“I know exactly what I need to know. And that is that I need to finish this.”
The phone rings and I see that it’s Valerie calling for a second time, so I cave and answer it.
“Hello?”
“Why the absolutefuckis Superheroes United being billed for a motherfucking wad of YARN and a POLICE CRUISER?”
I glance up and see the way Asmodeus’s hair fans out over my pillow. My eyes are drawn to it for some reason… or maybe they’re just pleased by the sight of him in my bed.
“August did it,” I say, and I realize that I’m not sure I’ve ever lied to her. “He tripped. We didn’t want bad media over the incident, so we told a slight lie that we were there on official business. The police officer seemed to understand and must have told the owner of the… ball of yarn.”
“I… I suppose in such…circumstances,I understand why you did what you did. But you should have contacted me.”
“The man will probably make more money on the yarn ball than he ever has. ‘Come see the ball of yarn only Chronobender can move,’” I say, stating it in my best “headline” voice.
“Fine. I will permit this. So what do you think of the policies I sent you?”
“I’m going over them now. There are a few things I would like to be changed so that there will be no loopholes. We have to cover all our bases while we transition Superheroes United to have a smoother flow with the police officers as well as a safer environment for nonessential people during villain attacks. It’s vital that we regain stability.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll have them to you within the next hour. I almost have everything else set as well.”
“Good. I’m glad at least one person on the team hasn’t been tainted by those two pesky men.”
I glance over at Asmodeus, who has tainted me more than Valerie could ever know.
“I will not let you down.”
“Good.” She’s quiet for a bit, telling me there’s something else she wants to say. “How… how… hmmm… how is Deus?”
I look at the man spooning my second pillow and grinning at something on his phone.
“Okay,” I say. “He’s doing a phenomenal job of pretending like there’s nothing in this world that could bother him, but I’m not quite convinced that’s true.”
His eyes flick to mine, telling me that he is very much paying attention to my conversation.
“But he’s strong enough to keep moving forward… and will hopefully realize that he’s surrounded by many people who are willing to help him,” I continue.
“I see… irritatingly, he’s become an essential part of our team,” Valerie says. “I cannot deny the work he’s done, even if I’d absolutely love to kick his ass.”
“You can kick his ass. He’d enjoy it.”
“That’s why I haven’t,” she snaps, and then just hangs up on me like her moment of kind words toward Asmodeus hurt her so much she ended the call.
“Who are you talking about over there?” he asks.
“A pesky demon.”
“Ah… I know a really good exorcist.”
“That’s alright, I kind of hope he sticks around,” I say as I turn back to my computer. As it gets later, I transition to watching a few videos that I need to review for the safety protocols being put in place, so Asmodeus grudgingly heads to his bedroom to sleep. I think he was planning on sleeping in my bed, no matter how loud I was playing the videos, until I demanded he go elsewhere… because I can’t trust myself if I keep letting him into my circle.
After he leaves, I’m left listening to the silence of the room. Thankfully, my mind is kept busy by work, and I quickly get through it before brushing my teeth.
The entire time, I think about all of these excuses to crawl into his bed, but I grumble at myself and force myself into my own bed. I promptly grab the pillow he was spooning and hug it to myself as I close my eyes.
I want sleep to come to me, to draw me into the next day when I’ll wake up and hopefully everything will be fine. It’ll all be fine.
