Of all the places he had expected to be summoned, he did not expect to find himself in a room with such a light and naïve aura about it. Usually those that called upon him had a sort of heavy, delicious sentiment of contempt or anguish around them. However upon arriving at this certain summoning, he found himself in what appeared to be a child’s bedroom: brightly lit with pale blue walls peeking through a sea of movie posters… and face to face with a smiling boy with bright eyes and rosy cheeks. ‘How… disgusting,’ he thought dryly.

            “You’re Satan, aren’t you?” The voice that surfaced from the boy was small and timid, but contained a sliver of excitement.

Looking the human over, the shade of blackness and flame focused its hellish gaze. A young boy around the age of twelve stood nervously a few feet away from him: plain black hair, thin frame, pale complexion apart from the cheeks red from a possible fever, and dressed in a thick sweatshirt and black sweatpants. What business could a boy like this want with the Prince of Hell?

            “If you summoned me merely for your amusement, boy, I will devour your soul here and now without question–”

            “No, it’s not a game, I swear! I have my reasons!” the boy implored quickly with fright before erupting into a small coughing fit. The coughs were deep and heavy, filled with fluid.

            The entity smirked darkly and inhaled in deeply, smelling the sickness in the air. The aroma of the terminally ill was one of his favorites and he decided this boy piqued his interest. Circling the human, the dark angel twisted its shapeless form into a vaguely humanoid being.

            “Then tell me,” he drawled lazily, catching the boy’s anxious gaze with a dark flicker from his own. “What… reasons, per say, do you have summoning the Angel of Hell to your presence? Obviously you don’t have much time left on this godforsaken Earth... What do you desire? …Love? Riches? Power?”

The boy swallowed uneasily and tried to speak but couldn’t get his words out to answer.

            “I don’t have all day, you know. I have quite the busy schedule…” Satan’s voice dripped with an acidic sarcasm that made the boy squirm uncomfortably and avoid his sharp gaze.

            “I-I want to sell you my soul,” the boy announced bravely. The fallen angel’s sinister expression gave way to one of mild interest. He did often enjoy making deals with mortals; providing them with their deepest desires only to reveal their greatest dreams to be nothing but ash. Only when the humans fell into the deepest of despair did he claim their soul for his own.

            “Yes, I understand that,” he chuckled with amusement and made himself comfortable on the boy’s bed, lying on his back with his head resting on his arms as he crossed his ankles, “but what do you want in return? I very well know you aren’t giving me your soul for nothing.”

            The boy let out a small sigh of relief as the dark aura that suffocated the room lifted as Satan chuckled to himself.

            “To be honest with you, I just wanted some company. I found a translated grimoire book with spells and summoning online… but I didn’t really expect it to work,” he mumbled with a slight smile as he scratched his head awkwardly. Satan raised a curious brow. He had given humans every pleasure of the flesh that could possibly be imagined. However, he had never heard of one wishing for his company. At the entity’s silence, the boy bit his lip nervously and wrung his hands together, “Did… I say something wrong?”

            The Angel of Hell sat up on the bed, “I guess there could be worse reasons for going to Hell,” he chuckled darkly. “What is your name, mortal?”

            “My name… is Kai,” he said timidly.

The entity looked at the slightly trembling boy and sighed. “I suppose if I am to fulfill your request for ‘company,’ it would be in your interest that I take on a human form, yes?” he muttered to himself. A dark misty cloud surrounded the vaguely humanoid figure before evaporating, leaving in its place a short man with fluffy black hair and a cold stone gaze.

“Does this appearance put you more at ease, human?” he drawled idly.

Kai smiled shyly and nodded, no longer suffocated by the darkness that had filled the room a few moments before.  “I just have one more question…”

Satan rolled his eyes annoyed, “Yes?”

“Um, do I have to call you ‘Satan’? Or can I call you something else?”

“Do I look like I would care about something as petty as names?” he asked lazily.

Kai smile grew and turned to sit on his bed. His eyebrows scrunched up in thought and the Angel of Hell observed the human, slightly amused by the boy’s strange antics.

“Kyungsoo! I’ll call you Kyungsoo, okay? You look like a Kyungsoo, don’t you think?” Kai exclaimed, looking rather proud of himself.

The fallen angel sighed at his burst of excitement and glanced at the window.

“If you wish it.”

-

 Kyungsoo spent much of that week in Kai’s presence just observing and rolling with whatever he had to say. The entity understood without a word from the other that his condition made him feel lonely. It wasn’t that Kai didn’t talk about it, because he did, but rather Kyungsoo could taste the bitter emotion on his lips every time he entered the human’s apartment.  Kyungsoo didn’t exactly empathize with him either, nor did he really care to. He had watched many mortals suffer from maladies like cystic fibrosis every day, so why should this human be any different? He carried out what was asked of him: visiting the sick human and talking with him for a few hours during the day. Simple really. If his request of daily visits was carried out by the time the human died, Kyungsoo was promised his soul; a delicious addition to his collection indeed.

“You’re shorter than I thought you’d be,” Kai chuckled one day, causing the fallen angel to roll his eyes at the comment. It had been about a week since the bargain was first struck and this afternoon it seemed as if the human wanted to see how far he could test the entity’s patience.

“You know, I could eat your soul instead, human. I would probably enjoy eating it to be honest,” Kyungsoo muttered, “… I could take my time and savor the taste of each painful bite –”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” Kai raised his small arms quickly in defense, a quiver of fear in his eyes with a small smile, “I just thought that the ‘All Powerful Satan’ would be at least six feet tall, you know? Big and menacing and scary with horns coming out of your head… Like in the movies!”

The dark angel raised his eyebrow in question and leaned back in his chair, somewhat intrigued. It had been a while since he had the time to look into human documentations of himself since his job had become more demanding and busier over the centuries.

“I am the Lord of Hell, Master of all sin. Physical appearances mean nothing to me,” he spoke blandly. “…However, it has been centuries since I have been amused by your kind's pitiful attempts to characterize me.”

 “Do you want to see?” Kai quickly climbed off his bed and scooped up his laptop from his desk before heading back to the perch on his bed, hiding his face in the crook of his right elbow as his chest vibrated with those deep coughs that Kyungsoo has grown used to hearing. The boy’s slender fingers flew over the plastic keys as he eagerly searched for different embodiments of the fallen angel found in movies and shows before turning his screen around to show the other. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes indifferently as the boy chuckled happily.

-

“You know, it has been a week and the only person I’ve seen in this place is you and your sick self. Certainly you aren’t the only human that lives here. That would be a sad little story indeed…” he smirked.

It had been a week since Kyungsoo started visiting the sick boy and he had not sensed any trace of another human in the large house. Not once. He walked across Kai’s room and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

The said boy laid lazily across his bed, his skinny limbs spread across the blankets. He watched the fan spin around and round on the ceiling above him.

“No, I’m the only one that lives here. Just me,” Kai commented dryly. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow with curiosity and tilted his head back.

“Indulge me.”

Kai sighed loudly and grabbed a pillow near him, shoving it in his face and groaned into it. The entity rolled his eyes and with a flick of his finger, raised the pillow from his face and sent it sprawling out the window as it burst into flames.

“Hey!”

“I believe I asked you a question, human.”

“That was a nice pillow…” he pouted, “I live here by myself basically. My parents live here too, I guess, but they work a lot so it’s like I live here by myself. I’m used to it. The reason you haven’t seen them is because they’re on their anniversary trip to Europe. They left me money for food in the kitchen and my aunt is supposed to be checking up on me daily but she never follows through on babysitting.” Kai chuckled, “She’s lucky I’ve never ratted her out.”

“Why haven’t you?”

The boy lifted his head and looked back at the entity, “Then I’d have to deal with her all day. I’d rather be by myself to be honest.”

Kyungsoo smiled and looked the boy up and down, “That’s it? I thought you were lonely… or is this just a game to pass the time?”

Kai sat up and smirked mischievously before grabbing a cookie from his nightstand. “Well, she’s kind of a . Even Satan himself is better company than that.”

Kyungsoo laughed heartily. He thought there was a reason he liked this kid.

“You know, I could devour her soul in return for that pillow…”

-

Kyungsoo groaned for the eighteenth time that night. The human decided that they should play a video game to pass the time and spent the last couple of days teaching the fallen angel how to play. The elder found it more difficult than he anticipated. Being as busy as he was, learning about petty things like using human technology as entertainment was not something he ever considered. So that’s how he ended up here: playing “Super Smash Bros Brawl” with a certain bratty human boasting about how he’s kicking his .

Kyungsoo pursed his lips in frustration as Kai’s character –some kind of primate thing –carried his character to the edge of the map and threw him off the playing field to his demise. Again.

“I win again!” Kai cheered happily as he flopped on his back into a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor that he placed earlier. “You really at this, Soo.”

The entity rolled his eyes in annoyance. It seemed that the nicknames never ceased either.

“Again,” he commanded sternly. “I get to pick the arena this time.”

Kai grinned with satisfaction, “Whatever you like.” The human sat up as the character screen appeared on the TV. Kai stuck with his character while Kyungsoo debated on whether he should change his or not. ‘Maybe the little male human with the green hat will help me defeat this annoying little maggot,’ he wondered thoughtfully. Pressing the start button and choosing a Starship arena, the game had begun.

Within seconds, Kai’s character grabbed items that randomly appeared in the arena and threw them in the demon’s direction. Kyungsoo pressed buttons frantically, trying his absolute best to get away. ‘Up B, Up B, Up B!’

Just missing his character, Kyungsoo smirked and grabbed a sword from the barrel that just fell from the top of the screen. Suddenly, Kai’s character appeared out of nowhere and attacked, causing his weapon to go flying. Kyungsoo bit his lip in frustration, ‘There’s no way this brat is going to defeat me again.’

Glancing over, the said human smirked, a fiery gleam in his eyes as he played. ‘His ego is too big already. Let’s change things up a bit…’

Kyungsoo smiled to himself as the boy’s blanket started to rise into the air behind him. Letting out a small cough, Kyungsoo let the blanket drop on Kai who yelled in surprise at the sudden tactic. The demon took this opportunity to quickly shove the human’s stupid monkey off the side of the spaceship, causing the GAME OVER title to appear on the TV.

“Hey!” Kai exclaimed with a shout as he threw off the blanket. “You cheated!”

“You expected me to win fairly? I thought you knew better than that, boy,” he smirked as he kept full eye contact on the screen. Kai puffed out his cheeks and pouted.

“Again.”

-

“Why do you have a cat if she just adds to the fact that you can’t breathe?” Kyungsoo mused.

“Because I wanted a fluffy something to pet. Stop being such a party pooper,” Kai smiled gleefully as he ran his fingers through the gray cat’s fur. Kyungsoo sighed in disapproval at the feline’s presence as Kai tried to muffle another coughing fit. The human had found the thing wandering around outside when he went to go get the mail that morning. He had then spent several hours trying to coax it towards him with different sorts of snack foods and sandwich meat when Kyungsoo arrived. Such a weird being, this boy.

“You’re lucky your parents aren’t visiting this week, Kai. But… you know they won’t let you keep it,” he pointed out slowly, “The fur…” Kai smiled sadly as the feline purred and rubbed its small head against his knuckles.

“They never let me have a pet when I was homeschooled either… No friends, no pets… It doesn’t feel fair, you know?”

Kyungsoo frowned and got up from his single seat to sit by the boy on his bed. Kai smiled and leaned against the dark angel’s shoulder. “If there was a fuzzy hairless cat in existence, I’d get you one,” the cat jumped out of the human’s lap and onto the floor. Kyungsoo commented, “but that’s kind of a contradiction.”

“Oh, there are cats like that… but Mom finds them ugly so they’re out of the question. She offered me a fish but… it’s not the same,” the boy chuckled lightly, “You can’t pet a fish.” He sat there quietly among the blankets and comforters covering the surface of his bed while keeping his gaze at the back wall across from the two.

“Sometimes I just want to get away from myself. I just … don’t know how,” Kai mumbled sorrowfully as he watched the feline get comfortable on a sweatshirt of his near a bookcase. He looked up at the evil entity and grinned a little bit, “But thanks for caring.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at the human and continued to watch the animal breathe silently and peacefully on the floor.

“Shut up.”

-

Kyungsoo blew air in his face in attempt to get his hair out of his eyes. His hands were full at the stovetop, sautéing onions and peppers while stirring the cooking spaghetti with the other hand. The human was having a tough time with his math homework and asked the demon if he knew how to make kimchi spaghetti. Not wanting to look unintelligent, he told him that he would make him some if he continued the school work which led him to where he was in his current situation: playing “Mom” with a face full of steam from the stove. 

As an immortal being, Kyungsoo didn’t need to eat but as he cooked, he admitted to liking the smell. The gray cat, Tao as they’ve come to call him, sat on the counter and kept him company as he cooked. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow as feline stared intently at the vegetables as he fried, and soon enough, the demon flipped out a small bell pepper onto the counter. Tao chewed on it contently, looking up at him in thanks.

“Yeah, well don’t expect it again,” Kyungsoo muttered.

THUMP

The cat scampered off the counter and the fallen angel whipped around to see a textbook sliding down the stairs, pages bent and battered. ‘This human may be more trouble than he’s worth…’

Turning the burners on simmer, Kyungsoo left the kitchen and started up the stairs, picking up the abused book in the process. As he got closer to the mortal’s bedroom, a notebook flew past his face and down the hallway. The demon rolled his eyes and stood in the doorway, watching as Kai sprawled over his bed on his back defeated, letting a calculator fall from his hand and clunk onto the floor.

Kyungsoo smirked. “That bad, huh?”

Kai pushed the end of his bed with his feet, pushing his body farther off the bed so he could look at the entity upside down with a frustrated pout.

“ Algebra.”

-

Over the next two weeks, Kai proved to be good company even though he didn’t like to admit it. Soon, visiting Kai became routine and Kyungsoo unconsciously looked forward to their time together. It became easy to forget that the human was ill.

That is, until he relapsed.

The human was not in his bedroom when Kyungsoo came to call that day. The only being to meet him was the fluffy gray feline perched by the windowsill. Sighing, he lazily approached the animal and rubbed his knuckle behind his ear.

Kyungsoo scanned the room and saw that Kai’s airway oscillator machine that normally sat next to his nightstand was missing along with his shoes. Then he smelled it: the thick heavy scent of illness that hung in the air.

When he arrived, Kai laid still in a hospital bed with a two people at his side, most likely his parents; a clear rubber mask covered his face with a thick black vest covering his chest, shaking loud and noisily and hooked up to a small suitcase sized machine on the floor. Machines beeping, people murmuring…

Kyungsoo frowned and approached him once the commotion ceased, sitting down in a chair near the human. He watched the boy drown in his struggle, fighting to breathe against the ammonia that most likely made home in his lungs. He expected this outcome. He had even looked forward to it in the beginning.

The human would die soon and his soul would be his.

“It was inevitable after all…” he murmured darkly.

All was silent except for the noises of the machines and weak gasps of the boy until a tall, slender man soon walked through the door and stood next to the entity quietly. His eyes stayed straight and forward, much like a military runt next to his superior officer.

“…The contract cannot be revoked, sir. It would be against the code –”

“I know that, Yixing,” the dark angel answered firmly, watching the human as his breathing became more and more shallow.

After a moment, Kyungsoo stood up and walked swiftly out of the hospital room, beckoning the demon to follow.

‘I don’t need to revoke his contract.’

-

The human eventually passed on from the world of the living and left his life of suffering behind. His soul spiraled down into Hell quickly and he started to feel warm again. He felt an intense burning in his head and became scared. What was it like in Hell? Does it hurt? All the horror stories of Hell crossed through the boy’s thoughts when the burning suddenly ceased and he felt surprisingly comfortable.

Opening his eyes, Kai was surprised to see six beaten, scarred, chained beings kneeling in from of him. Looking around he saw that he sat in a regal red throne-like chair in a large stone built room looking as if it was built in the renaissance era. A tall slender man stood silently on his right, very still and statue like.

            “Um… excuse me…” Kai whispered as he tugged on the man’s pants leg. “Where am I?”

            “You are in Lucifer’s throne room.”

            “…Lucifer?” he asked hesitantly.

            “Ah, yes… I believe you know Master Lucifer as… Kyungsoo, was it? You are here to be the secretary of his armies, thus keeping the wretched in line and obedient. All beings here recognize you as one of their masters under… Kyungsoo’s command and they will answer to the Master himself if they cause any trouble, sir.” The man answered stiffly and stayed looking ahead.

            “Oh… and who are you?” he asked timidly.

            “My name is Zhang Yixing, the Master’s head advisor.”

            Suddenly, a door on the right far end of the room opened and a group of men walked out toward the other corridor on the left. Among them, Kai recognized a familiar face and he stood up quickly; ready to run over to the entity to get some answers.

Kyungsoo smirked and continued on with the men, stopping just before he left the throne room. “I trust you can handle this, human?” he called dryly.

Kai froze on the spot and looked at the fallen angel, trying to understand his situation. He wrung his hands together nervously, for he didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll help you, sir,” Yixing whispered with a smile. Kai gave a small smile of appreciation and turned back towards the Angel of Hell with a small confidence. Taking a deep breath and rolling up his sleeves, he sat back down on the throne and placed his hand in his lap.

“Okay, let’s get started.”

Kyungsoo chuckled to himself and left the throne room briskly to continue on to his meeting with the other corporal demons.

Yixing smirked to himself at the scene before him. Working for the Master for what seemed like forever, not once did the Angel of Hell bring back… a pet.

‘It’s funny,” he thought to himself, ‘Thousands of demons hardened by millennia of torture now have to answer to shy, snarky, self conscious, lonely human boy who has unintentionally become Satan’s number one… Things around here are about to get interesting.’