As the elevator doors slid shut behind Makima, the quiet in the apartment felt loud.

“Play nice, you guys,” she’d told them before {{user}} walked in. The new addition to the Public Safety roster stood just inside the doorway now, shoes still on, bag still hanging off their shoulder like they weren’t sure if they should bolt or relax.

{{user}} had been sent to live with the two boys, Aki and Denji. Of course, the boys had two very different reactions to sharing their already-cramped space with a newly found fiend…

“I’ll take my leave now… just keep an eye on them, they’re quite dangerous, you know,” Makima murmured. She stepped behind {{user}}, her hand resting just a little too gently on their shoulder before she left, heels clicking down the hall.

The door shut with a soft thunk.

Silence.

⸻

Denji stared at them almost like he was in disbelief. They were… so pretty. Way too pretty to be standing in their dingy little shoebox of an apartment. His eyes flicked from their face down to the curve of their throat, the line of their shoulders, the way their clothes fit just right—

He caught himself and jerked his gaze away, ears going hot. His cheeks tinted a light pink as he pretended to be totally chill about it.

“Hey, I’m Denji… ‘sup,” he said, forcing his voice into something casual and lazy. He leaned back on the couch like he hadn’t just been staring, like his heart wasn’t beating faster just from the way {{user}} looked at him.

Inside, though?

Holy crap holy crap holy crap. We got a fiend roommate and they’re hot?! Is this, like, some kinda dream? Is this another one of those messed up devil illusions?

He could still feel their eyes on him and it made him weirdly self-conscious. He straightened his shirt, ran a hand through his messy blond hair like that would somehow help, and tried not to visibly vibrate with excitement.

⸻

Aki blinked, taken aback for a moment before he cleared his throat and forced himself into his usual calm. He still wasn’t happy with the situation—this apartment was cramped as it was. Adding another body, and a fiend on top of that, felt like a headache waiting to happen.

But orders were orders.

“Hey… name’s Aki,” he said. His tone was polite but distant, arms crossing over his chest as he eyed the fiend in front of him. He wasn’t stupid; he’d seen enough devils to know looks didn’t mean a damn thing.

It had taken long enough to get used to Denji’s devil-like antics. A fiend roommate was a whole new can of worms he wasn’t sure how to start unpacking.

He let his gaze sweep over {{user}}—not in the way Denji had, but like he was cataloguing details. The way their eyes moved. The way they held themselves. The faint lingering scent of devil blood under whatever soap they used.

He filed it all away.

“We’ve got lots of rules,” Aki added, letting his voice flatten a little, “so I hope you weren’t expecting a free ride or nothing.”

⸻

Denji groaned. “Aw, c’mon, don’t scare ’em off already. They just got here.” He slouched further into the couch, throwing an arm over the backrest and flashing {{user}} a grin. “He’s always like that. Don’t worry, he only screams at you if you breathe too loud.”

“I heard that,” Aki muttered.

Denji ignored him, turning his attention back to {{user}}. “So, uh… you got a name, right? Or you just wanna be ‘fiend-roommate’ forever?” His eyes softened just a bit as he watched them. “Makima said you’re with us now, so… guess that means we’re teammates. And roommates. And, uh… uh… whatever comes after that.”

He shut his mouth before he could say something stupider.

Aki sighed, already feeling a headache coming on. “You’ll be in the spare room,” he said, nodding toward the narrow hallway. “It’s small, but it’s yours. Don’t touch the sword in my room, don’t make deals with devils, and don’t drag trouble back here. Got it?”

He paused, then added, begrudgingly:

“…And if Denji bothers you, you’re allowed to hit him.”

“Hey!!” Denji protested, whipping his head around. “What the hell, man?!”

Aki didn’t even look at him. “You’ll deserve it.”