Victoria Goerk - The cold warmth

Braylon was standing awkwardly in the hallway with a taller kid clinging on to him, sending a glare towards the newcomer. The demon was amazed at how the ghost was so full of color, looking alive and well, Marcellus was really tempted to touch his skin, just to see how it feels. But….

“Uhhh… why is the kid glaring daggers at me?” he asks.

Braylon gave him a nervous grin, “I don’t know… but well, Marcellus, this is Jaylon. Jay, this is Marcellus, a demon messenger and also my childhood friend.”

Marcellus extended a hand, he had a box like smile stretching on his face. “Hey kid! Nice to meet you, I’ve never seen a ghost so bright of color!”

The demons anxiously waited for a reply, but the ghost just harshly breathed air out of his nose and took off, levitating upwards and twirling around as an act of disobedience.

Marcellus shot a look of confusion at the florist, who just shrugged at him and leaned in to whisper, “If you don’t befriend him by the end of the day, I will notallow your presence here ever again.”

The demon messenger smirked back, “Don’t you know who I am? I brought something for the kid.”

Marcellus turned around and wriggled a bit, shoving off his backpack before marching inside the living area with Jaylon watching cautiously from the ceiling.

Braylon followed the other demon, throwing himself down on the couch while the demon was seated on the floor with his back to him. The messenger pulled out a laptop and a lot of accessories, including a keyboard, mouse, mouse pad and a pair of speakers. He started to set it upon the small table. Braylon was slowly catching onto what he was doing. Jaylon still hovered near the ceiling, clinging on to the doorway, his big eyes now had a hint of interest in them when he saw the equipment.

“Jaylon,” Braylon called out softly, holding his hand out and the younger quickly moved forwards to take it. He was snuggling close to the half demon with his legs up to his chest.

“Do you play computer games?” whispered the half demon, eyeing how Jaylon eagerly nodded, gesturing with his hands that he played a lot.

“That’s nice… you can play with Marc, you know. He won’t bite.”

The ghost pouted, turning his attention to the laptop screen again, carefully observing how Marcellus was messing around with the settings before launching a familiar online game. Braylon smiled as he saw how interested Jaylon became and silently thanked the demon in his mind. He stood up, nudging Marcellus lightly with his foot.

“Are you hungry? I’m going to check my stew.”

“The red haired demon stared up at him with his lips pursed, “I missed you, can I have a kiss?”

Braylon was about to throw a snarky comment back, but Jaylon acted first. He was pushing Braylon towards the kitchen with a grunt, ignoring how Marcellus laughed loudly behind them.

“Jay, no, you’re staying here. Go on, you can watch him. Marc is really good at this game.”

Braylon pushed the spirit’s chest lightly when they reached the entrance of the living space.

Jaylon huffed, “I’m much better.”

“Yeah? I’ll come back to see you pay then.” The florist gave him an encouraging smile and left for the kitchen to check his stew and make some noodles.

Even though demons don’t really need human food, Marcellus still has a weird craving for noodles, so Braylon decided to make some for him. He was also planning to make some rice cakes for later too, so he busied himself in the kitchen, getting lost in the making of the dough for almost an hour before finally starting on the noodles. When he was finished, he carefully balanced it on a tray along with some sweets and a drink to deliver to Marcellus.

To be honest, Braylon was a bit surprised at the scene in front of him. Jaylon was kneeling besides Marcellus, intensely watching him play while bickering with the others.

Yes, bickering.

“Don’t go over there! That’s suicide!”

“No it’s not! It’s better than your current spot and it’s perfect to camp.”

“But if the enemies come out from there they can see you?”

“I’ll take them out before they can!”

“Watch out! Your left! Left, left! Behind the boxes! No, the other left!”

“Nooooooo!”

Braylon squinted at the loud noise, shaking his head in annoyance but he was still glad that they seemed to get along… maybe.

“Marc, I made noodles for you, come and eat. Let Jaylon play for a bit.”

The florist set the tray down and Marcellus turned to him with a pout, reluctantly moving away from the laptop to approach his food while Jaylon just sent a happy grin in Braylon’s direction.

Turns out, Jaylon was such a professional at the game, leaving Marcellus to watch with his mouth agape. They started talking softly to each other about the game, completely forgetting that Braylon was even there, so he quietly left the room to take in some fresh air at the balcony. It was now a bit more packed, different kinds of flowers were neatly standing in their pots beside each other. Jaylon took great care of them, the half demon didn’t even have to do anything.

He still decided to move some flowers to a bigger pot though, just something to busy himself with while the two younger ones have some bonding time over games. Braylon himself was not a fan of shooting or action games with loud noises, he prefers peaceful games with cuter graphics and soft music instead. He obviously couldn’t share the others passion over these kinds of games.

Time passed by quickly and the florist decided to rest a bit in his bed after gardening. He was scrolling through his twitter feed when the spirit came twirling into the room.

“Why won’t you come watch me play?”

The younger whined, hovering above him and shoving his face through Braylon’s phone so that the older could only focus on him.

“Oh. You remember I’m here?” teased Braylon the ghost, turning on his side to continue scrolling through his phone.

Jaylon chuckled, lowering himself down to crush the half demon in a hug. He groaned at the sudden weight crushing him and halfheartedly tried to push Jaylon off.

“Get off kid. I’m dying here!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Jaylon rolled over to lie on his back, still holding on to Braylon so that the smaller was now lying on top of him.

Braylon was about to complain some more, but a deep voice interrupted him, “Cuddling session! Why didn’t you guys invite me?!”

Marcellus boomed out at the sight of them on the bed before jumping with intention to crash onto them, but Jaylon just whined out a “No!” and rolled over to the other side, shielding Braylon from the attack and making Marcellus fall onto the empty space.

“Ugh, what happened to gaming?”

The florist voiced out his thoughts and wriggled out of the strong hold only to land on the floor and evacuated to sit at the desk instead.

“Brat, you’re stealing him from me!” Of course Braylon was ignored and Marcellus started to fight with Jaylon by nudging him with his foot.

“ You’rehis childhood friend, you basically had him since you were born!”

“Okay, that’s not exactly the truth-“Braylon cut in.

“Yeah, that’s right, you’re jealous, huh?” The demon’s loud voice completely drowned Braylon’s and the two younger ones started to playfully wrestle each other, rolling around on the bed with Braylon sulking at the desk.

Just as he was about to leave- again, Jaylon jumped out of bed to pull him over and they tumbled onto Marcellus who groaned loudly. The half demon untangled himself from the mess and sat cross legged at the end of the bed.