Chapter Text
“That's why you’re the best, big bro!” Mammon cheered, beaming at a scowling Lucifer.
“This is the last time I pay off one of your debts.” Lucifer responded, arms crossed and expression flat.
“Yeah, yeah, ya always say that.”
“This time I’m serious. In the future, for any debt you acquire that you require me to pay for, you will be whipped for each grimm you owe.”
“Since you’re in a givin’ mood, I actually-” Finally processing, Mammon stopped. “...What?”
“For each grimm you owe, you will receive one lash.” Lucifer said like he was simple.
“Perhaps you’ll learn to stop taking more than you can pay back.”
“What, Lucifer, that’s not fair! If ya’d just let me go to the casino-”
“Absolutely not.”
“-I'd be able to pay off all my debts!”
“Exactly! You would absolutely ruin the economy, Mammon! I will not allow that.”
Mammon stormed off, and Lucifer sat down. MC felt very awkward having witnessed that, but she wasn't about to call attention to herself so she quietly picked her DDD back up. She wasn't able to focus, but she did her very best at acting like she could.
After enough time had passed, she glanced up at Lucifer, who was reading a book, and decided to make her escape, still being as nonchalant as possible as she left the room.
Once she closed the door behind her, she let out a breath. That was like being at a friend's house while their parents yelled at them but a million times worse since it could have escalated considerably. Or worse, she could have been dragged in.
Still, she made her way down to Mammon's room to make sure he was okay. He didn't fight against Lucifer's decision too much, which concerned her a little.
Sure enough, when she turned the knob, if he wasn't going to knock, she wasn't either, something blocked the door from opening fully. Shoving, the thing moved, and she was able to get in.
His room was a disaster. Stuff was thrown everywhere which wasn't how it had been that morning.
“...Mammon?”
His voice called from up in the loft. “MC! Can I borrow some money?”
“What!? Don't tell me you got yourself into debt in the last twenty minutes!”
Mammon hopped the railing, landing in front of her. “I really, really need some money.”
She took in his disheveled appearance, and then looked around at the similar state his room was in. “...What happened?”
“I'm in real trouble, MC. Really.” Mammon ran a hand through his hair. “I've been lookin' for loose change, but I really need to borrow some money.”
“How much?”
He looked pained. “About a hundred thousand grimm.”
“What!?” Her shout was so loud he feared Lucifer would come running in. “Mammon, I don't have that kind of money!”
“I know! I just… Look, I owe money to some guys-”
“Obviously!”
“Some guys who work at Devicci. I needed their limited edition watch. I was short about two thousand grimm, so this guy workin' there told me he'd let me get it and I could pay them back.”
“How did two thousand turn into one hundred thousand!?”
Mammon at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “I uh… Forgot about it. And the interest built up.”
“Mammon!”
“I owe a lot of people at any given time! I'm always good for it! Lucifer doesn't even know how much he hasn't paid off for me!”
“Mammon, this is really a problem!”
“You're tellin' me! Fuck, I don' wanna be whipped a hundred thousand times!”
MC stopped and thought, attempting to find a solution. “Can you just let it sit for a while? Work on saving up to pay it off, and keep yourself out of debt until then?”
“I can't. My main priority is payin' the witches for …the thing. There's no way I can pay both. I'd be paying the interest, not the debt.”
“How much do you owe to the witches?”
Mammon turned away. “Another fifty thousand.”
“Fifty thousand!?” She took a breath and pinched the space between her eyes like Lucifer always did, but Mammon thought it looked much nicer when she did it.
“... Alright. Do that. Pay the witches first, and ignore the Devicci people.”
“What!?”
“Just for a bit. Until you can get the witches off your back for a while. In the meantime I'll see what I can do. You all like to give me some of what you make at your little odd jobs, and I haven't needed to really use any of it. You can have anything I get, BUT-” She locked her eyes onto his. “You can not get yourself into more debt. You only get my money to help with this. If I find out it was spent on anything else, you're on your own.”
Mammon picked her up and swung her around, cheering. “That’s my human! Always lookin’ out for me! Don’t worry, I won’t get myself into any more trouble until we got this mess cleaned up. That’s a promise, ya hear?”
When she was back on her feet, she looked at him seriously. “What are the names of the guys you owe?”
“Vorzan an’ Irkath. Why?”
“I like to know where my money’s going is all. Let’s get this place picked up.”
After they got Mammon’s room clean, or as clean as they could with all his stuff, MC went back upstairs to her room.
As she lay in bed, her thoughts kept her from sleeping. A hundred thousand grimm. That was what, ten thousand dollars? What kind of interest was it? How long had Mammon been putting it off to let two hundred bucks snowball that far?
MC took the pillow from behind her head and screamed into it. This wasn’t her problem. He made this mess, so he needed to fix it. And yet… Mammon would try to help her, had she been in this situation. She would never be, but that was beside the point. He was so wonderful to her. How could she think of ignoring that just to keep herself comfortable?
Still covering her face with the pillow, she groaned.
She rolled over to grab her DDD and shot Amso a text, asking to go shopping the next day. With that, she settled down, having made a decision.
Asmodeus woke her dark and early, slamming her door open without knocking. “Wake up! The shops open in an hour!”
MC groaned, but she had been expecting this, so reluctantly, she got up and put on the outfit that had been chosen for her. Her makeup was done quickly, and she was out the door, arm in arm with Asmo long before the hour was up.
After having breakfast in a cafe, the two walked around the shopping district until finally, the store she had wanted to visit came into view.
“Hey, Asmo, I want to go into Devicci.”
“Alright, let’s go then!”
Once inside, Asmodeus got distracted immediately, which was good.
MC walked up to the counter. “Hello, is there an Irkath or a Vorzan working here today?”
The woman turned to her male coworker. “Irkath. This customer would like to speak to you.”
To MC’s surprise, Irkath actually came out from behind the counter, and led her to a bench.
“You’re the human exchange student.”
Not a question, but she was used to that. “I am.”
“What do you want?”
“I heard Mammon owes you some money?”
“Some?”
“Is there anything I can do to get the cost down? Can I ask you to pause the interest with the promise that any money I make goes to you? As soon as I find somewhere willing to hire me-”
“Oh, no one is going to hire you. You’re a liability. Besides, you can’t possibly be half as efficient and useful as literally anyone else. You can try Akuber, but I don’t think anyone is going to accept you as their driver.”
“Okay, rude.”
“Not rude. True. Demons don’t like humans on a good day. Now, Lord Diavolo’s program has actually worked; most of us tolerate you …now. But not enough to see you as an equal. You’re more like… A dog? Maybe a little better than a dog?”
“Wow, okay. So um… Forget I said anything I guess.” Her plan to help was ruined. She was still useless, and now she knew she’d never be seen as an equal by anyone besides her friends.
One thing. She just needed to do something to help her best friend.
“Please just… Mammon is working on paying you back, it’ll probably be just a few weeks. I’m just asking you to stop raising the interest. He’s good for the money.”
“Look, I’ll talk with Vorzan, and I’ll see what we can do.”
She perked up. It wasn’t a no. Maybe she’d be able to help Mammon after all. “Thank you so much.”
“What’s your number? I’ll let you know what he says.”
After giving him her contact information, MC went back to Asmo with a pep in her step.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. They um… Will let me know when it gets back in stock.”
They went back to the house around noon, and the rest of the day went like any other Saturday at the house of Lamentation. She read, and played games, and watched movies until it was time for bed.
Sleep had come quickly, but MC was roused by her phone ringing not long after she’d drifted off. Trying to blink the lingering fog away, she answered. “Mm-‘ello?”
“Meet us at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be at Madam Scream’s.”
A little more alert now due to the unknown caller, her tone became sharper. “What? Who is this?”
There was a sigh of annoyance. “Irkath. Meet us at Madam Scream’s tomorrow if you actually care about that douche’s debt.”
The phone hung up, and she rubbed her eyes as she processed the information. Four. She could do that.
When she woke up the next morning, she acted as normal as possible. She didn't want any suspicion. She didn't want to be told no.
When the time finally arrived, MC nervously entered the bakery. She wasn’t supposed to be out on her own, but as Irkath had said the day before, the demons seemed to tolerate her now. She hadn’t been threatened in months, and aside from a few stares when she went shopping, she was left alone. She knew letting her guard down was a bad idea, but she also knew that a public place like this would have enough demons who were afraid of Diavolo’s wrath to stop anything from happening.
The place wasn’t very big, so she quickly found Irkath. The demon next to him was probably Vorzan. She approached the table they were at and extended her hand to shake.
“Hello, I’m-”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Right. Sorry.” She took a seat, using the action as an opportunity to take a breath.
“We’ve decided we want to help you.” Irkath started plainly.
She sat up straight. “You did? Thank you so, so much! He’ll get that money to you-”
“Well hold on, this isn’t something we’re doing for free.”
MC pulled back a bit. “It… isn’t?”
“You said you were willing to get a job to help that loser, but as I said, there isn’t a place in town that’ll hire you. Except maybe one of the strip clubs, but I’m guessing you don’t want that.”
MC shook her head, growing more and more wary.
Vorzan spoke this time. “Relax, doll, we don’t want to have anything to do with you in that way. We just need a house cleaner. Might make you wear a little outfit, but nothin’ more.”
She still didn’t really want to do that, but it was more than a step up from anything anyone else might have asked of her. It was still a big decision though, and she definitely needed more information before agreeing. “What are the details?”
“A typical cleaner would cost us about two hundred grimm an hour. For you, we’ll do one-fifty. Four hour shifts.” Irkath said in a tone that made it sound like he was compromising with her.
“What? Why one-fifty?”
“Because we’re doin’ you a favor, bitch.” Vorzan snapped.
Irkath put an arm on his shoulder to calm him. “It’s just fifty less. If you’re not cool with it, we’ll see ya around.”
“No, no, I guess I’m cool with it.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Okay, so you’d pay me, and I’d pay you back?”
“No, we’ll just have you work until the debt is gone. It amounts to the same thing.”
She did the math in her head, got lost, pulled out her DDD and did the math there. One hundred and fifty grimm an hour for four hours was six hundred. One hundred-, sigh, -thousand grimm divided by six hundred was one hundred and sixty-six.
“One hundred and sixty-six shifts!?” She shouted when she saw the number, causing everyone in the bakery to look at her. “I don’t even know if I’m going to be here that long!”
“Well, isn’t Mammon also going to be paying? You won’t actually be working that many shifts. Just enough to cover what he can’t.”
MC brought a hand down her face as she thought. She didn’t have to pay it off.
She didn’t have to pay it off, but she could definitely lower the cost for him if she agreed to this. …Back to the calculator.
“...Two months.” She finally said. If Mammon was also working on this, she could do it. He could and would actually be hired, and paid properly. Not to mention any photoshoots he managed to pick up, which would be a huge help. Two months would earn her more than a quarter of what he needed.
“If that’s what you want.”
Putting her face in her hands, she took a deep breath. “Fine.”
“Great! You start tomorrow. Go to this address when RAD lets out for the day. We'll provide the supplies.”
After putting the address into her DDD, she got up and left. Her mind was racing as she walked back to the house.
“What the fuck have I done?” She took a breath. “No, no, it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s just until Mammon makes what he needs to make. It shouldn’t take too long. It’ll probably only be like a week or two-”
“Talking to yourself is never a good sign.”
MC turned around, coming face to face with Lucifer. “Oh… Hey.”
“Why aren’t you with anyone?”
“I… Don’t have a good explanation.”
“It’s not safe, MC.”
“I know, but look around. No one cares. I’m only a block from the house.”
“The rules are there for a reason.”
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
She knew he knew she wasn’t, but the apology had been what he’d wanted, and she knew that too.
Without another word, he walked her back to the house.
The table was silent, silverware clinking against the ceramic dishes. MC had been absolutely wrong. He did not just want an apology, and had chewed her out in front of everyone. Loudly.
She just felt even more useless than before. He made it very clear that he didn’t trust her, or at the very least, didn’t trust others not to hurt her since she was so weak. She felt like she was a child. A weak, useless child that couldn't do anything on her own.
She debated making the situation worse, or waiting until later for another lecture.
She decided to get it over with. “...I got an afterschool job today.”
The clinking stopped.
“What for? You’re provided for.” Lucifer asked, question turning to warning as he spoke.
“I’m just…” Resisting the urge to glance at Mammon, she lied. “Bored. I wanted something to do between school and dinner.”
“I see.”
Asmo bounced in this chair. “Where are you working, darling? Oh, I just want to come in and see you in your cute little uniform and you can serve me and pretend we aren’t totally hanging out.”
“I’m cleaning a house.”
The room was once again silent.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure who that came from. Maybe all of them. Maybe she imagined it.
“Who’s house?” Satan asked.
“Um… Some guys who work at Devicci.” This time she did look at Mammon, who definitely knew what guys she was talking about.” Her eyes didn't linger.
“Give me their information and I’ll evaluate them.” It wasn’t an offer. Lucifer had made a demand.
“No need, I know them. They ain’t gonna hurt her.” Mammon said, looking at his plate.
“She didn’t say the names, how do you know them?” Satan’s second question was accusing.
“I was the one who told her about them.” Mammon admitted, telling one truth before helping her spin her lie. “ ‘Said they needed their house cleaned, and she told me she wanted somethin’ to do.”
Lucifer looked at him thoughtfully. “Well, I would feel more comfortable if I met them as well.”
“Lucifer, it’s really fine.” MC cut in. “I’ll have Mammon walk me to and from every day, and I’ll keep my phone on me if there’s an emergency. They really just want someone to clean their house.”
“MC, this is non-negotiable.”
“You’re not my dad.” She snapped.
Lucifer’s brow lifted, several boys gasped, and Satan chortled. She needed to fix this before he just outright said no. He wasn’t her dad, but she knew he was kind of right. Letting out a sigh, she broke eye contact. “I appreciate your concern, but please just trust me to make this decision? I promise, I would not do this if I thought I was in any danger at all. I’m just tired of being coddled. I want to feel like a person again. I can make my own choices.”
That last part wasn’t supposed to come out. She’d been treated very well, and shouldn’t have had any complaints. The fact that she was so hung up on something she used to dream about was so stupid. She didn’t need to make any decisions. Her day was planned for her, and it was always fun. She guessed it was the human in her that couldn't just be satisfied.
After several tense seconds, he finally sighed. “...You will message every half hour with an update."
“Yes, sir.”
“And if you come home with a single scratch, you’re done.”
“I understand. Thank you, Lucifer.”
He went back to eating, so everyone else did too, discussion over.
They finished eating in silence, and as soon as the table was cleared, everyone went to their own rooms. Except for Mammon, who stopped her as she opened her door. “Can I talk to ya?”
She hesitated, knowing what he wanted to talk about.
“Please.”
She sighed and led him to her room. Shutting the door, she didn’t turn around. “Please don’t tell me not to.”
“Why not?”
“I have spent the entire evening talking myself into doing this. If you tell me not to, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make myself ignore it.”
His arms wrapped around her from behind. “You’re the best human in all three realms. Ya really are. What’re ya doin’, MC? I can take care of it.”
“I know. But I want to help. That’s what friends do. You would do the exact same for me.”
“I don’t want ya workin’ for me.”
She turned around. “I’m not. I’m doing this for me. I feel sick every time I imagine Lucifer whipping you, and that many times… It would kill a human. I know you’d recover, but I don’t want to see you in pain at all. Not if I can do something about it. I’d feel so… Awful, sitting there, watching you heal, knowing there was something I could have done to prevent it.”
“I deserve the punishment.”
“You kind of screwed up, but no one deserves torture.”
He blinked back tears. “I’ll pay ya back.”
“No you won’t.” She said firmly. “But I don’t know how much I’ll actually make. You still need to help pay it off.”
He tightened his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you.” He murmured into her neck. “You’re too good for me. Thank you.”
MC relaxed slightly. She had made the right decision.