TO HELL AND BACK

CHAPTER 8: A MISTAKE

After the fire was put out, the students in that dorm building were transferred to another for the time being. It wouldn't take too long to clean up the mess, thanks to everyone's powers, but it was still a pain. And most of the students' belongings had been burned or damaged because of the flames.

It was safe to say that people weren't very happy with Xavion.

Cyfrin and Zisa weren't talking to him. He didn't have any other friends (since no one else could tolerate his temper) so he'd been spending his time alone. It didn't help that he was constantly anxious. Mrs. Sapphire had called Lucifer. He knew she did, though he hadn't heard back from his father yet. Only three days had gone by, but he was a nervous wreck through it all.

The worst part was that he didn't have anyone to distract him. He even missed Cyfrin and Zisa's constant bickering.

"Something on your mind?"

Xavion looked up at Malach with a scowl. Well, maybe he did have one distraction.

Part of his punishment for causing the fire was to help clean some of the classrooms that'd been tampered with. Luckily there wasn't too much work since it was mainly the dorms that were affected.

"Fuck off," Xavion grunted in response, not sparing the angel a glance as he used a broom to clear the floor of debris. To make the punishment worse, they weren't allowed to use any magic to clean faster. It was torture.

Malach sighed but grabbed the second broom, silently cleaning next to him. Xavion's movements were harsh as he aggressively swept away the fallen pieces of wood. His head snapped up when he heard a chuckle coming from the wretched angel.

"What's so funny?" Xavion glared.

Shaking his head, Malach shook his head and went back to work, though the smile tugging at his lips didn't disappear. He found Xavion's actions... cute.

"Fine. I don't care anyway," Xavion lied, even more irritated than before as he cleaned. His movements grew more rough with each accidental glance at Malach's wide, amused grin.

The broomstick finally snapped in half when he heard a laugh. That was it.

Xavion threw the broken stick across the room, seething. The wood collided with the wall and left an indent of its shape from the impact. "I swear to Lucifer, the next one is going straight through your skull if you laugh one more time," the demon threatened.

Malach grinned even wider before inspecting Xavion's dastardly expression. "Do you want to know why I'm laughing that badly?" he asked, seeing right through Xavion's fit.

"As if I gave a shit," the demon scoffed. "You're giving me a headache. Finish sweeping while I paint the sealant. The faster we finish, the sooner I can get away from you."

Xavion brushed past him without another word, picking up the sealant he needed to paint the walls. It was a clear, protective layer of paint that would prevent damage against the metal during lessons if any magic went haywire.

Malach's smile turned into a frown after Xavion walked away from him. He immediately got bored of sweeping and instead subtly watched the angry demon begin painting the tungsten.

Because the laborious work would make them sweat, Xavion was dressed in shorts and a black tank top. It revealed the muscles in his biceps and upper back nicely. Malach's staring quickly became much less discreet.

Xavion felt eyes on him but did his best to focus on the task. He figured Malach was just trying to irritate him and didn't want to let the angel win.

Dipping the thick brush in sealant, Xavion dragged it over the wall in one long, vertical line before repeating the action. He only got a small portion of the wall covered before Malach was standing beside him, grabbing a brush of his own.