#ik I'm late but- actually.. It's never too late to say and demonstrate that I want palestine to be free!💖

[mel-loly]

-From river to the sea, Palestine will be free!🇵🇸

Draw your fav character with a watermelon to show that we all are with them! :D🍉✨

[journey-to-the-attic]

3rd anni req 6: belphie, astaroth / stellar confession

ao3 link

note: i've done some scribblings before for our main pairings in my own time, but i think this is the first thing i've written in earnest with romance as the focus for jtta! all things considered, i'm happy with this - "no.1 boyfriend enjoyer", this is for you

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It isn’t so much a surprise as it is an irritation when the penny finally drops.

It starts on an idle night, lying in the observatory, whiling away the hours with only the stars - and the voice on the other end of the phone - for company. And it happens like this:

Astaroth says something about how late it is. Belphie yawns and mumbles, “I dunno. I can’t sleep without hearing your voice.”

And neither of them acknowledge it. Eventually, he drifts off, knowing that Astaroth will be able to tell and end the call in his stead, and that is the end of that. Until morning, anyway.

He wakes up in a snap, and his lethargy vanishes faster than it’s ever done before. There is only one thought on his mind: why did I say that??

It isn’t true - demonstrably. He takes naps all the time, usually without warning, and certainly without needing to talk to anyone first. He was probably just talking without thinking. He does that a lot when he’s about to drift off.

But then he thinks about it a little more, and suddenly he realises how many nights in recent memory he’s spent on the phone. Not all of them, surely - Lucifer would kill him for doing that so many times consecutively - but a lot of them.

So he decides to run a little test. Next time he feels the need to pick up his D.D.D. and scroll down to that specific contact, he’ll ignore it. This much he should be able to manage without much issue, mostly because it requires an absence of physical effort, which is his specialty.

Except it doesn’t. He keeps having to stop himself from reaching for his phone - as in, practically has to restrain himself from moving. That’s the first part that gives him pause.

The second part comes late at night. He should be able to drop off without a problem. Instead, he tosses and turns, counting the weird noises Beel makes in his sleep, and nothing happens for hours on end.

Conclusion: he wasn’t just saying nonsense. These days, once he feels the urge, he really can’t get to sleep without hearing Astaroth’s voice first.

This is troubling news. He tells IK so the next time they have a video call.

She isn’t looking at the camera when he does, and she doesn’t take her eyes off whatever she’s doing at first. “That’s kind of normal, isn’t it? Honeymoon phase or something.”

“Honeymoon phase?”

IK turns to the camera with a blink. “...you’re not going out?”

“Going out where?”

IK is quiet for a very long time. It gives him a distinct feeling that she’s disappointed in him.

“...you aren’t dating?” She asks finally.

“D— what?” His head had started drooping, but now he sits bolt upright. “Huh??”

IK is doing the same face Satan does when he’s about to ask ‘Are you stupid?’ - so before she can, Belphie continues, “That’s not a thing. That’s never been a thing. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Belphie,” IK says, with that endless patience that she is definitely too young to have, “Have you even noticed that you like him?”

Belphie stares blankly at her little face on the screen. And then it finally hits him.

“...oh.”

IK sighs loudly. He hurries to defend himself. “I wasn’t paying attention to it! I thought it was just— I don’t know, I didn’t have time for that.”

“You’re so lucky I’m not there right now,” Ik says very seriously. “Or else I’d hit you. Actually, can you do it for me?”

“Already ahead of you, twinkle.” He knocks himself firmly on the head, then slumps onto his arms with a groan. “So that’s what that was about.”

“What did you think it was about? You’ve been on a billion dates now.”

“I didn’t know they were dates! And there definitely weren’t a billion. Wait, how do you even know about that?”

“‘Cause Asmo tells me everything. You even stopped saying that they weren’t dates - we thought you’d just figured it out.”

Now that he thinks about it - he hasn’t been denying any of those accusations lately. At some point, without him noticing, they had become dates, so he hadn’t sensed anything off when Asmo referred to them as such. So he hadn’t corrected him.

He leaves that conversation with a great deal of enlightenment that he rather wishes he hadn’t received.. Now that the thought’s in his mind, he can’t stop lingering on it - overthinking every little detail in the same way Satan does every bit of background symbolism every time they watch a play. And it drives him crazy, but now he can’t even make fun of him for it, because he’d be throwing stones at glass houses.

He thinks about going to one of his brothers for advice - but the very notion sends a shiver up his spine. The most he can do is vent to Beel, because the others certainly will not have any useful advice to offer.

Which leaves him with one other option. At times like this, Belphie does wish his main other confidant wasn’t a kid thousands and thousands of years his junior. It’s beginning to feel rather humiliating to keep consulting her on this subject when he should almost certainly know better than her.

“Just say something,” IK says one day, clearly sick of it all. Even if her advice has been working so far, there’s only so many suggestions she can come up with.

“It isn’t that easy.”

She sighs loudly, and he imagines the sharp look she’d be giving him if she was there - the one that just kind of makes him want to pinch her cheek. “It’ll make you feel better. Seriously, you can’t keep going like this forever. It’s like you’ve gone crazy.”

“Maybe I am crazy now,” He grumbles, but it does make him think.

Quite frankly, it is embarrassing how much he’s been acting the fool as of late. It’s not like him to be flighty and unsure - he’s blunt by nature, but so is Astaroth, and he’s not sure just how devastating a rejection could be from someone of so few words.

IK’s right. Even if it doesn’t go the way he wants it to, it’ll be over at the very least. He has to do something about this… only then will he finally know peace.

Some might say he’s being dramatic. When the moment finally arrives, though, he thinks he’s being anything but.

His heartbeat sounds like a drumline.That shouldn’t be allowed. Nothing should just be able to do that to you - it’s so unfair.

They’ve been on this hill so many times already that he’s lost count, but tonight every blade of grass feels fresh and new. There’s a slight chill on the breeze, but he can barely feel it.

They gaze up at the stars in silence. Belphie lies in the grass as if it is his bed - ungraceful, but comfortable. Astaroth lies in the grass like he’s in a painting.

He sighs quietly. Nothing for it.

“Astaroth,” Belphie says, and everything else comes out in one breath. “I think I’m in love with you.”

The night is quiet. He feels too tense to even move, so he keeps staring at the sky instead.

“...what?”

“Don’t make me say it again,” He mumbles - as much a plea as it is a quip. “You heard me.”

“I know.” He can hear a smile on his voice. The question is whether it’s earnest or sarcastic - because sometimes, it really is hard to tell with Astaroth. “I just want to hear it one more time.”

“Fine,” He says, a little sharper than he meant to. “I’m in love with you. Happy now?”

It’s quiet again. After a moment, Astaroth admits, “I think you’re the only demon in the world who could say that to me and mean it.”

“Don’t be stupid. I bet you’ve got tons of fans.”

“Maybe. But you’re the only one I want to believe.”

“Just believe?”

“You’re the only thing I like looking at more than the stars. What do you think?”

He hadn’t expected to hear the words back - not in the same way he said them, anyway, because Astaroth is only ever literal when he doesn’t have to put his own feelings out on the line. He thinks he’s gone and outdone him, though. His heart is doing stupid things in his chest.

Belphie waits for a moment. Nothing happens, and he can’t quite keep a plaintive lilt out of his voice when he prompts, “So?”

“So?” repeats Astaroth.

“You can’t touch the stars. But I’m not far away like they are. Aren’t you going to do something about it?”

There’s that teasing smile again. Belphie’s beginning to suspect that Astaroth has known exactly what he was doing this whole time. “Like what?”

He inches closer, until there’s barely a breath between them, and wonders how long they have before someone comes looking for them. “I don’t know. Figure it out.”