towards the noise, Damien noted there was a lacrima phone on the ground across the room. Bella seemed to notice this as well, and walked towards it. Once she picked it up, she made a face.
"What is it?" Damien asked.
"My mom, give me a second." Bella cleared her throat and answered the phone. "Hello Mommy dearest?...What?! What do you mean?!...Are you fucking kidding?! This is some kind of prank...Ugh. Well, what do you want me to do? You were going to let her wear it..." Bella went silent for a moment, not really reacting in any way for a short period of time. Damien, even though he had no special magic that affected his ears, could hear a woman talking to Bella through the device. After more silence, Bella sighed.
"Fine. I guess we don't have a choice." with this, Bella hung up and glared at the floor.
"Uh, everything okay?" Damien asked. "That didn't sound like a happy conversation."
"It wasn't." Bella replied, taking a deep breath. "Mami's gone."
"What?"
"Mami, my team leader? She's not here yet"
"Okay? Why is that a big deal? You said you just needed a guy the most."
"Correction," Bella said. "I said Reyna or Terra could not come. My mom made the ever so brilliant decision to let Mami wear what she considers the best dress she's got. Just now Master Ichiya informed her Mami was wanted on a job as well. She's not coming." That did sound like a problem. Even though Damien had the sneaking suspicion Mami had chosen to bail because she'd somehow caught wind that Simon wasn't going to come, he did admit he saw a problem.
"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Damien asked. Bella rolled her eyes.
"Obviously we do the same thing I had you do." She replied, turning for the door. "I'm going to go get ready."
"...Wait, what? Are you going to fill in for her?"
"Yes. Wasn't that apparent?" Bella asked, turning to look at him. "I have to. Nikki isn't around either." Damien frowned.
"Well, if you think so."
"You just shut up and stay here." Bella said. "Maybe find a way to try and make yourself more presentable." Damien made a face.
"Where's the Bella that always says how handsome I am?" He asked. Bella chuckled on her way out.
"You're street handsome, hun. Not sophisticated party handsome."
"There's a difference?"
"I'll be back once I'm ready." Without another word, Bella left the room and left Damien with Xisplate and Meridia. Damien turned to the redheaded demon.
"You not going with her?" Meridia shrugged in her seat.
"Bella doesn't need my help right now." She said. "She's a big girl. She can get changed on her own." At this, Damien looked down at his feet.
Somehow, he got the feeling this party was going to turn into a shit show.
Damien must have been waiting for a good twenty minutes or more. Aside from listening to the occasionally snarky comment from Meridia or Xisplate, the room had been pretty quiet. Damien had already counted every line on the floor and walls a few times, and he was beginning to consider the option of running off. Perhaps he'd only hear about it for a few weeks. A month at best.
"Bored, Damien?" Damien looked up to see Xisplate looming over him. He sat up in his seat and yawned.
"That easy to tell?" He asked. "I'm about to lose it over here."
"I'm sure she'll be back soon."
"Right." Damien hung his head over the back of the chair and groaned. Why had he let himself get sucked into this? Now he was going to get sucked into another dilemma all night. Simon so owed him for this.
While he was contemplating what he'd have Simon do to return the favor he hadn't asked for, Damien heard the door open.
"Finally," He said, not looking up yet. "You took forever."
"Sorry." Her response came. "I wanted to make sure mom got this deal." Damien sighed.
"Yeah whatever." He mumbled. "Let's just get this over with because I want to go ho..." Damien finally lifted his head back into a normal seated position as he started to feel lightheaded, and it did nothing to soothe the feeling in his head.
Damien had seen a lot of attractive women in his time. That he knew for certain. However, what he was looking at currently outranked all of them.
Bella was wearing a sparkly gold dress that split all the way down her chest and came back together near her waist, only to split differently to reveal her long perfect legs, and her blonde hair was done up in a bun that somehow made her even more beautiful. From what he could tell she had applied makeup as well, but just the perfect amount. Damien was no fan of makeup himself, but she had just the right amount on. Damien felt entranced by what he was seeing.
And that immediately set off warning signals in his head. He growled and looked away from her.
"What?" She demanded.
"Stop doing that." He hissed. "You're pretty, I get it."
"I don't follow."
"You're using your magic to seduce me. Don't play dumb." There was silence between them for a moment or two, before Bella coughed.
"Erm...Damien?"
"What?"
"I...Wasn't doing anything." Damien made a face at this.
"What do you mean you weren't...?" He turned back to find Bella looking away from him, her cheeks slightly pink.
Oh.
As he slowly realized his thoughts upon seeing her were his own doing, Damien felt slightly embarrassed. Surely what he thought of her didn't change knowing that, but...
"Whatever. You look great. Maybe a little too great. Guess I figured you were pulling one over on me again." He said, recovering quickly.
"I can see how you would make that mistake." She said, her slight blush turning into a smirk. "I'm hot in this thing, aren't I?" Damien rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah. Is the party starting yet?"
"About to, yeah. We should go and meet up with the other girls. Unless you think your hormones might take control again." Damien ignored this and stood, walking towards her. He moved past her for the door, and she followed suit beside him. They walked down the hall and reached another set of doors, which Damien presumed lead to the hall the party was in.
"Ready?" He asked. Bella nodded.
"Of course I am. Yet you didn't even both trying to make your hair look any better." Once again ignoring her comment, Damien opened the doors and walked inside with Bella. As soon as he entered, Damien once again became aware of the fact this was not his element.
And he thought the royal ball Queen Hisui threw was uptight and fancy.
He didn't know how many of these people were investors or anything, but the more he saw the more he knew whatever he'd have Simon due as repayment was going to have to be something huge.
"Feel out of it?" Bella asked. Damien nodded.
"That's an understatement." He said. "This is so snotty."
"That's business for you, Damien darling. Come over here, I see the other girls." Bella grabbed Damien by the arm and lead him through the crowds of people, before finally the other girls came into view.
Damien had to admit, Nami, Reyna and Juno looked amazing as well. All three were wearing dresses similar to Bella's, except in a different color. Juno's was white, Reyna's was blue, and Nami's was dark pink from the looks of it. As the three girls noticed him, they grew confused.
"Damien?" Juno asked, hands on her hips. "What're you doing here?"
"Our leader had a job he had to go on." Damien replied, making sure he looked livid. "Guess who had to be his substitute."
"Ah, ain't that sweet of you." Reyna joked. "You clean up nice though, man. Real nice."
"Same with all of you." Damien agreed. Bella snorted.
"He's underplaying it." She said. "I went to retrieve him and he might as well have gotten an ere..."
"Anyway," Damien said loudly, driving an elbow underneath Bella's boob into her ribs. "What're we going to do tonight, Bella?" Bella was coughing and trying to recover from the elbow and once she did, she looked up.
"W-We just have to make sure we're around for the investors to see us." She replied, voice shaky from Damien's attack. Perhaps he'd hit her too hard. "Maybe go and speak to some, my mom will tell us if we have to do that."
"So we just stand around until then, huh?" Nami asked.
"I may need to get drunk to handle this." Reyna muttered.
"Are you ever sober?" Damien asked. This made her cackle.
"I wonder." She said. Damien snorted at this.
"Anyway, where the hell is Terra?" He asked. "I haven't seen her yet." Nami jabbed a thumb behind her to the large table covered in food and drink.
"She went over there to find a drink. Maybe thinking exactly what Reyna was." As if on cue, Damien heard a voice sigh.
"Nothing except shitty champagne." Terra said, approaching them. She, like the others, was wearing the same type of sparkly dress, except hers was a dark green color. "I assume our booze hound didn't want any if I found it shitty."
"You know it." Reyna agreed. Terra looked up from her drink and made eye contact with Damien. He nodded at her, but she looked positively stunned.
"D-D-Damien?" She stuttered. "What are you doing here?"
"Simon bailed." He answered. "Subbing in."
"O-Oh." She said, avoiding his eyes. "I wasn't expecting that...I'm so embarrassed you're seeing me in this."
"What's the big deal?" He asked. "You look great."
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah." At this, Bella snorted.
"What does it matter if he's seen you like that, Terra?" She asked. "He's already gotten a nice view of you in nothing but your underwear." This confused Damien greatly, and Terra looked mortified.
"What?" He asked. "When the hell did I see her like that?" Bella laughed.
"You wouldn't remember darling, but it was...!" Terra flew forward at a speed Damien didn't expect from a women in high heels and clamped a hand over Bella's mouth.
"Not a fucking word, Realight." She hissed. Bella just looked amused, but she nodded. After being released, and Damien still being confused as hell, Bella sighed.
"So far so good." She said. Damien begged to differ.
"Bella!" Bella turned at this. Damien did as well to find a blonde women yelling at her from afar. Damien went out on a limb and guessed that the women was Jenny, Bella's mother. Jenny motioned for her daughter, and Bella sighed.
And then grabbed Damien by the arm and pressed up next to him.
"What're you doing?" he asked, irritated. Bella looked over at him.
"Show time, darling." She answered with a wink. At this, Bella whisked him towards her mother. Once they were there, Jenny smiled at him.
"You must be Damien." She said. "So nice of you fill in for your friend."
"Oh I did not want to." Damien said. "But thanks nonetheless." Jenny smirked.
"I called you two over here because I wanted you to stick by me for a bit, in case any of the investors come to see me. That way, the best looking girl and only guy are with me. That okay?"
"I guess." Damien replied. "How long is this going to take?" Jenny shrugged at this.
"Who knows?" She asked. "Could be a while. An hour? Two? I don't know. Whenever these old bastards decide if they want to invest or not." Damien frowned, but Jenny craned her neck to look past him. "Oh! Here some come now. Perk up Damien, a lot of money is on the line." She moved past Damien and Bella to greet the older men and women, and Damien sighed.
It was going to be a long night.
"Remind me again why we decided to do this?" Nami asked, leaning up against the wall near them. Juno shrugged.
"I don't know." She replied. "Bella wanted help and we didn't say no."
"This is just no fun!" Nami complained. "Why don't we get to do anything except get ogled by old men?"
"Are you surprised?" Terra asked. "Damien needs to be with Jenny all the time because he's the only guy, and Bella looks the best out of all of us so she's there too. The rest of us are just here as showpieces." At this Reyna chuckled.
"I could spice this up, if you all want." She said. This made everyone look over at her.
"How?" Nami asked. Reyna smirked.
"We could play a game. I think it'd be pretty interesting."
"What's the game?" Juno asked, now curious. No other way to kill time at this rate. Reyna smirked and reached inside her dress, and fiddled around with something before pulling it out.
A flask. When shook, revealed it was brimming with liquid. Reyna smirked.
"You guys have to promise we play once we're all sloshed beyond believe."
"Thank you, thank you." Damien said, trying to maintain a smile as the old man laughed.
"No problem, my boy! A stellar show it was." The majority of the conversations Damien was forced to have with these people revolved around his showing in the Games. He was not surprised by this, Bella had asked for the team leaders. He should have prepared for this. Or the hour he'd spent doing it should have been enough practice.
"And a very handsome man." An older woman said. "I'm surprised you're single."
"So am I." Bella said from the side, laughing.
"Having fun, Damien?" It was with this Damien was reminded his Demon Lord was standing off to the side, mocking him. He had been for the past hour. "I think so.
"You're too kind." Damien managed towards the older woman. "I'll find someone some day."
"Aw, ain't that a nice response." Xisplate said. "So like you, my boy." Bella cracked a joke, which made the investors and Jenny laugh. At this, Damien took a chance to turn to the demon.
"I'm going to kill myself soon." He hissed. "This is torture!"
"I can see that." Xisplate replied. "Thankfully your suffering is entertainment enough."
"You're evil."
"I know."
"Anyways, Ms. Realight, I believe we should discuss our business now, correct?"
"If you want." Jenny answered. "I've got all night."
Shut up, Jenny! I want to get out of here!
"No no, now works." Jenny walked off with the investors, and Damien let out a sigh. Surprisingly enough, Bella did so as well.
"That was way to much of an act to keep up." She muttered. "I feel exhausted after that."
"Can I go home yet?" Damien asked. "I'm so done with this."
"I think so." Bella said, nodding. "You did a hell of a job keeping that smile on your face. Thanks."
"Thank me by never asking me for favors." He said. "That's all I want in return."
"I think I can manage that." She said, nodding. "But go if you want. I'll tell my mom you had enough of this and left..."
"Aha! There you are!" Damien made a face as a pair of arms wrapped around his midsection. Turning, he felt relatively surprised to see Nami there.
"Nami?" He asked. Nami looked up at him and pouted.
"You spent all night with Bella!" She said angrily. "Spend some with me!"
"...E-Eh?"
"No don't do that!" Someone yelled, grabbing his left arm. "Go with me!" Turning again, Damien now saw Juno there.
"No! Me!" This voice grabbed his right arm. This was Reyna. All three snuggled up into him making weird noises, and Damien was utterly confused.
"What the hell are you all doing?!" He shouted, his pent up frustration from all night seeping out and catching the attention of onlookers. "Get off of me!"
"No!" They all collectively replied. Damien whirled on Bella, who looked pretty stunned as well.
"What's going on?!" he asked. Bella shrugged.
"From the looks of it, they're drunk off their shit." She said. Damien could tell that much, he could smell it. Was that what they did to past the time while Damien was tortured?
"Come with me, Damien!" Nami shouted. "I'll show you I'm better than Bella!"
"No! Come with me!" Juno shouted, pulling on his left arm. Reyna did the same to his right.
"Come on, knock it off!" Damien shouted. "Let go of me!" Damien, applying a bit of force, managed to shake off Nami's grasp on the fabric of the suit. He swung around more and managed to free his left arm from Juno, only for Nami to tackle him from behind and latch on. Freeing himself from Reyna too, Damien worked on Nami as best he could without losing his mind.
"What're you doing, Nami?!" He asked angrily. The girl drunkenly giggled.
"Reyna said she'd give half a million jewel to the first one to seduce Damien!" She shouted happily. She hiccuped, lost her grip, and fell on her back laughing her ass off. Damien made a face.
"She what?" He demanded. "That's...That's...!" Damien didn't know any expletives for crazy, Although fucking insane came to mind, so instead he turned and tried to dart away. He didn't make it very far before the final girl blocked his path.
"Dam-ien." Terra greeted, wobbling a bit. Damien gulped.
"Heey Terra." He said. "Can I, uh, get past you there? Please?"
"Nuh uh." Terra said. "Can't. I want to win, damn it."
"No you don't, trust me. No one wins here!"
"I will!" At this, Terra sprung forwards and tried to get Damien to...hug her? He couldn't even tell what she was doing. All he knew was that once to many times His hands were almost forcibly wrapped around Terra's chest. This was insane.
"Damien!" That voice sounded sensible. He looked past Terra to find it. An angel. Bella stood there, her perfect body beckoning him as she smiled divinely. "Come with me." Her silky smooth voice said. We're leaving."
"Right...of course." Damien said. He flung Terra aside and ran to Bella's side. This caused her to smile and Damien felt like his brain was melting.
"There's a good boy. Now, come with me. We'll go somewhere a bit more private."
"I think they're not gonna show." Bella said, making Damien sigh in relief. They were currently hiding out from the drunk girls in Bella's apartment, which Bella had seduced him towards to get him away from the others.
"Thanks for the save." Damien said, rubbing his head. "Even though you seduced me to get me out."
"Please. You're too nice to use the appropriate force to get them off of you. So I made you."
"Again, thank you." Bella nodded.
"No problem." At this, the familiar sound of a lacrima phone ringing came up. Damien watched, and somewhat tried to ignore, as Bella reached in her dress and pulled out the phone. She gulped.
"It's my mom." At this, Damien also felt nervous. Had they fucked it up? Hopefully not, because he was not doing that again.
"Well?" Answer it." He said. Bella nodded and slowly answered it.
"Yes mommy?" She asked sweetly despite the panic on her face. Bella listened for a moment, before her eyes widened. "What? Really?...Wow...Didn't think those old bastards would...Really?! That's awesome! Congrats!...Yes, I'll tell Damien...At my apartment..." At this Bella, went red. "Mom! We're not...I wouldn't!...Oh shut up!" At this, Bella hung up and flung the device across the room angrily.
"Well?" he asked, ignoring the last part to maintain control of his feelings. "How'd it go?" Bella sighed and turned to him, smiling.
"They thought the girls trying to get you was hilarious." She said. "They offered my mom like thirty percent more based on that alone."
"Wow, that's awesome. So mission accomplished I suppose?"
"Yep. And look at the bright side, all you had to do was stand around for an hour! Could've been worse."
"I guess." Damien said. "But no more favors like this, got it? None." Bella nodded.
"I know. I'll consider my favors carefully for the next time." Damien nodded thankfully. Bella yawned.
"Anyway, running all the way here tired me out. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed."
"Alright." Damien said. "Guess I'll go now. The girls have probably passed out now." Bella nodded and moved past him to walk towards her room, and Damien sighed. He really did hope that the girls weren't near him. He didn't want to deal with any of that.
"Damien~" Damien foolishly ignored her tone.
"What?" he asked, turning towards her voice.
"Why don't you come say goodbye?" Damien made a face. "Just keep in mind I'm naked." Damien felt the heat rush to his face at this.
"I'm leaving, Bella." He said, turning for the door.
"You sure? Shower's big enough for two."
"I'm sure, damn it." He said, walking away. "See you later."
"Yeah, okay. I'll be thinking about you later tonight anyway..."
"Goodnight, Bella." At this, he heard a loud cackle come from her room.
"Goodnight, sweetheart!" She called. Growling, Damien slammed her front door and started to walk down the street, making his way home.
"You're so chaste, Damien." Xisplate commented from his side. Damien rolled his eyes.
"How much do you want to bet she wasn't even out of her dress yet?" He asked. "She loves to fuck with me."
"I'm just saying, most men your age given that opportunity would have rushed in without another thought. Who knows, maybe it could have gone farther."
"Are you insane?" Damien demanded. "If I ended up doing that kind of thing with Bella fucking Realight I'd never hear the end of it."
"True, true." After this, the pair walked in silence towards the exit of the city to go home towards Magnolia. After a while, Xisplate looked over at him.
"You're going to make Simon do something insane for bailing, aren't you?" Damien smirked.
"Insane? No. Embarrassing like mine was? Definitely." Damien grinned.
"What did you have in mind?" Xisplate asked.
"Were you there for what he said to Ultear after she beat Mami on the first day of the Games? I think that's tame enough, don't you?"
"I don't think it matters what we think of it. Simon probably wouldn't agree, though."
And what would that be, I wonder. I know, but do you guys remember? I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!