Chapter Text
Clara Valac.
The absolute bane of Alice Asmodeus' existence.
Not that Valac was a horrible person, or that she was annoying.
She was unintentionally charming without really trying. It was hard to not see how quickly she'd charmed Iruma with her goofy way of talking and odd mannerisms.
Alice now witnessed his best friends, confess their love for each other and kiss.
It made Alice's mouth go dry, a bitter feeling rose in his throat, a feeling Alice couldn't fight.
Jealousy.
Alice quickly turned and walked away, not bearing the thought that if they'd noticed him, they'd invite him over. He didn't want to face his friends knowing he'd just get even more jealous.
The demon found himself in the bathroom over the toilets, coughing and choking on what felt like flowers mixed with the disgusting metallic taste of blood.
Alice choked again. His lungs heaving as he tried to fix his issue.
“Azz-azz?” Leids voice called, followed closely by footsteps and the rattle of metal, presumably from Jazz.
“You good?” Jazz' voice asked, a lot closer than Alice could even want.
Alice wanted to answer, yet all that came out was a strangled cough.
“Shit—” Jazz yelped in surprise, his eyes going wide, “Azz what the hell happened?!”
Leid's mouth was open with shock, no words forming as he tried to grasp the situation before him
“I'm...not....cert-” Before Alice could finish another wave of coughing and wheezing started as blood and soft blue petals shot from his mouth. He leaned back over the toilet and ungracefully released anything that came back up, his head feeling lighter than a cloud.
“Azz!-” Both Leid and Jazz yelled, both crouching on either side of the honour student and patting his back comfortingly.
“Relax Azz.” Jazz said, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.
Alice could only comply to the best as his now sore body would allow, blood leaking from the corner of his lips.
Leid patted his head, as Iruma would've, “We've gotcha. Lets head to the nurses office okay?” He said.
Alice only nodded, letting his classmates help him up and hoist his arms over their shoulders, “Lean on Jazz for now, kay?” Leid instructed. Alice leaned as much of his weight as he could onto Jazz.
Jazz placed a hand on his hip and together he and Leid, led Alice to the nurses office, where Alice passed out nearly instantly.
++++
When Alice came to, Jazz and Leid were both standing above him, as was Mr. Kalego.
“Asmodeus. What happened? You disappeared during lunch, next I heard Jazz and Leid brought you here.” Kalego glared down at him.
Alice sat up quickly, “I just got a bit sick is all!” He lied quickly, “I'm perfectly fine now, my apologies for worrying you all.” The pink haired demon forced a chuckle, his chest feeling tight with guilt and worry.
Jazz and Leid both shot him a disapproving look, Alice stared down at his hands, they were both justified in that action, Alice was in fact lying.
His lie seemed to work on Kalego, because the familiar teacher turned on his head and walked to the door, “I expect you three to be back in class in the next half hour, I don't need any further complaints from your other teachers.” With that Kalego left the room.
Jazz frowned down at Alice, “Dude? Why didn't you just spit it out when he asked?” He crossed his arms, shaking his head disapprovingly.
“He's...not easy to talk to.” Alice admitted, “I'd rather him not know that try to explain something even I can't grasp the meaning of.”
Leid sighed and nodded, “That's fair, and you /did/ sorta get sick, if coughing up violets and blood counts.” The last part earned him a harsh elbow to the ribs from Jazz.
Alice continued to stare at his hands, “My apologies for burdening you two, feel free to leave if you'd—”
“Azz, shut up.” Jazz pulled a chair up and sat down, “Drop the formalities.”
Alice racked his mind for any kind of response but ultimately closed his mouth and sighed in defeat.
“Seriously though,” Leid frowned, sitting on the arm of Jazz' chair, “what happened to you?” He folded his hands and waited for a response.
Alice forced himself to look up and meet his classmates worried gaze, “I...well...I saw Master Iruma and Valac...so per usual I figured we'd all talk.” He started.
Leid and Jazz nodded, listening intently.
“I walked over, but before I could even get a word out they professed that they loved eachother...I felt...sick..” Alice mumbled the word, the word feeling foreign on his tongue, “I walked away as quickly as I could...thats how I ended up where you two found me.”
Leid was the first to speak, his words coming out slowly, “...Azz...were you...”
Alice wanted to cover his ears, he wanted to tell Leid not to say the word he knew was coming. He wanted to leave the room..
“..jealous of Valac..?” Leid finished.
Alice felt his world crumble, burning tears welled up in his eyes. Of course he was. He felt worse knowing that Valac was his friend. His throat suddenly felt tight.
He wanted to answer. To tell Leid he was wrong. To tell /himself/ it was wrong.
But when his mouth opened, a strangled cry left his throat.
Alice couldn't hold it in any longer, his resolve crashed, the flood gates of his emotions flew open as his tears began to fall. He looked down at his hands, not wanting the two to see his positively disgusting face as he began to sob.
His hands curled into fists that were so tight, Alice swore there was going to be bloodly marks later.
“I...” He let out another pathetic sob.
Jazz grabbed his hand in his own, his rings cold against Alice's pale skin, “Relax Azz.” He said, his tone of voice once again so gentle Alice couldn't help but comply.
Alice felt his body shake as sobs wracked through him.
“Azz.” Jazz said again, “Relax.”
The pink-haired demon did his best to calm down. His sobs dying down to quiet whimpers and hics.
Jazz nodded, “Good, you're alright now. Okay?”
Alice wanted to believe that. He really did. But he couldn't. He knew he wasn't okay. He knew something was wrong.
Leid got up and pushed the chair back to its place, he sat on Alice's bed and patted his lap, “Lay down.” He said, puncuating his words with another pat.
Alice took a while to register the command but situated himself to a point were he could both hold Jazz' hand and lay on Leid's lap.
Leid rubbed his head, “You don't have to say anything about what happened to anyone, Kay?” He said, “If you start to get upset just come find one of us, is that okay?”
Alice nodded, rubbing his eyes as he stared up at Leid through pink, tear-soaked lashes.
Jazz nodded in agreement, “You have our numbers just in case you can't find us. Your safeword can be—hm...”
“How about red?” Leid suggested, “I know thats not a fun word right now but we'll definitely understand what you mean.” He looked down at Alice for any signs of comfirmation.
Alice nodded again, not trusting his voice.
“Alright, red it is.” Jazz hummed, rubbing a comforting circle onto the back of Alice's hand.
Alice felt his eyelids droop down drowsily. Sleep once again having the upperhand as Leid and Jazz continued whispering calmingly. Alice wanted to stay awake a small while longer but his body betrayed him and allowed sleep to grab him quickly. His eyes falling shut as he slipped into a dreamless sleep.