Chapter Five

The next morning Mammon decided to quiz me on TSL trivia. I was surprised he remembered everything so well himself. Well, he was awfully invested. While we were talking Levi came stomping down the stairs like he does.

“I heard you guys had a TSL movie marathon,” he accused like we stole the movies from him, “It’s so not fair. I have so much anime to watch and games to play I can’t just do a TSL marathon like you normies.”

“But I’ve tried to talk to about TSL multiple times now,” I reminded him, “You brushed me off. Now you don’t get to be the only expert anymore.”

“Expert?! You think you’re an expert after one watch?”

“What? You gonna gatekeep? Like a normie?”

“Don’t call me a normie! You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Stop yelling,” I snapped, he was starting to really annoy me and I goaded him, “If you want me to prove it then why not have a competition with me.”

“I don’t need to prove myself to you,” he scoffed.

“Oh I see. You’re just scared that you’ll lose a trivia competition about your special interest.”

“Fine,” he huffed, as annoyed as me, “Let’s have a TSL competition. Look forward to losing normie.”

He bumped shoulders with me as he left for school. How juvenile. Though now I have a way to guarantee he gives me the record if I can manage to win somehow. Getting the win is gonna be the difficult part tho. Mammon and I brainstormed how to fudge a win while continuously quizzing me to keep information fresh.

I was getting a drink during morning break when I was approached by Beel and Satan, “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Beel greeted first, “I heard you were having some kind of competition with Levi.”

I nodded.

“I wanted to give you a piece of advice. If you make him jealous, he gets really mad.”

“Thank you,” I had already guessed that but I was confused about something else, “But, out of curiosity, why are you helping me?”

“You’ve been nice to me so far and you let me eat your snacks during the marathon.”

“Well, I didn’t pay for them, Mammon did. But I appreciate it, you’ve been kind as well and that’s been really nice as I’ve tried to settle in.”

He smiled then got himself a drink and left as Satan spoke, “If you want to make him jealous you’ll have to know something related to TSL he doesn’t. I suggest going to Simeon.”

“I appreciate it. But, why are you helping me too?”

“I have my reasons. Mostly to annoy that pompous prick Lucifer.”

“I’m not sure how that relates to my competition, but thank you.”

He was satisfied and left for his next class, as did I. Why would Simeon know about TSL? There are a lot of fans of TSL around here, like Solomon. Though I want to see Simeon because I want to know how he connects to it. Solomon is obviously just a fan and probably has some sort of collectible Levi doesn’t. But what about Simeon?

I texted Mammon what happened and he agreed that we’ll try to get Simeon’s help first, then Solomon’s if Simeon wasn’t able to help. I then sent a text to Simeon asking if he would help me with the competition. He said yes, not without some struggle tho. Simeon seems to be a bit of a boomer with technology and he often sent mistyped words and stickers at the wrong time.

After classes Mammon joined me in going over to Purgatory Hall, the dorm that the angels and Solomon stayed in. Luke seemed upset to let Mammon in so we just stayed in the common room, while he hid in his room. Simeon came in with what were obviously writer’s notes for an in-progress novel. He told me what he was planning to have happen in the next book. Spoilers. Perfect rage bait for a nerd’s special interest. At some point Mammon got up to go to the bathroom, leaving me and Simeon alone.

“Can I ask a question,” I steeled myself.

“Of course,” he smiled. There is something oddly calming when the angels smile.

“Well I have two very different questions. The first is, did you write TSL and base it off the brothers?”

“You picked that up fast. Yes, I did.”

“I thought so, since Geldie in Volume 1,” I rubbed my hands together, “Um, this next question makes me nervous.”

“You don’t have to ask it right now.”

“No, it’s important to me that I ask this.”

Simeon became more serious when he realized how much this meant.

“How does the Celestial Realm and the angels feel about queer people like me?”

He blinked, surprised, “Why would you ask such a question? Of course we love you all, regardless of your sexuality or gender. That’s something for you individual humans. We care about the purity of your soul. You’ve always been you. Nothing will change that and you have nothing to worry about.”

“I thought so,” I sighed to release the anxiety, “There are just so many people that hate me for being me. They use their religion to justify it, saying that we are abominations and going to Hell. So I just felt the need to ask.”

“I understand,” he spoke gently, “The only reason a soul ends up down here is by being sinful and blasphemous. And between the both of us, they sound less pure than you.”

I smiled, “Thank you. I feel better now.”

“That’s good.”

I check my D.D.D., “Oh, it’s close to dinnertime. I’ll grab Mammon and we’ll get outta your hair. Thank you for everything.”

I grabbed our bags and went into the hallway, waving Simeon and almost running into Mammon on his way back from the bathroom.

“Oops,” I step back, handing him his bag, “We should head back. It’s about time for dinner.”

“Alright,” he agreed, swinging the bag onto one shoulder, “You think you’re ready for the competition?”

“Well, if I can get him to take the rage bait. Y’know, it’s funny. First, Levi and I paired up to trick you. And now we’re pairing up to trick him.”

“What goes around comes around, I suppose. He deserves it for being such a bad-natured shut-in.”

“The poor guy’s self-esteem is in the gutter. Though I suppose that’s fitting for the Avatar of Envy. Can’t be envious if you think highly of yourself.”

“Ya think?”

“I dunno,” I shrugged, “maybe. I don’t know anything, just saying what comes to mind.”

“Huh,” he started quizzing me on the spoilers for the rest of the way back. He may still annoy me a lot of the time, it was nice that we found a level of comfort together. Though I do wonder how much the pact pays into how much time he spends with me. I’m still new to all this so I might be wrong and I just don’t tell him to go away.

Back at the House of Lamentation I had just enough time to put my bag down before it was time for dinner. Levi wasn’t at dinner. However it was a flip of a coin if he was out for dinner or breakfast. I spent the time after dinner with my door locked to make sure no one could come in. Other than the fact that I was done socializing for the day, I wanted to spend time without my binder on. So off that went when I dressed in my pj’s, with a sigh of relief, and I did my homework until I went to bed.