Prussia x Reader

Title: Demons: Chapter Four.

[A/N: I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing with this series... does anyone still even read this? lmfao. ]

-

"Chica open the door!"

_____ sat up in bed; eyes snapped open with sleep still glazing them over. Her hair was tangled and messy and her mind was jumbled, still half asleep like the rest of her. It was quiet for another second before the doorbell rang and the insistent pounding on the door began again. Gilbert—

Oh, shit, Gilbert.

_____ let out a string of incoherent words, trying to move her covers out of the way but instead successfully tangling herself within them, rolling to the ground with a hollow thud. She growled, kicking herself out of the tangled mess and practically crawling out of her bedroom.

Gilbert was standing in the middle of the small foyer, head tilted and the air around him burnt against her skin. What happened to using ice?!

A shiver ran down her spine as she placed a hand on the back of his arm, looking up at him with a small smile.

"Hermosa! Are you home?"

"That's Antonio," she whispered. Her eyes stared at his horns for a second before turning back towards the door. "Gilbert, please change into some—some clothes a-and hide the horns and the tail and..."

Gilbert stared at her with a frown, the burning sensation around him disappearing as he began to feel less threatened. He let out a soft exhale before turning around and heading towards the bathroom. _____ bit her lip, watching him go until he disappeared, before walking towards the door and yanking it open just as her stupid best friend was about to pound his fist against the surface.

He eyed her, green eyes gleaming despite his pout. "Eyebrows said she saw you leaving the bookstore with a guy."

"Good morning, Toni," she sighed, stepping aside and smiling, fondly, as he stepped inside. He turned around on his heels, hugging her affectionately before kissing either of her cheeks. 

"Who is it?"

"Who?"

"The vato."

_____ wrinkled her nose, running her hands through her hair to make it look a bit more decent. "Who? I was talking to Ivan for a few minutes…"

Of course that had been on the first visit to the library. Once Gilbert had finished all the stack of books—which had only taken a day over a week—he had demanded to go back and get something new. They bumped into Arthur just as he was leaving in a rush with no time for anything but a quick hello-call-me-later.

"No, no, no," Toni shook his head, looking around. "He said this guy was tall and pale and 'handsome'. He got pretty pissed. Is it Allen because if it is, I'm punching you." He said half teasing, half serious.

She sighed, rubbing her temples and swallowing the laugh Antonio's over-protectiveness always caused to bloom in her chest. He was such a silly idiot, always worrying about her by demanding answers to his unabashed questions like Feliciano and Francis did. At least he wasn't like Romano and Alfred who promised he'd beat her up if she was being stupid and wearing her heart on her sleeve again. But under the tough, rough act, her stupid best friends were actually softies. She knew for a fact that they all cried during The Notebook.

"Allen was not tall, pale and handsome, Antonio." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and pursed her lips. "A-anyway, he's probably talking about my old friend—"

Like in the books, he stepped out at the perfect moment. _____ tensed and whipped around to watch him and inspect if he looked… Well, if he looked human. And he did; dressed in a zip-up hoodie and dark pants, Gilbert appeared, ruffling his hair and glowering from what _____ figured was discomfort and annoyance.

"Gilbert!"

"Huh?"

Antonio pouted, inspecting him with a quirked brow. "Woah."

"Oh, Gilbert! He's a-an old friend of mine."

"Andres?" Gilbert muttered, eyebrows furrowed. "Ah no, that's pretty close though. It's Antonio."

_____ chewed on her lower lip and scanned the demon. He almost looked sad-she shook her head. "I—I never really talked about him because, you see, we were so close that it was painful t-to remember him. Besides I never thought I would see him again… But look!"

"Uh-huh," Antonio grunted, tilting his head and grinning. "You know your hair."

"I know of it."

"It's white."

"He's an albino, isn't that cool."

"What? Oh, yeah that is incredible, I've never seen one. Or maybe I have, you look familiar." The Spaniard grins.

Gilbert blinked his eyes, brow furrowed, then a smirk slowly molded his lips and _____'s heart nearly stopped. "Do I now? Thanks."  

"Yeah you do, and no problem. Anyway I came to check up on you _____." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, nodding his head. "Y'guys wanna go get some breakfast at the diner?"

"I have work today," The girl announced, brow furrowed.

Antonio shrugged. "So get ready and you can head off from there. Ain't that right, Gilbert?"

Gilbert nodded his head slowly, again, blinking his eyes when Antonio clapped him on the back.

_____ bit at the inside of her cheek and sighed, shifting her weight from one leg to the other in nervousness and exasperation. How much trouble could they get into if she left them alone while she got ready? She eyed them both, Gilbert looking—for once—clueless and Antonio eyeing her with an all to familiar smile, expecting a yes from the girl.

The idiot was probably hungry.

She sighed. "Okay. Fine. Just give me a bit to get ready."

Jeez, she seriously hoped Gilbert didn't smite him while she was away.

-

Gilbert swirled his straw, crimson eyes stuck on the big glass of smoothie Antonio ordered for him.

_____ sat right across from him and she eyed his movements with a hint of fascination. Other than eating the croissants she would bring him, this is actually the first time he was going to eat an entire meal—drink included. She wondered if it was okay for his system—was he going to go through some sort of demon fever or something? She tried to remember anything she'd seen in movies or read in books but came up short.

He took a sip of the smoothie and _____'s lips quirked into a smile as he lifted his head, his nose wrinkled in distaste.

"So where d'you live, Gilbo?" Antonio had insisited on calling him Gilbo, because well, he thought that was cute. It was.

____ tried to make eye contact with him because she just knew the word that was forming in his mouth, dangling in the tip of his tongue. Gilbert was too blunt for his own good and only chose the easiest words out of complete amusement and to have less to say. It's been weeks since they met, but _____ was good at studying people and she had Gilbert's personality down to a tee.

She shook her head and gave him a warning look when his eyes locked with hers.

He closed his mouth before opening it again and saying, "Germany."

"Tha's pretty far."

"Yup," Gilbert agreed, nodding his head and popping the 'p'.

_____ exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"So when y'goin' back? Coz I wouldn't mind going to a bar one of these nights." Antonio wore a sharp grin on his lips as he shifted in his seat next to _____. "You down?"

She snapped her head from one man to the other. This little thing wasn't going to be easy anymore, was it? Not that she should be overthinking it, right? Of course not—what could go wrong other than Gilbert revealing he was a demon from the depths of Hell who went through years upon years of torture and was, in fact, centuries of years older than all them? And knowing Gilbert, he would do it with a straight face because he was just that much of a blunt idiot.

A very, very, very attractive blunt idiot. But the fact that he was an idiot was still there.

"I'm down." The way he furrowed his brow indicated he didn't really get the phrase. It made _____ smile as she sipped at her orange juice.

Antonio gave a nod. "Awesome."

After that, their breakfast arrived and they ate in peace, having a nice conversation. _____ watched as Gilbert ate his pancakes with something akin to elegance; it wasn't even about the feelings she harbored for him. It was just that he held his fork in such a way and brought the right amount of food to his mouth and when he chewed his jawline looked sharp and—and—and _____ looked down at her French toast and pursed her lips.

-

At work, _____ couldn't really concentrate.

The thought of leaving Gilbert and Antonio together made her twitch—the things that could be said, the things that could happen.

With her taking off to work right after their outing to the diner, Antonio said he'd keep Gil company as he headed back to the apartment. But what if they didn't? What if they went off somewhere and they talked and Gilbert said something that shouldn't be said and Antonio found out he wasn't all that human?

She could be overthinking it, yes. But not everyone was like her! Not everyone would take the fact that a demon was in their presence like a simple change of weather. There could be an uproar or something…

Maybe she should call, she wondered as she steamed some milk for a latte. Yes, she can make a quick call and ask Gilbert how it went. Oh, she retaliated, pouring the two shots of espresso onto a to-go cup, Gilbert wouldn't pick the phone up… If anything, he would stand in front of it and stare at it with annoyance. Or, better yet, just ignore it—or burn it.

No, maybe… Maybe she should just wait until she got home.

She inwardly sighed, smiling at her customer.

-

He was watching the television with the same glower he always wore when it was turned on, when she returned home.

She handed him his croissant, as was the daily ritual, and sat down next to him, untying her hair and running her fingers through it. _____ eyed him, still wearing the zip-up hoodie and the jeans and no sign of his demon features. She smiled, looking towards the screen of her TV and watching a commercial for a second.

"How do you make your horns and such disappear?"

She can feel Gilbert's eyes on her for a second before he turns back to his croissant. "I'm not human; I can manipulate things."

_____ allowed this to sink into her brain as she chewed on her lower lip. "I was thinking…"

"Mhmm?"

"Maybe… Maybe you could stay like that?"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Like… Without the horns and the tail and such." She furrowed her brow, shifting in her seat so she could better face him. "I—I mean, endearing as they are, we can't have what happened to day be repeated. I almost had a heart attack."

Gilbert stared at her for a second, slowly chewing. And then he shrugged a shoulder. "Sure."

_____ smiled, reaching over to fix a lock of his hair that stood out awkwardly. "So what did you do when I left?"

"You friend walked with me over here. Small talked and said we should go to the bar on Friday night. He had to go open up his shop after that, he said."

She sighed, nice and slow. Good, good. Nothing too over the top. Antonio liked Gilbert, which was also very good and her stupid best friend accepted the little story she came up with at the heat of the moment which was good too. ______ nodded to herself, patting down on his white locks.

"So he told me bout… that one party."

"Shut up!" She hid her face in her hands in embarrassment, silently cursing at Antonio for even bringing that up. Ugh, she regretted the day they played that game of 'truth or dare' and her past-self for even saying something like that.

Gilbert grinned at her and, fuck, if it wasn't mesmerizing. But _____ hid behind her hands both in her mortification and from how… Wonderful he was. Like, did he have any idea that he made her heartbeat escalate like in those cheesy romance books? He probably did—he could probably hear it right then.

"How'd that work?"

She pursed her lips, lowering her hands down and taking a deep breath. "Stupid Francis and Antonio got me hammered and made me admit the most embarrassing stuff." She rolled her eyes, staring at the drama playing on the television screen. "They never let me live it down."

Gilbert chuckled. "Cute."

"Shut up."

He shrugged, "I was a real trouble maker, when I was live."

_____ nodded. "Ah, not suprising."

Gilbert smirk. "I guess not."

_____'s face flushed.


He was beautiful.

-

"Gil?"

It was close to midnight and _____ was tired but she didn't want to get up and head to bed just yet. Being in Gilbert's presence—shivering with the cold air that surrounded him—was actually quite soothing. She laid on her side of the couch, wrapped in the forest-green blanket, eyes closed and brain muddy.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any demon friends?"

Perhaps they didn't go by it as 'friends'. Allies, maybe. Or partners, even.

"Ah, you can say that."

She hummed, snuggling in her spot; it wouldn't be the first time she fell asleep on the couch, talking to him. Sometimes, she woke up in her own bed, under the covers and with her shoes off. Sometimes, she would wake up where she had fallen asleep with Gilbert sitting next to her, reading a book or with his eyes closed but his mind still very much awake.

"Tell me about them."

He was quiet for a few moments, shifting around to what _____ presumed was to take the hoodie off; she heard the zipper go down, anyway.

"I had a brother, Lutz, but I asked my boss to reincarnate him, give him a second chance, same goes for my other friends, Andres, Francoise, Oliver, and whole bunch of others. I only got one more, before I mange to convince my boss to reincarnated her too. Her name's Liz. Looks a lot like my mentor; sometimes I think she's the daughter she lost. But that's not important. She's powerful and beautiful and really annoying sometimes." He paused, for a second.

"Demons aren't the gory, disgusting things your picture box paints them out to be, you know. For example, Liz has long hair, dark eyes—she looks as if she were your age, actually. Her horns are smaller than mine, though… She can get nasty with her claws, too. She'll probably be reincarnated soon, hopefully."

______ smiled, imagining Gilbert bickering with this Liz.

"I thought you said demons don't get second chances." _____ murmurs. Gilbert rolls his head back, staring at the ceiling and leaning shoulder to shoulder with _____. "They don't, and the things I did to give them that chance. I've been down there longer than any of my friends, I've watched them come and watched them go."

 "I didn't want them to stay down there forever, and now they don't have too. My boss, Julius, really isn't a bad guy, and he could let everyone go he would. I don't know what he's thinking, and I don't mind staying with him down there. I'm glad my friends are here, enjoying themselves. I'm glad I can finally say that it actually worked."

"And how do you know that?" She ask, not noticing how her head falls against his shoulder. Gilbert lets his eyes fall closed, a peaceful smile in tact. "I just know." He smells nice. 

"Do demons have lovers?"

"Yes."

"Is she yours?"

He snorts. "No."

She hummed.

_____ fell asleep, then, and dreamed of Gilbert walking through what could have been Hell, talking to Liz and smirking in that way she liked.