potassiumboron

~I'm drinking coffee on a trampoline~
Original poster
MYTHICAL MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Multiple posts per day
  2. 1-3 posts per day
  3. One post per day
Online Availability
3pm - 1am (GMT / BST)
Writing Levels
  1. Beginner
  2. Elementary
  3. Intermediate
  4. Adept
  5. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Nonbinary
  4. Transgender
  5. No Preferences
Genres
Monsters, supernatural, fantasy, romance, criminality, slice-of-life (modern or set in past, usually with some twists)
hell on earth.png

The first Saturday in January was a hectic time. Around 75% of the students at St. Helen's Academy in London were returning back from their homes after Christmas break, and the Saturday was dedicated to them settling back in and unpacking their things all over again. It was a busy time and, at least on the Saturday, there were no classes and no church services to attend, meaning every hour could be spent relaxing and settling back into boarding school life.

For Esmerelda, though, this Saturday wasn't going to be relaxing, nor was she going to ever be able to successfully settle into the life of the religious boarding school. Even as a child, she had never been to school, or had any real formal education. Her mother -at least, her adopted one- had never quite found the time to dedicate to Esmerelda, particularly when it came to an education. As a would-be maid, destined for servitude, Esmerelda was deemed irrelevant. It was harsh, but a true fact - all the servants needed to do was their duties, and an education wasn't particularly needed to do that.

However, Esmerelda did something no other servant really managed to achieve - she got close to Lucifer as a child and somehow, miraculously some might say, didn't get hung or burned alive for the audacity of sneaking into his room as she did. It was her friendship with him that built up over the years that gave her some form of education. He was the one to teach her to read and write, however pain-staking a task that might have been given she was a teenager at the time and far more interested in going out with a handsome soldier who could -and inevitably would- shower her with gifts and attention.

It was where she wanted to be right now, embroiled ad enveloped in some tough man's arms and exploring his body, rather than be stood in front of the grand country boarding school, her suitcases at her side. Something as simple as carrying them dismayed her when she had a perfect manicure she really didn't want ruined. Ever since she befriended Lucifer, she'd abandoned her duty as a maid. In fact, she hadn't lifted a finger since their friendship really took off, and doing so now only made her whine and groan dramatically.

"Can't you carry my things in? You're big and tough, Lucy. Gosh, look at your muscles. I'm so puny and weak and... and Felix spent far too much money on me getting this manicure. It'd be terrible of me if I ruined my nails, wouldn't it?" She began, predictably pouting as she appealed upwards to her best friend. "I look ridiculous in this uniform, by the way. It's so bland and I don't think I've worn a skirt this long in my life, it's down to my knees! I... I want to die. This is dreadful. I'm not being dramatic, but this is the worst thing I've ever been made to do-- it's worse than when your horrid guardians locked me in the cells all night."
 
“Quit your whining, it’s pathetic,” Lucifer quickly replied as he clutched his own suitcase tight, his lips pulled into a scowl as he stared at the grandiose school. Unsurprisingly, he wanted to be literally anywhere else, but here he was, and like hell was he going to let Esmeralda not suffer his pain. Looking down at her nails, he scoffed in disbelief at just how completely unaffected her nails were. He had practically grown up connected at the hip with the woman so he knew better than anyone when her moans were justified. This, of course, wasn’t one of those times.

Adjusting his own uniform’s tie, he looked around at the other students with a raised brow. He didn’t dread his studies like Esmeralda did but he had never seen so many eager students laughing and chatting to one another. Outside of Esmeralda, he wasn’t very good at making long-term relationships, so to see one person surrounded by a group of friends made him just a bit jealous.

“Your nails are fine and you look great, don’t make me have to praise you this whole time so you’ll shut up about the skirt. Look, it’s just a few months before we can go home and I can run Hell properly, yeah?” He murmured to her as he moved through the hall carefully, avoiding being touched by any sort of cross that hung from a student’s chest, for example. “This’ll be like a sleepover, sort of... except I’m pretty sure we’re in different dorms and we won’t see each other,” he added as an attempt at a joke, though his white knuckles clutching his own bags were a sign of his real emotions.
 
What may have been said as a joke only really made Esmerelda's face freeze and pale completely of colour. She had been under the assumption that, regardless of the rules, she would be able to share a room with Lucifer. If the young man's guardians couldn't keep her from him, she wasn't prepared to let some humans drive her apart from her best friend and make her instead share with some goody-two-shoes Catholic girl.

Except, inevitably, that was what was going to happen, and she had to let it happen. She wanted to go home as much as Lucifer did, and that entailed being controlled and following the rules, no matter how much of a disliking she may take with them.

"That's just... not fair, Lucifer. I can't share with someone else. I'll end up... cutting their throat open in the middle of the night, because humans snore so loudly. I know, I've slept beside dozens of them, and every single human man annoyed the shit out of me. I doubt the women are much better," she grunted, angrily storming after him when realising that he wasn't going to oblige and fetch her bags in for her, but she didn't know why she expected anything different. Lucifer was a King in the making, someone who'd been pampered and worshipped his whole life. He was as unaccustomed to lifting a finger as Esmerelda was.

"I'll sneak in and see you, they can't stop me doing that. I'm sneaky," she continued to declare, heavily breathing in her typically dramatic fashion once actually inside the school. "I need to look after you, Lucy. You sort of need me."
 
“You’re not wrong,” he replied honestly as he walked past the classrooms, his one hand holding a map as the other clutched his bag despite the strange feeling of having to carry his own things. Following it precisely, he inevitably ended up following a few other students with a scowl slowly becoming permanent on his face.

“Of course you can sneak in. I mean, I want you to. My roommate is probably a total loser who has his head shoved up God’s ass so much that he’s suffocating. All of these kids aren’t doing this because they believe God is good or whatever that shit is, they’re doing it because they’re scared when they should be afraid of me. I could be home planning for my official coronation but here I am, subjected to some ugly uniform. You’re not the only one suffering, don’t be selfish,” he scolded, albeit changing the tone just enough to joke af the end. Once faced with the door to his dorm, he shot a wary glance towards Esmeralda.

“Don’t be surprised if this guy doesn’t last the night. He’ll either be completely enamored with me or he’ll piss me off. Maybe the Elders are right, maybe you are a bad influence,” he cooed before politely knocking on the door. When recieving no answer, he pushed open the door and tossed the heavy suitcase to the side immediately.
 
"Of course I'm an influence on you, and I think I've done a damn fine job helping you over the years, or do you now remember the absolute bore you used to be before I got my claws dug into you? You were such a boring child before you met me, I think you owe a lot to me, personally, but I don't want anything. Maybe a nice diamond necklace when you get crowned, that'll go down very nicely," she began in a wistfully dreamy tone, though, like Lucifer, her voice took on a joking tone towards the end. As materialistic as she was, she'd never once demanded Lucifer spoil her. She demanded that of a lot of people, especially of the lovers she collected, but she never asked Lucifer for anything. Contrary to what people believed of their friendship, it was a completely genuine one, and she wasn't planning on exploiting that for personal gain.

When nobody called out, she strolled into the dorm before her friend could if just to scope it out before he had a chance to. The first thing she noticed was just how terribly tiny and claustrophobic it was. The second thing she noticed was the fact the room wasn't alone - Vincent Verratti was sat at a desk in the corner, copying up notes from his personal Bible, so deeply involved in it that he barely noticed the two newcomers stood behind him.

"...Smash his skull, Lucy. Whack his head on the desk. He's so boring. Look at him. We can't do this, this isn't... us. Oh jeez, kill him and let's just go back home."
 
“Hush,” scolded Lucifer rather sharply as he took Vincent in. Hopeless romantic was definitely not typically used to refer to him but something in him clicked at the sight. He kept his cool, though, and offered a grin as he carefully took a seat on his issues bed, giving it a rest.

“This could be worse,” he offered to Esmeralda as he bounced on it a tad. “You and I can meet some new... people. Hey, maybe we could get buddy-buddy with someone and we could bring them home with us,” He babbled before darting his eyes to Vincent, an unusual flash of desperation as he leaned back on his hands
 
It wasn't a massive shock to see Lucifer gooey-eyed over some boy. She'd seen it (and heard about it) plenty of times down in Hell when the soldiers were training. It was almost customary for the two of them to take breakfast out on his balcony and watch the men train, before gushing about how handsome most of them were. Now, she could accept him falling head over heels for Vincent if he was well over six foot and full of muscles like most the men Lucifer fell for.

She could not see what was so fantastic about a average height boy with no real muscles to speak of. Sure, he was cute, which she saw when he turned around in his seat, but nothing special.

"...Girls can't be in here," the human mumbled, his expressionless eyes taking in the two. He wasn't going to go overboard with emotions to welcome them to the school, it really wasn't his style. If he came across cold and uninviting, that was simply down to the fact that he was that way. "You'll need to leave, I... I'm trying to read and it's really quite rude that you came in here without knocking, too, so..."
 
“We did knock, you were simply too focused on writing notes for the Bible,” he sneered instinctively as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t want to use all his charm in one go to get Vincent to loosen up so using tiny little tricks to subtly convince the other to relax were appropriate for now.

“She isn’t staying here, she’s simply visiting. I’m Lucifer, by the way. Ironic, right?” He cooed as he held out his hand, waiting patiently for a proper shake. “This is my friend Esmerelda. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of her, yeah? She’s not gonna mess your studies up. If she does you can come to me directly. It seems you’re pretty dedicated to this whole thing...”
 
There weren't many things in life that shocked Vincent. He was pretty deadpan no matter what the situation, the emotionless expression becoming characteristic of him, so much so that students made a game out of seeing who could make him smile. Thus far, nobody had managed it.

But hearing the other's name was... a shock. Of course it was a shock! What parents would name their son Lucifer, especially parents that were presumably Catholic given the boy's presence in the school uniform and at the school in general. It surprised him so much that he wasn't quite sure how to react to it. In the end, he mumbled incoherently beneath his breath and turned back to his Bible, rejecting the offer to shake his hand.

"I don't shake hands if I don't have hand sanitiser. I've run out of the stuff, so we aren't shaking hands. No offence--"

"He's utterly charming, Lucy. A real catch," began Esmerelda sarcastically, absently picking a few books off the shelf-- after making sure none of them were extra additions of the Bible. Last thing she wanted was to be burned by the Holy Book on her first day at the school.
 
“Looks like you have some right on the windowsill. Look, I’m not going to get you sick. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been sick, not even with a cold. Granted, I’m from somewhere pretty hot so I imagine that colds don’t really happen. If you’re so anxious to simply touch my hand, I’m not going to have a good time, huh?”

Getting to his feet, he dared to wander to the other side of the room curiously to inspect the little set-up Vincent had. Tutting at just how boring it was, he made a mental note to decorate his little nook himself.

“I want us to be friends so we don’t have such an awkward vibe. I’m pretty knowledgeable in religion. My guardians pretty much made sure I knew every little thing, yeah? If you need help with your studies I would love give you assistance~”
 
"...It's a nice offer and all but I'd rather do this by myself. I don't need you to be my friend. I can be cordial and nice but I don't need to go walking arm-in-arm with a buddy. I'm perfectly content--"

"--Boring. You mean boring. My god, you're dull. I'm going to just go scout out my room then, seeing as I'm about to drop to sleep listening to your roommate, Lucy. Come and find me when you're bored of him," the girl mumbled, leaning up a little to offer her friend a kiss on the cheek, combining it with a rather sharp glare. The last thing she wanted was him falling for some horrid human with no manners, but she also couldn't pretend not to have seen the desperate, puppyish look in his eyes when he first laid eyes on Vincent. It was pathetic, really, but also not what they needed. They weren't going to be able to come home if he started falling for humans - there was no way the guardians would accept that.

Watching Esmeralda walk out, Vincent hesitated before angrily storming across to shut the door - it was a pet peeve of his to have people leave it open when they left. "Your friend needs to amend her uniform or she's going to get into trouble. She can't wear makeup either. It's the rules here. You can't... blaspheme either, like she just did. It's strict here, you know?"
 
“They don’t have cameras in here so who cares?” He countered easily as he waved to his friend. With the door closed, he offered a slow smirk to the human before flopping on the bed.

“So... is this your first time? Being here, I mean. You look like the kind of kid who is pretty dedicated so why go to areform school? Ohh, have you been naughty~?” He cooedteasingly as he ran a finger through his hair and curled it.
 
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Vincent didn't want a roommate. He'd been pretty fortunate to go this long in the school without having to share, but he knew that luxury would come to an end soon. He couldn't kick up a fuss about it because he knew his parents had informed the teachers and the heads of the school that Vincent needed interaction - it was why they sent him in the first place. Sharing a room was a perfect way to interact and communicate with someone, but he didn't want that. He was perfectly fine all by himself.

And he especially didn't want to talk to someone like Lucifer. He'd taken an immediate dislike to him, even if he absently noted how cute the boy was. That was at least... nice, he guessed.

"I went to a normal school before this. Then my parents decided to send me here. I haven't done anything 'naughty'," he grumbled, rolling his eyes unsubtly as he turned back to his Bible. "I assume that's why you've been sent here. You've done something bad in a former school and got expelled."
 
“I’ll have you know that I’ve been homeschooled my entire life. My guardians thought it would be funny to punish me for not focusing solely on my studies by dropping me off at this school for a semester. I consider it cruel - child abuse, almost - but here I am. Esmerelda came because my guardians knew I would probably have a breakdown without her, so... don’t give her a lot of shit. I’m the one being forced here, yeah?”

Stretching his arms to subtly show his well-built human form, he raised a brow curiously in hopes of a reaction. Even the burliest of men and women and Hell would swoon over him by just offering a smile so Vincent shouldn’t be any different, right.

“This’ll be fun, I promise,” he reassured with a coo as his back let out a snap, sighing contently.
 
"Your guardians sound like competent people doing the best for you, and the fact you're disregarding that is awfully disrespectful. But whatever, I don't know the full facts I suppose. Mind you, you're annoying me and it's been five minutes, so I sympathise with them for dealing with you for, what, 16, 17 years?" He muttered, subtly eyeing the other once taking note of the overly dramatic stretching. While the sight was definitely attractive, and while he found Lucifer to be 'dreamy', he didn't let any of that show on his face. He'd rather die than let anyone at the school know he was gay. As sad as that was, he just didn't want to deal with the consequences of it.

"You need to sit down and shut your mouth. Without meaning to sound rude, you're fucking irritating," he cursed, grimacing the moment he realised he'd let the swear leave his lips. Christian or not, he still swore. He just tried not to.
 
"Oh my gosh, you swore!" Gasped Lucifer, a hand to his head for emphasis as he feigned horror. "Doesn't that go against something in your moral code, or do you get to nitpick the ones that are appropriate? That's hardly fair, Vincent," he pouted as he sat up a tad only to let out a loud yawn. After traveling from Hell to London, surrounded by crosses, it was fair to say he was a bit exhausted.

"Seriously, relax. Have you ever had fun or have you been like this your whole life? Hey, maybe you'll loosen up with me as your roommate," he offered with a wicked grin before tugging out a few things from his bag, including a pillow he owned since he was younger.
 
"Are you always this dramatic or is this a nervousness thing? Because honestly, if you're going to be this loud all the time, I'd rather you found another person to share with," he sighed heavily as he shot another glare towards the other, already expecting to see some smug smirk on his face-- and he physically let lout a long sigh the second he saw it rise on his lips.

"You know, we aren't friends, nor do I need friends. You have that... weird girl you arrived with, I have my Bible and my books and... I have a tortoise back home, so... I don't need friends."
 
“We aren’t friends yet,” he corrected simply with a laugh before grabbing a blanket from his suitcase, promptly wrapping it around himself as he took in the familiar scent of brimstone and the lingering screams of damned souls, pressing his nose into it affectionately.

“I’ll have you know that you will be my friend. I mean, I typically get what I want - Esmerelda can back me up. Hum- people are so simple, what makes you any different?” He questioned with a coo, the smirk growing deviously.
 
"That's offensive. People aren't just simple; they have layers and depths and-- you can't generalise like that. I'll have you know that I'm stubborn, and while I'm up for giving people chances, I don't want to give you one," he muttered, smiling briefly-- though it was nothing to do with Lucifer. As cute as the boy was, and while some would find his charming purrs attractive, none of that really mattered to Vincent. What did annoy him was the fact he'd blatantly lied without realising it until afterwards.

He said he gave people chances, but he didn't. He didn't like people and automatically distrusted them, as was evident with Lucifer.

"Your friend isn't someone I want to meet again. I have no choice but to be around you, but I can choose not to interact with her-- Look, I'm bored of this and I'm going to go to the church. I assume you won't. Your name's Lucifer. I imagine your parents aren't remotely religious if they're giving you that sort of name."
 
“My guardians are very religious,” he corrected simply as he held his head with his hand, a smirk still lingering on his lips. “That’s why they sent me here, because they know it’s one of the most religious schools in the country. Esmerelda came solely for emotional support.” He admitted before moving to stare out the window, his eyes squinting a tad.

“You know, you must be real fun at parties. I bet you sit, read your Buble - which how many times can you read that thing? You need to get out, enjoy life like a normal person. You’re lucky your cute or u would probably have punched you by now.”