I grabbed the nearest hoodie off the back of the couch and threw it toward him without really thinking about it. “Here. You’re making the apartment look haunted.”
He caught it automatically. But his face made me regret throwing it at him in the first place because apparently my survival instincts had stopped functioning tonight.
Nina noticed first. “Why did he stop moving?”
“I don’t know.”
The demon stared down at the hoodie in his hands like I’d just handed him classified military secrets of state.
“…You are offering me clothing?”
I frowned. “I heard Hell gets cold at night.”
The silence that followed was more dangerous. I pursed my lips and suddenly found the opposite wall more fascinating.
Nina lowered her coffee mug. “Eva.”
“What.”
“I think you did another thing.”
“I DIDN’T DO ANY THING.”
The demon was still gazing at the hoodie with a stunned expression on his face. Then carefully, like he was trying not to scare a wild animal, he asked, “Humans are aware of what clothing gifts symbolize, correct?”
I blinked at him bewildered.
“…Laundry?”
Nina snickered instantly. “Oh no.”
I pointed at her. “Stop saying ‘oh no’ like that. I hate that tone.”
The demon finally looked up from the hoodie, and he seemed even more confused than before. “In Hell, offering someone clothing is considered a highly intimate gesture.”
“How significant?”
He hesitated and that pause alone ruined my evening more than his presence.
“…Usually it implies long-term interest towards each other.”
I stared at him for a second while my brain continued failing to process whether I missed any part of dating lessons from Nina.
“That is my worn out hoodie with a hole in it.”
The demon expression tightened slightly at my lack of reaction to his dating culture. “That information does not improve the situation.”
Nina was already grabbing her phone off the couch. “No, wait, hold on. I’m googling demon courting rituals because clearly nobody in this apartment knows how to act.”
“You are not helping.”
“I need answers, Eva!”
While the demon calmly pulled the hoodie on like this was completely normal behavior. The sleeves were slightly too short on him, which was a personal attack to my size considering it was already an oversized hoodie.
Then my brain caught up with the reality that instead of sending this strange demon out of the apartment , I am offering him my clothes.
“Wait,” I said, gesturing to my clothes. “Take the hoodie off.”
