Chapter Text
These nights spent together in Hell still feel strange. They have gone from enemies, to allies, back to enemies, and now to lovers of all things. The nature of relationships between their kind is very rarely set in stone, much as demons in and of themselves are inherently changeable creatures.
And yet, they remain in the forms of Claude Faustus and Sebastian Michaelis. Personas assigned by each of their most recent contractors, neither of whom still exist, simply because this is what is most familiar to each other.
It's sickening, is all Claude can think. Every last bit of it is repulsive. The tenderness, the affection, sharing the infernal warmth of their bodies in one bed each night despite not having a biological need for sleep. Mates are to be eaten once their purpose is served, in the customs of his demonic subspecies, not cuddled.
But when he's in Sebastian's arms, it never occurs to him to complain. The instinct to destroy him is slowly but surely fading away, in fact, and that's perhaps the most disgusting factor of the whole ordeal. Teaching a spider to love her mate is like teaching a fish to breathe air, but here he is petrified by the possibility it really can be done. That some part of him wants to be gentle with the fellow demon who once killed him, the same one who now holds him like something precious while they aimlessly rest after acting on what should only be sinful lust.
Really, the hypothetical fish being taught to breathe air would probably feel less suffocated than Claude does whilst enveloped in heated skin, the smell of bergamot, and the potential to truly feel something.
“You're quiet,” Sebastian points out.
“I am always quiet,” Claude replies. It's not an untrue statement.
“It is a different sort of silence than usual,” Sebastian refutes, as though that means anything.
“Hm,” is all Claude offers in response to that.
Said silence drags on for no more than a minute before Sebastian attempts once more to break it. “You know, I always wondered… why is it that you decided to kill Alois Trancy on a whim without so much as collecting his soul you cultivated?”
“An excellent topic for casual conversation, well done,” Claude says sarcastically.
“I wouldn't call this situation casual,” Sebastian argues. “It is very intimate, and so is my question.”
“You of all beings won't like the answer to this,” Claude begins, then pounds his hand onto the mattress realizing what he’s going to be implying.
“Oh?” Sebastian raises an eyebrow.
“I killed him because he confessed his love to me,” Claude states blankly, just trying to get this over with. “Killing one's mate is typically how my subspecies operates. I resisted my instincts up until that point, despite his obvious affections and regular initiation of intimacy, out of obligation due to our contract. As for choosing not to eat him – ”
“What if I were to tell you I loved you right now?” Sebastian interrupts.
Claude narrows his eyes. “Do you value your life?”
“I believe in my ability to protect it despite your best efforts.” He flashes a cocky, feline smirk. “Besides, I've always known about spider demons and your propensity for sexual cannibalism. I’d figured if you were ever going to try, I have been what most would consider your mate long enough that would have happened already.”
“In any case, I don't love you,” Claude declares, suddenly disgustingly uncertain whether that's actually true.
“That has little to no impact on how I feel.” Sebastian shrugs. “But quite frankly, I don't believe you. What other reason do you have for being in bed with me right now? If you were only acting out of lust, that part of our encounter is long since resolved.”
“Are you certain we're done?” Claude growls, eager for any reason to end this discussion.
In place of an immediate verbal answer, Sebastian gracefully finds his place on top of him. “Well, I definitely don't have to be.”
“Do as you will, then.” Claude grinds his hips upwards, lazily coaxing their mutual arousal to return. “While I'm feeling generous.” He doesn't question his decision to lock their lips together as they go from grinding to Sebastian grabbing him by the thighs and spreading them, nor the way he moans into his mouth once he roughly forces himself inside him. The both of them are ever-grateful their changeable bodies negate the need for preparation when they're too impatient for it.
“My goodness,” Sebastian coos once they finally part. “I've never known you to be so noisy.”
“You've rarely known me to allow a filthy incubus to top me,” Claude retorts, hating how winded he sounds. “I figured I would give you your occasional turn since things played out as usual earlier.”
Sebastian wastes no time setting a brutal pace not unlike the one Claude tends to use on him. On the other rare occasions their typical roles have been reversed, he shows more mercy, as being gentle seems to irritate the spider demon more than anything else possibly could. This time, he apparently wants to prove what he's capable of, if only to test his luck with whether he'll end up a meal.
Claude's hand goes between their writhing bodies to stroke himself in time with those thrusts that fill the room with the wet, heady slap of skin on skin in their intensity, trying and failing to remain relatively silent.
“I think I finally found a way to fuck you that might inspire your instinct to kill me,” Sebastian purrs. “With how much you're enjoying this.”
“What… are you implying?” Claude gasps out between choked back moans, annoyed by the continuation of their banter when his head is spinning.
“First of all, I'd assume procreation between your kind is typically… not a gentle affair.” Sebastian's hips begin to stutter. “Given that it's customary for only one to make it out alive. Secondly, I believe I know now why you really killed Alois only when you did.”
“Do you, now?” Claude's trembling hand starts slipping, struggling to keep a good grip on his own cock between the increasing slickness and how much he's being jostled around. “Enlighten me… I myself haven't… the slightest idea.”
“You already knew he loved you. The issue you had with it was coming to the realization you…” Sebastian slams in one final time, letting out a dizzyingly decadent moan as his orgasm takes him. “Loved him back,” he wrenches out in a tight voice. “You're afraid of your ability to even do so,” he adds breathlessly once he comes down from the high.
The moment his mind is clear, Claude plans to completely deny that. To tell Sebastian if he's so sure that's the case, he ought to start fearing for his own life even more after this. But as he follows him over the edge with a whine he'd normally never show his face again if anyone heard, any kind of thoughts on it are distant.
He can't love.
Or maybe, he considers for the first time, he simply doesn't want to.