Challenge #01814-D353: A Deal's a Deal
A lonely person sells their soul to Satan to be their friend —phantomrose96, tumblr(?) -- TheDragonsFlame
"Anything your heart desires," said the lord of all evil. The standard contract was not only long but in incredibly myopic print. The only legible words were, sign here. "All for one little thing that you're not even certain could exist."
"I only want one thing," Marvin said, signing his name in blood. "A good friend."
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Oh... kay? Eternity of torment after you die for... a friendship?"
"Well, I don't have anyone at all, so... yeah. Worth it."
And then it got awkward. "So... what now? We hang out? Or...?"
It's a cruel world. Some people are lonely. Some people have nobody. Some people are ugly and have no friends. Some people have interests so unique that nobody knows how to be friends with them. Lucifer learned a lot about humans in his time with Marvin. About the little things that friends could do.
Walking the beach. Watching movies. Sharing the things that Marvin liked to nerd out about. It was the quiet times under a blanket and watching a fire. It was the midnight bullshit sessions with rushed words and slips of the tongue. It was wine and laughter. And it was impossibly fun.
Lucifer didn't know what to do about the feeling. Friendship. Not when he was eternal and Marvin... wasn't.
But Marvin was the first person in the history of the known universe to thank Satan for everything he had done.
He took the soul, in the end. He had to. It was in the contract. But what he could not do was bring himself to throw Marvin into the fiery lake. Or any number of Hell's torments. Nor could he take Marvin to Heaven. Marvin had sold his soul, and was automatically exempt.
So Lucifer picked someone else's Hell. A closed boardwalk on an overcast afternoon, and a little bungalow with a barely adequate kitchen and a pre-loved couch and a bed that creaked. Nowhere to be. Nothing to do. Just the cold sea and the sound of the waves.
"It's perfect," said Marvin's shade. "You'll come by for tea?"
"Of course," said the Devil himself.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / barneyboogles]
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