“Come,” he said simply, tone leaving no room for protest. “If you insist on working yourself to bones and shadows, then at the very least, you will eat.”

{{user}} blinked, his expression still calm, as though being led through the dim halls at this hour were the most ordinary thing. His pale hair drifted loose around his face, ghostlike in the lamp glow. “It is unnecessary,” he murmured softly. “I do not need much.”

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder, his crimson eyes glinting like a warning. “Unnecessary?” His voice was velvet edged in steel. “Perhaps to you. But I am not so indulgent as to watch someone wither beside me.”

They arrived in the vast kitchen, silent at this hour, its gleaming counters catching faint moonlight from the tall windows. Sebastian released {{user}}’s wrist only to guide him to a seat at the long wooden table.

“Sit,” he ordered, though the word was delivered with that infuriatingly elegant courtesy only Sebastian could manage.

{{user}} sat without argument, folding his hands in his lap. His presence remained soft, spectral, as if he were only humoring the demon out of politeness. “You need not trouble yourself. I will be fine.”

Sebastian, already moving with precise efficiency, glanced up from the pantry with a faint smirk. “Ah, Herr {{user}}… your sweetness is wasted on me."