Chapter Text
“Are... are you talking to me?” the shy angel gulped down, looking away.
Maybe he could even manage to avoid his look, but his voice was like a caress to his skin, too soft to resist.
“Of course I’m talking to you; I don’t see any other beautiful peacock around.” chuckled the charming devil.
Erik giggled, but it was more a nervous laughter.
“Oh, wait. You mean this, don’t you?” he said, spreading out his colourful wings. “You know, it’s not that I am always like this. I’m just an unlucky victim of a very unpleasant joke, by that brother of mine, you can see him over there,” he paused, in order to point at Lukas, not far from there.
Also Bastian was in the nearby, close enough to hear that conversation and follow the direction of Erik's pointing finger. He definitely liked what, or rather who, his eyes met.
He just had to find way to meet him, but Bastian was a devil full of inventiveness and creativity: he already had a plan.
“So, see? The point is that it’s only temporary. Tomorrow all the effects of this joke will fade away and I’ll be normal again. No more peacock appearance.” Erik pointed out.
Robert smirked in a way that Erik felt his legs suddenly weak.
“So do you think it’s only for the colourful wings? You’re so wrong, my friend.” the devil chuckled.
“Friend. Are we friends?” the angel frowned.
“I hope we can become my favourite category of friends: friends with benefits.” Robert sneered, stepping dangerously closer.
"Friends with benefits? Why not?" Erik agreed with excitment.
"What did you say?" Robert babbled, staring at him, rather puzzled.
“I guess it would be amazing to be friends with benefits. You mean the benefits of a good friendship, right? Such as altruism, loyalty, mutual availableness..” the angel grinned in approval.
Robert burst out laughing.
“You know, sweet feathers, naive creatures like you are the funniest ones to corrupt!” he whispered in his ear, while he caressed his chin with a finger.
Erik jolted and prudently stepped back, moving his sinful hand away.
“Anyway, you’re a peacock and you always will be, no matter what: the way you move, the way you talk, the way you’re staring at me. Always catching attention. My attention. You are a peacock in everything you do.” the devil stated, his dark blue eyes never leaving him.
He could count all the shades of blushing on the pretty angel’s cheeks, as he listened to his words.
“Huh! No way, I’m not like that, I don’t care about vanity... and mostly I don’t want to catch your attention!” the angel of Simplicity protested.
“Too late for that, you already did and you won’t get rid of me so easily,” Robert smirked. “So now, unless you want me to call you ‘peacock’ for all the eternity, would you tell me your name?”
After all, at the very end, Erik liked the way the devil addressed to him with that ‘peacock’, but he would rather die than confessing that to him.
“I’m Erik.” the blond babbled.
“I’m Robert ... and I’m going to be your obsession!” the brunet smirked.
“Okay, obsession, could you please give the ball back to me now?” Erik gently demanded.
“Sure,” Robert pretended to handle it to him, but took it back before Erik could touch it.
“But...”
“What do I gain if I do that?” the devil of Lust inquired.
“Well... my thankfulness?” Erik exitated.
“Nice try! What about a kiss?” Robert challenged him.
Erik was so shocked by such a request that he spread his wings wide.
“A... what?”
“Oh, c’mon, all I’m asking for is a little, sweet, quick and innocent kiss!” the devil insisted, closing his mouth and puckering his lips up, as he waited for his reward.
Robert was such a vision like that, but Erik didn’t want to surrender so easily.
He had the feeling that it would be very fun to tease that devil, just a tiny bit.
Erik leant closer, his face only a few inches from Robert’s, but he moved away at the very last moment.
“You are anything but innocent!” the angel stated, his green eyes sparkling with genuine amusement.
Robert chuckled, nodding.
“You are not so naive, after all!”
“You know what? I don’t need the ball, after all, we have so many ones in our fields; you can keep it. Bye, Robert!” the angel said, walking away.
“Hey, Erik!” Robert shouted from afar, before kicking the ball, as hard as he could.
Erik turned, but before the ball could painfully hit his face, he promptly jumped, stopping it with his chest and domesticated it easily.
“Thank you!” Erik yelled back, winking at him and waving his hand to him.
Amazed but mostly amused by his readiness of reflexes, Robert smiled to himself: things could have become very interesting if he had had that angel against him during the match, as a defender.
Just at the thought of their closeness, the devil could already drool in anticipation.
- Until that moment, I guess I could visit a certain angel in his dreams and make them extremely vivid! - the devil of Lust naughtily planned.
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Bastian waited and waited and waited again; but things were not going as he expected.
He was sure that the balloon would end in his area soon, but truth was that the prankster angel and his partner were doing the exercise flawlessly and never had the wrong aim.
Bastian wasn’t known for his patience and couldn’t wait any longer.
That’s why when his prey’s head hit the ball for the umpteenth time, he created a sudden gust of wind that pushed the ball away from the field, in his direction.
“Huh! That’s very strange … I was sure I hit the ball correctly!” Lukas mumbled. “Okay, Toni, I’m going to recollect the ball.” he added, walking away.
He was about to reach the enemies’ field, when a blond devil ran towards him, holding the ball.
“Hey! I guess this is your ball, you must have kicked it in the wrong way.” the devil stated. “For this time I’ll give it back to you, but don’t repeat the same mistake!”
“Huh! Thank you… you’re so… kind?” Lukas grumbled so confused that it mostly sounded like a question.
“Well, I believe that even sworn enemies have to collaborate sometimes.” the blond struck back, offering his most innocent smile.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Lukas giggled.
“Okay, I’m going to throw the ball at you. Why don’t you prove to me how trained you are and stop it with your head?” the devil suggested.
“I’m more than ready, throw it!” the angel grinned.
The blond sneered, throwing the ball in the angel’s direction.
Lukas was ready to hit it, when his sixth sense alerted him that something wasn’t right.
He moved away right before the ball hit him and he did the right thing.
As a matter of fact, the ball didn’t bounce on the ground, as expected, but it sank deep inside, creating a deep hole.
The ‘ball’ was nothing else but a heavy stone, ball-shaped.
“Dammit, why did you move?” the devil cursed, rather disappointed.
“Hoy feathers! Are you nuts? You could have killed me!” Lukas snapped, rather shocked.
“It’s very hard to kill someone who is immortal!” his counterpart made him notice.
“Well, okay… but you could have hurt me so, so much!” Lukas corrected himself.
“Hell yeah, that was my brilliant plan!” the devil sneered.
“So... are you really telling me that you hid the normal ball and replaced it with this dangerous one made of stone?” Lukas recapped.
“I couldn’t have explained it better myself!” the devil stated triumphal.
Lukas narrowed his eyes at him and then grinned out of the blue.
“That’s so genial! How did you manage to invent such a wonderful joke?” the angel giggled.
Bastian was astonished.
“Do… do you really like it?”
“Like it? I heavenly love it! Sure, it’s way too violent for my standards… but with a little modification it would be perfect!”
“Modifications such as?” the other inquired.
“Well… you know. Instead of stone, we could use a tinier rubber, with some water inside it. IJust try to picture in your mind the scene: a pair of our colleagues have to recollect their ball. We take it and replace it with the light rubber one, throwing it to them. Once they hit it, the ball-shaped rubber breaks and… the shower is done!” the angel debated. "You know, human beings use to call it 'water baloons' and have tons of fun with that!"
“Hey, I like that! But water is so lame… what about incandescent lava? Or itching powder?” Bastian suggested.
“Huh, you know, they’re both very funny ideas, but let’s start from the simpler things. After all, the match will take us so much time… we have so many occasions to invent new jokes for all our colleagues, day by day!” Lukas stuck back, hoping it would be enough to convince his opponent.
He would find a way to take his mind off those oh so painful ideas, Lukas was sure of that. He just needed time.
“You know, Funny-Feathers, I like the way you think. Okay, we’ll do things your way!” the devil approved.
“Alright! So… can we start already now? I can find an easy excuse to stop my training. After all, I’m sure that Toni can find someone else to play with.” Lukas babbled, eager to start that funny game.
Bastian should have listened to a voice in his head saying ‘No way, you’ve promised to Philipp that there won’t be pranks for today! ‘ … but c’mon, which devil is supposed to have a conscience? And even if they had one, who would ever listen to that?
“I’m already free; we can start whenever you want, Funny-Feathers, your choice about the victims!” he offered.
“Well, although I like ‘Funny-Feathers’ pretty much, I’ve got a name, too: I’m Lukas and I'm an angel of Hope!” the angel replied while he stretched his hand, deciding it was the proper time for polite introductions.
“You’re joking, right? I’m Bastian, a devil of Despair!” the devil laughed, without even noticing he was actually shaking his hand.
Hello? Devils weren’t meant to be polite… but there was something in that witty angel that drove Bastian crazy.
Not to mention the way those small blue eyes glistened with mischief when he talked about pranks.
“Who knows? Maybe we’ve already competed for a soul on Earth during a mission!” Bastian wondered.
“No way. I could never forget such a cutie like you!” escaped from Lukas' mouth, without a second thought.
Bastian grinned even more.
“Oh! So am I a cutie?” he winked at the angel.
“Huh! Noooo, wait, you heard it wrong. I said …. cutis, like skin. Yeah, I mean, look at you, oh so tanned!” Lukas tried to clutch at straws … and miserably failed.
“Yeah, sure. C’mon, Liar-Feathers, we have a mission to start!” Bastian said, making the ball-shaped stone disappear.
- I preferred ‘Funny-Feathers’ – Lukas pondered, following his new sort of friend.
Yep, more than a fiend, he sounded more like a friend to him. And probably even something more.
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Lukas was right. Toni did not remain on his own for long, but not because he had found another colleague with whom he could go on with the training.
Someone had seen what had happened between his colleague and a weird angel and was about to take all the proper advantages of that situation.
“Well, well. Here’s the version of you that I prefer: all alone and waiting for company.” murmured a voice behind Toni’s back. A voice he already knew even too well.
“You! Again! Please, go away, Lukas could be back at any moment!” Toni pleaded, without even turning, since he already knew who it was.
However, he was rather upset declaring that he had not much time to spend with him, because his colleague Lukas would be back in a heartbeat.
At least that was what Toni thought.
“If you mean the angel you were training with before … I saw him running away with a colleague of mine and nope… he did not look like someone who was about to go back on his duty!” the devil stated.
Toni did not register that news as a good one.
“Probably your friend must have dragged my brother away, with force… oh dear, maybe now he’s in serious danger!”
“I really don’t think so, it’s your colleague who dragged mine away, very enthusiastically!” the other informed him. “The only one in danger is you, my precious, if you think that you can stand so close to me… without giving in.” he sneered, taking one more step closer.
“No, André, it won’t happen again.” Toni babbled, backing off.
His feet hit a branch that made him stumble, but his arse did not touch the ground for a very simple reason: André had promptly caught him in his strong arms.
In such a comfortable position that was awakening to many bittersweet memories, the angel was defeated.
And the way André was staring at him just didn’t help.
“Don’t you remember, Toni? It took me only three missions, where we were against each other, to make you mine: the first one, with kisses,” André whispered, sealing their lips together with a kiss so delicate that Toni could easily forget he was pure evil.
He whimpered when that kiss ended.
“The second one, with caresses,” André went on, caressing his face, then his neck, before his hand traced the angel’s light blue jersey. “And the third mission.. oh, the third one! I wouldn’t mind a quick review of it, behind that brush. What do you think, sugar?”
“André! Please, nooo…” Toni moaned, but truth was that he hadn’t even make a move to break free from the devil’s embrace.
And André knew Toni well enough to figure out when his no actually meant yes.
That’s why twenty minutes later, Toni came out of the brush with him, with his shorts and jersey all crumpled and covered by grass, his hair all ruffled, while he tried to recompose himself and show some dignity.
“Things will be very different once we are on field!” he asserted.
“Oh well, it will be surely more comfortable there, we’ll have more space … but are you sure you won’t mind having all that audience looking at us while we have wild, wild sex?” André teased him.
Toni’s cheeks turned redder than the devil’s jersey.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“However, you’re the filthiest Angel of Purity I’ve ever met!” André chuckled.
Toni wouldn’t be surprised if even his white wings had flushed after his words.
“Shut up or I’ll tell anyone you are a sucker for cuddling!” he shrewdly tried to blackmail him.
“Don’t you dare! You know I have a reputation to defend!” growled the devil, but then he sneered again, mischievousness in his blue eyes, while he caressed his blond beard stubble.
“You know, speaking of ‘suck’ …”
“No holy way! Forget it, André. That’s not going to ever happen. Ever!” Toni rushed to interrupt him, because he had already figured out the dirty thing he was about say.
“As the wild and glorious sex was going to never happen!” the devil amused himself, teasing the angel a little bit more.
“Just leave me alone!” Toni almost shout, before running away.
“You wish!” André replied, mostly to himself.
He was about to reach his mates for more training, but something tapped his shoulder and when he turned he found out it was the tip of Toni’s left wing.
It seemed that the angel needed to make a point.
“However, André, I’m the only Angel of Purity you’ll ever met!” he quietly stated.
“Oh! So does that allows me to flirt with all the other kind of angels?” the devil of Corruption made fun of him.
Toni grew paler and paler.
“N-noo… wait.. that’s not what I meant..” he stuttered.
André chuckled.
“Calm down, sugar’” his voice soothed the unsure angel. “You’re the only angel in all the whole Heaven that I want.”
Toni grinned proudly.
André couldn’t just miss the umpteenth chance of teasing his clandestine lover a little more.
“Weren’t we at the point you want me to leave you alone?” he reminded to the angel.
Toni immediately changed expression and stared coldly at the devil.
“That’s right. You, impure, nasty, wicked, demon, leave me alone!” he melodramatically declaims, before flying away.
André smiled amused.
- Angels: can’t live with them; can’t live without them! -
--
TBC