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Chapter Text

The familiar pull of a summoning interrupted his rare moment of peace and quiet from his obnoxiously loud family. It had been ages since anyone had used his ritual. Not only was he ancient and high-ranking, but he wasn’t the kind of demon many found helpful. Humans usually left him alone and he preferred it that way. 

So you can imagine the anger he felt as he was pulled through time and space to his summoner. It was quickly snuffed out with surprise when he found himself face-to-face with a human toddler. 

Ignoring the bright green eyes, he looked around the space for an adult. They were in an alley with a few inches of snow coating the ground beneath them. They were alone. 

Looking down, his summoning circle was drawn in the snow haphazardly. He looked at the child again who was just watching him with a mix of awe and confusion. As little sense as it made, this infant had to be his summoner. They were the only being here. 

“I am Aizawa Shouta, Demon Lord of Sloth. For what purpose have you summoned me?”

The child blinked at him before looking down at the little book he had previously missed. A personal journal that looked worn but well cared for. He worried that his language sense was rusty and he was not understood, but then they spoke. “I-I was… I-I j-just wanted…” they stuttered, shaking something fierce. Were they scared of him? Understandable, but still. 

“You summoned me. You do not have to be afraid,” he assured them, unsure why it bothered him that they feared him. 

“I’m n-not af-fraid. I’m c-c-cold!” they chattered. “This w-was sup-p-posed t-to be a f-fire spell!”

“May I see?” he asked gently, holding a hand out for the book. 

They hesitated but handed it over to an open page. The handwriting was that of an adult, not a youth, so it couldn’t be their book. His ritual was clearly labeled as a summoning but it did feature flames around the page border, likely symbolizing hellfire. It was written in a different language than what they were conversing in. It was obvious that the kid mistook the fire as the goal of the spell, but that meant… “You can’t read this?” 

“I c-can p-pronounce it,” they replied, still shivering. “Dun-n-no what it m-means.”

He handed the book back and looked over the tiny human again. A large, thin shirt hung on their frame so long that it could have been mistaken for a dress if not for how it hung off their shoulder. This was an adult’s shirt on a child’s body. A rope tied around their waist held some sort of pouch for them. And despite it being winter, all they had for warmth was a short cloak. 

Sighing, he held open his own long, thick cloak. “Come here.” This infant apparently had no self-preservation since they happily rushed over and huddled against his legs. A foolish choice, really. “You humans are born, yes? Where is your birth-giver?”

“My m-mommy?” the child asked, snuggling him from within the cloak. He did try not to block off their face, assuming that they needed it clear to breathe. “She died l-last w-winter. Got s-sick and didn’t w-wake up.”

He was pleased to notice that their shivering was decreasing now. “Do you have any adults watching out for you?”

“Sometimes m-miss Soma gives me s-something to eat,” they answered. “But, um, her h-husband gets mad. Because I’m a w-witch.”

“Humans persecute magic users now?” he scoffed. He recalled back to when they started hunting creatures and now they were going after their own kind? Ridiculous. “That’s it. You’re coming with me. There is no one keeping you alive and I’ll be blessed if I let you stay here with people that hate you over nothing.”

“Where are w-we going?” they asked, tipping their head back to look up at him. 

“My home. In hell,” he answered. 

The child was quiet for a moment before they spoke again. “Are you k-kidnapping me then m-mister demon lord?”

Kid… napping? As the Sin of Sloth, he did enjoy napping. “What does that entail?”

“Entail?” they repeated, confused. 

“Involve. Mean. What is kidnapping?” he clarified. 

“Oh. It’s stealing me away,” they told him. No actual naps involved. Disappointing. 

“Yes. I am doing that,” he confirmed. “Please break the summoning circle.”

This tiny little thing once again proved to have no self-preservation when they didn’t hesitate to kick their bare feet through the lines drawn in the snow. The kid hadn’t even bound him yet, not that he would hurt them. A lesser demon might have. He would be teaching this juvenile witch how to protect themselves better. It’d be necessary, living in hell with him. 

Free of the circle, he returned home, bringing his new foundling with him. 

In one second, Izuku was shivering, his toes numb with cold. And in the next, a rushing sound filled his ears and dizziness forced him to close his eyes until he noticed that it had stopped and he was now uncomfortably warm. Slowly he opened his eyes to find that the demon lord had transported them to a cozy home, dimly lit by sconces and a large fireplace. 

The demon lord’s home didn’t look quite like a normal house. It seemed almost like it was carved into stone, like a furnished cave. The walls were somewhat red to begin with and the fires lighting the place only added more orange tint to the space. Then there was the furniture. Redwood and plush cushions. Blankets and pillows covered nearly every surface. There were even very soft-looking rugs and furs laid out across the floor. It all looked really comfortable. 

He was left where he stood in awe, the demon lord’s cloak brushing over his shoulders as he walked away. Izuku snapped out of his silent analyzing of the space at the sudden movement, wondering what he should do. Was he supposed to follow or stay put?

His question was quickly answered when the demon lord paused to turn around, narrowing his eyes at the young boy. “Foundling, keep up,” the demon lord ordered. 

Izuku nodded and scurried after the demon lord, his little legs barely keeping up with the demon’s large strides. At least the rugs muffled the embarrassing pitter-patter that his feet would make on the stone floor if it were bare. He didn’t want to accidentally annoy the demon lord. 

As it turned out, the home they had been in was just one room. Some houses in the village had some division between living and sleeping spaces. But they were heading down a corridor. All along it, there were more doorways, none having actual doors. Curtains of fabric or gems on strings provided privacy to the rooms instead. The corridor entered another large room. And oh.

While he had never been in a palace, he had seen pictures of throne rooms and courtyards in paintings and books. This wasn’t just a home. It was a stronghold. A place of status, protection, and extravagance. A demon lord living in a palace made a lot of sense though. 

The demon lord wordlessly led him through the grand hall and up a marble staircase draped in red velvet. Izuku followed as fast as he could, struggling a bit with the large steps and the demon’s fast pace. But eventually, they were at the top and heading down another corridor. 

Finally, they stopped in front of a door with a thick curtain. The demon lord pushed inside, holding the heavy fabric out of the way for Izuku. The boy found himself in a bedroom. 

“This is my room. As my foundling, you’ll stay with me. Other demons are not to bother you or attempt to control you. If they do, you tell me immediately and they will be dealt with.”

“Yes, sir,” Izuku replied quietly. For some reason, he hadn’t considered that other demons would be here. But that would make sense. A demon lord would rule over non-lord demons, right?

“Call me Shouta,” the dem-- Shouta corrected. He approached Izuku with a frown before ripping off the boy’s cloak and stolen shirt. Then he swiftly turned away to root through a wardrobe. 

“What is your name, Foundling?” 

“I-Izuku,” he answered, trying to cover himself. 

Shouta looked at him with narrowed eyes again. “Are you cold? You shouldn’t be. Not here.”

“No, I’m… I’m embarrassed. You t-took my clothes!” Izuku stammered. 

The demon just rolled his eyes and kept looking through the wardrobe. “Humans and their intense need for modesty. No matter. I am looking for more suitable cloths for you.”

Cloths? Not clothes? 

He tried to wait patiently while the demon searched. Shouta was right that he wasn’t cold. The air here was too warm. It felt like a summer day, making him feel just a bit sleepy. 

“Here, arms up.” Izuku blinked, surprised that Shouta was in front of him. When did he move?

A green cloth with white and yellow flowers embroidered on the edges was held up in front of him for a second before Shouta wrapped it around him. Then the man wrapped a white ribbon around his waist to hold it in place and draped the corner over his shoulder, pinning it in place with a yellow, flower brooch. It felt a bit like a dress but so had his stolen shirt. 

The demon took off his own cloak then, hanging it on a hook on the inside of the wardrobe’s door. Underneath he wore silken black pants, a texture Izuku had noticed when clinging to his leg earlier, and a loose, black tunic. His clothes looked just as soft as the embroidered cloth that he had just finished dressing Izuku with. This demon really valued comfort, huh?

“There. Now we can sleep,” Shouta said, herding him over to a large, plush bed. And although he had said ‘we,’ Izuku was still a bit surprised when the demon crawled under the covers with him. No one other than his mom had ever cuddled him before. Which is definitely what this demon was doing, wrapping himself around the boy and drifting off almost immediately. 

Somehow it was so easy to fall asleep, despite the stranger curled around him.

Chapter Text

Normally, he could sleep forever, but the excitement of bringing home his own foundling woke him a bit earlier than normal. His foundling, Izuku, was still asleep so Shouta stayed still, curled around his new child and admiring them silently. Being human made him unique in this realm. 

Soft squishy cheeks, dotted with brown stars. Bright green eyes with incredibly round pupils, though he could not see them right now. Dark green curls that seemed to fade into black at the roots. He held a strand of his hair to the roots, pleased to find they were nearly the same shade. Resemblance in foundlings was highly sought after. He got it by pure chance. How lucky!

Humans were born. A concept that was odd to him and most other demons. They grew their young in their own bodies and then simply kept them, whether they were a fit parent or not. 

In the Demon Realm, new demons were spawned. There were various spawn sources for different kinds of demons. He was a Shadow Demon. His kind spawned when a new shadow formed in the sunrise and gained sentience. Not a very common occurrence. In contrast, Imps are formed whenever malicious intent grows into action. So there’s many of them running around. 

Freshly spawned demons were always adolescents. They were gathered up and brought to huge multi-roomed compounds scattered throughout the realm. Elder demons would tour these compounds often, if they wanted a child, in hopes of finding one that they matched with. 

Once a year, a naming ceremony was held at the capital. The intent was for all demons to gather so that the foundlings had a better chance of matching with a parent. Of course, the new foundlings discovered that year also receive a name and a magical evaluation whether or not they match with someone at the ceremony. Shouta’s naming was certainly interesting. 

Discovered to be the next Sin of Sloth, he was raised alongside the other Seven Deadly Sins’ successors. His family: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, and Wrath. Who raised them? The elder demons that they matched with, obviously. Their matches were granted a raise in status due to their new foundlings’ importance to the realm. It was an unconventional situation. 

His father, an old Se'irim with greying fur, was a calm person. It was something that Shouta appreciated as the embodiment of Sloth. He was always welcome to curl up and nap with his father. He hoped to establish the same secure comfort with his new foundling. 

Naps were very important. They were part of his domain, after all. 

“Leaving a foundling to fend for themselves. Unbelievable,” he muttered into his child’s fluffy hair. Then he started to inspect the coverings he had put on his foundling. Hopefully, it was soft enough for them. He knew how irritating some fabrics could be. A human may have different preferences. He would have to ask if they were comfortable once they woke up. 

They had been extremely uncomfortable when he stripped them earlier, so he wouldn’t do that again. Sure, in his mind, he was just a parent dressing their child. An expectation of care. But humans were shy and delicate. He would need to mind their cultural norms as well.

“SHOUTA!!!” His foundling startled at the loud shout, kicking his protective instincts into gear. “You’ll never guess what-- Hey!” 

Moving faster than he usually would, he shifted, drawing up the shadows around him to form extra limbs to bind the intruder with. The noisy demon choked and struggled against the tendrils of shadows. He stood defensively in front of his nest, his child, and growled in warning. 

“Woah, wait,” the intruder wheezed. “What’s going on? You're acting like you’ve got a hatchling in here or something.”

Keeping narrowed eyes on the intruder, he moved aside just enough to show off his foundling. 

“Oh, shit. You do have a hatchling. Okay. Um… Let me down. I’ll do it right.”

Shouta forced himself to remember that this was his family. Pride, specifically. The Leviathan could be stupid sometimes but he never meant any harm. He was safe for his foundling to meet. 

The tendrils slowly slunk back into the shadows after depositing the other demon at the door. Hands were held up placatingly, keeping sharp, ink-black claws in sight. “Aizawa Shouta, Sin of Sloth, please grant me, Yamada Hizashi, Sin of Pride, the honor of meeting your foundling.”

Izuku was clearly spooked but didn’t protest as Shouta carefully lifted him out of the nest, presenting him to his family. The boy’s legs curled up like he was a scruffed griffon kit. It was a rather adorable sight. “Yamada Hizashi, Sin of Pride. I would like to introduce you to Aizawa Izuku, my new son and your nephew.”

Hizashi stepped forward with an approving nod from Shouta. “Hello, little one. Welcome to the family. I’m so excited to have you here.”

“Uh, thank you?” Izuku squeaked uncertainly. Shouta ceased his showing off, pulling the boy back into his arms to be held properly. 

“I have plenty more family for you to meet, but I’ll try to introduce you to everyone slowly,” Shouta promised. 

“Honestly, Sho, I’m surprised that you took a foundling, of all demons,” Hizashi admitted with a thoughtful hum. “I always expected that you’d prefer napping over caring for a hatchling.”

“I can nap with my child,” Shouta dismissed. “Matching with a foundling is special.”

“Isn’t the little one a human?” Hizashi pointed out. “Can we even match with humans?”

He felt something for the boy when he was first summoned. It could have been a bond, weakened by the decreased level of magic in humans. Or it could have been simple attachment due to seeing a freezing, neglected foundling abandoned by their own kind. He didn’t know.

“There was no one else,” Shouta told him honestly. “I don’t know if it’s the same as a match, but I couldn’t leave this infant to be ostracized and persecuted by his people. Did you know that humans abuse their magic users now? It’s despicable. He’s safer with me.”

The beginnings of a snarl formed on Hizashi’s face, showing his disgust and anger at the very thought. Regardless of a match, demons were instinctually obligated to care for foundlings. Usually, that just meant taking them to one of the compounds. Sometimes it meant rescuing them from an attacker or feeding them because they were starved. 

No self-respecting demon would ever leave a foundling in harm's way. 

The boy in his arms tugged on his tunic suddenly. “Excuse me, but I’m not a baby. I’m 7 years old. That’s way older than a baby.”

Maybe for a human. For a demon, that wasn’t even a whole paragraph in a history scroll. 

Still, he humored his foundling, nuzzling against his cheek. “Okay. I won’t call you an infant.”

“Aw, you two are too cute. Nem’s gonna love this,” Hizashi cooed. 

“You will say nothing to her,” Shouta growled. “I’m going to introduce him slowly.”

“My lips are sealed,” Hizashi promised before miming a sealing motion across his mouth. 

Well, Shouta knew better. Hizashi wouldn’t keep quiet for long. 

Son. 

That’s what the demon lord had called him. 

Shouta was claiming to be his father now, even sharing his family name. 

Aizawa Izuku. 

He’d never had a father before. It was always just him and his mother. 

Having a father could be nice. 

Stuck in the demon’s lap, he pondered the situation while Shouta talked to the far more frightening demon. Hizashi was unnaturally tall and very drippy. As if he’d rolled around in mud before coming here, but not such a dark color. The nearly translucent fluid seemed to ooze from his skin and from under webbed fringes that lined his back. This demon hadn’t bothered with much clothing, probably because of the drippy stuff, and he wore only a skirt-like garment. 

Shouta at least looked more like a human to Izuku. Even if he was a little spooky too. 

Not much was known about demons. Their world was only shared with the Fae and several magical creatures. Demons could visit their world but few ever stayed. What little was recorded depicted them as violent monsters or manipulative tricksters. Nothing ever mentioned that they seemed to adopt children as readily as a stray cat would snatch up an abandoned kitten. 

From the demons’ conversation, he’d gathered that this abrupt adoption was common here. 

“Really?” Shouta sounded surprised, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. 

“Yep! Her first time shape-shifting,” Hizashi replied proudly. “I thought you might like to know seeing as that’s your specialty.”

Izuku looked up at Shouta in awe. He could shape-shift?

“I’ll have to congratulate Tsu later,” Shouta said before looking down and noticing Izuku’s curious gaze. “That’s your cousin, by the way. Hizashi has two foundlings of his own.”

He looked back at the damp, serpent-like demon who nodded. “Mhm, Tsuya and Hitoshi. They’re water-variety demons like me but that’s just a coincidence. There are other hatchlings in the family too, so there should be plenty of others for you to play with.”

Other children? He didn’t even get along with human kids. What would demon ones be like?

Worried, he leaned back into Shouta’s chest subconsciously as the demons kept talking. Shouta gently pet his hair in response, apparently misunderstanding his anxiety. “Don’t worry. We will warn them to be gentle with you. As a witch, you should be a bit more durable than the average human, but you are still very small.”

“He is very small,” Hizashi agreed, like he wasn’t just unnaturally tall. “I wonder what the developmental stages of humans are and how they compare to demons.”

“I wonder if there are any records on humans that could tell us,” Shouta mused aloud. 

“Oh! There’s always--!”

“Absolutely not,” Shouta interrupted the other. 

Izuku twisted slightly to look up at Shouta in confusion. Shadows flicked across his features, seemingly changing his appearance in brief flashes. It occurred to him that Shouta might not look as human as he initially thought. Not really. Not if he was a shape-shifter like Hizashi said. 

“I’m just saying that if anywhere has that information, it’d probably be Greed’s Library.”

“Of course it would. Bless me,” Shouta huffed darkly.