The cold warmth

The cold warmth

1  Songs for the characters

2  | Chapter 1 |

3  | Chapter 2 |

4  | Chapter 3 |

5  | Chapter 4 |

6  | Chapter 5 |

7  | Chapter 6 |

8  | Chapter 7 |

9  | Chapter 8 |

10  | Chapter 9 |

11  | Chapter 10 |

12  | Chapter 11 |

13  | Chapter 12 |

14  | Chapter 13 |

15  | Chapter 14 |

16  | Chapter 15 |

17  | Chapter 16 |

18  | Chapter 17 |

19  | Chapter 18 |

20  | Chapter 19 |

21  | Chapter 20 |

22  | Chapter 21 |

23  | Chapter 22 |

24  | Chapter 23 |

25  | Chapter 24 |

26  | Chapter 25 |

27  | Chapter 26 |

28  | Chapter 27 |

29  | Chapter 28 |

30  | Chapter 29 |

31  | Chapter 30 |

32  | Chapter 31 |

33  | Chapter 32 |

34  | Chapter 32 | - 1

35  | Chapter 33 |

36  | Chapter 34 |

37  | Chapter 35 |

38  | Chapter 36 |

39  | Chapter 37 |

Songs for the characters

Braylon F0E0 Bloom- Bonus Track by The Paper kites

JaylonF0E0 Keep it Gold by Surfaces

Marcellus F0E0 Walking On A Dream by Empire of Sun

Adan F0E0 Sunset Lover by Petit Biscuit

Nathan F0E0 Everytime Tha Beat Drop by Monica (feat. Dem Franchize Boyz)

Cameron F0E0 Water Fountain by Alec Benjamin

Mykel F0E0 Teen Romance by Fatboibari & ilyTOMMY

| Chapter 1 |

“The grim reapers have been sending complains for months.”

Adan hummed in response. He was seated behind his ebony desk while listening to Marcellus, who was informing them of the current situation.

Braylon was lying on the dark grey couch that was situated in the corner of Adan’s office. He was absentmindedly playing with a flower that he brought from his shop on the surface. The flower should be wilting down in the underworld, but it remains fresh and vibrant with its shades of purple as long as it stays in his hands.

“So they want Braylon to deal with it?”

The head of the demon world spoke up while raising an eyebrow at the messenger who was seated at the other end of his desk. Marcellus just nodded, but had to hold back his smile that tried to make its way on his face.

“Yes. Aziel said that it was too much of a waste of their time. They’re already really busy with collecting normal souls. It seems that a stubborn soul which needs some time of coaxing isn’t really their cup of tea.”

“That’s true, but it’s not one of Braylon’s tasks…”

Adan’s words got cut off when a flower flew across the room. It hit him square in the face before instantly wilting and soon turning into nothing but dust.

“I want to!”

The one guilty of throwing the flower interrupted. He jumped up from his spot, only to approach the desk and plop himself down on Marcellus’ lap. The taller messenger snaked his arms around the florist’s small waist and rested his chin on Braylon’s shoulder. The both of them were smiling with fake innocence.

Adan couldn’t do anything but sigh at the sight in front of him.

“You,” The eldest of the three pointed his finger at Marcellus, who was his younger brother, “you talked him into this.”

“No he didn’t. It’s my own decision.”

Braylon swatted Adan’s hand away impatiently and making the other gasp dramatically-

“Braylon! You cannot treat your boss like this!”

“I’ve been treating you like this for years now!”

“Ah, I’m glad you’re aware of that.”

Marcellus cleared his throat.

“Anyways, the said spirit or ghost if you will, is at an old apartment just five minutes away from Braylon’s shop. There are still people living there, but they are constantly complaining about the noise that is coming from apartment 307.”

“Come on Adan!”

Braylon slammed his hands on the dark desk while leaning forward when Adan moved away and spun his chair to turn sideways from them with his hands neatly clasped in his lap.

“You don’t know how spirits can become when they are too long on the surface. It’s been eight months! He could lose control any second and you won’t be able to handle him!”

“I promise I’ll be out of there if he starts showing any signs of losing it.”

“And I’ll visit the apartment every week.” Marcellus added, earning a glare from Adan that was soon followed by another sigh.

“I need you to do your own duties… that goes for the both of you.”

“We are doing them!” The two younger ones answered in unison.

“Stop that, you do not gang up on me. I’ll send some other demon to take care of the spirit.” Said Adan firmly.

“But!” Braylon crawled to sit on the desk, leaving Adan to stare in disbelieve at his scattered notes.

“He’s just a kid! He needs talking and understanding! You said it yourself, it’s been eight months but still nothing happened and he still has control over himself. I know I can do it, please, please.”

Marcellus hummed in agreement. “He is something special Adan. Most spirits loose themselves after only six months, but this kid is still going.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You’re just mean! Let me do this job! Just this one time.”

Braylon was ready to throw a tantrum but he reluctantly scooted away when Adan stood up to his full height. They stared at each other for a few moments until the eldest gave in with a loud sigh.

“If I see you neglect any family-“

“I won’t! They’ll get my flowers, I promise.”

Braylon’s face lit up, he was smiling so wide that his gums peeked out as he moved closer to the taller.

“And if anything- anything happens to you,” The demon leans down to plant his palms on the desk, caging the younger in his arms, “I will go up there myself and the spirit will regret hurting you for centuries.”

“Awwww! You’re so scary!”

Braylon and Marcellus take turns in making cooing noises, teasing the older and reaching over to poke the demon’s stoic face until he shook them off.

“Shut up, I’m being serious here… and you,” He pointed at Marcellus again, “If you don’t report back to me in two days after you visit- “

“Understood! You can stop right there, I don’t want to hear what you’ll do to your own little brother.”

The demon messenger clapped his hands over his ears and closed his eyes as if trying to get rid of any horrific images in his mind. Adan sighed for the ninth time of the day, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. Braylon smiled widely and reached up to pull the hand away, stretching himself upwards to give Adan a small peck on his nose.

“Don’t worry, I’ll guide the spirit safely to the afterlife before you even know it.”

“That is not what I’m worried- “

“Okay, let’s go Marcellus! To my new home!”

Braylon shouted, standing on the desk to jump on Marcellus’ back and in a flash of smoke they were gone. Adan cringed at his ebony desk that was once beautifully polished and now stained with the footprints of a certain half demon.

He slowly sat back down, eyes landing on a framed picture he keeps face down besides other pictures of him and Braylon. The head demon picked it up and brought it closer to see the same old picture that has been here for as long as he knows.

Sunset A field of pale yellow flowers glowing brightly. A figure sitting right in the middle, turning around to smile over his shoulder. So widely it makes his eyes turn into little crescent shapes.

Adan stared at it for a few seconds longer before flipping it down on the desk again, mumbling quietly to himself.

“… It’s been too long.”

| Chapter 2 |

“Marcellus! Stop! Someone is calling you!”

Braylon squirmed in the arms of the taller, trying to dodge the pouty expression directed at him.

“But you won’t let me go and see the ghost with you!”

“That’s because someone is calling you for the third time in the last ten minutes now.”

Braylon was starting to get annoyed by the beeping noise from Marcellus’ watch that has rang since they arrived at the florist’s home. The demon had offered to help Braylon pack his stuff from the small and cozy apartment right above the shop. They had bickered their way through it, Braylon protested because he didn’t have that much stuff and in the end it was only three bags.

Once they finished, the florist tried to say goodbye and urged the other to go do his job but Marcellus was persistent. He wanted to walk Braylon to his new apartment. So they end up tangled up in each other, one trying to escape and one holding on as tight as ever.

“Ugh!” The demon groaned loudly, letting the older go to press a button on his watch, which immediately silenced the beeping. “Why can’t they deliver their own messages and stuff?”

“Hey!” Braylon called out with a scowl, drawing out a deep chuckle from Marcellus, who draped himself over the half demon again.

“Not you! I like delivering your flowers.”

“You better.” The florist mumbled under his breath before starting to squirm again. “Okay, let go now. I can walk there by myself, you have a job to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Marcellus huffed, finally letting go but didn’t forget to plant a big kiss on the soft honey blond locks of Braylon before disappearing into thin air.

“Great, not even a goodbye. Sulking brat.”

Braylon muttered and set off, locking the shop behind him and walked over to the apartment. It was near, but Braylon never really had a purpose to walk past it, but now it was going to be his new home. He was quite excited to meet the ghost and hopes to befriend it, so he could have a new friend instead of just Adan and Marcellus.

The half demon pulled out a copy of the report, there were only a few words from the reapers but it helped Braylon to prepare himself mentally.

‘Male, 22 years old 8 months Doesn’t speak much, mischievous, smiles a lot. Overall, looks alive and healthy, not pale and gray like normal souls Capable of interacting with solid objects. Remembers his name but wouldn’t tell.’

Braylon scrunches up his face at the third line. He hopes that he would be able to coax the spirit to speak up more. He’s also surprised that it was still looking alive and well. Most souls start with a less saturated color than normal that fades over time.

A few moment later he reaches the apartment and makes his way in easily with the obtained keycard. Despite looking old on the outside, the apartment’s interior was warm and cozy. Decorated with antique furniture and small green plants.

/ I might consider living here myself when this whole thing is over. /

The half demon climbed the stairs up to the third floor, heading straight to number 307 and unlocked the door, trying to heave his luggage into the dark hallway inside the room.

Jaylon perked up at the sound of someone unlocking the door. He was lying on the bed, enjoying the silence and lost in his thoughts when the small beep of the electric lock was heard.

/Great, another one/

He mentally groaned, getting up and peeked his head out from the bedroom, squinting in the darkness. His apartment room was simple, a narrow hallway and if you look from the entrance door, the living room is on the right while the kitchen is on the left. Walk a bit further and the bathroom is right next to the kitchen, the bedroom is next to the living space. At the end of the hallway is a balcony, which has heavy thick curtains hiding the glass door.

Jaylon could see the outline of a small figure in the darkness with some light flooding in from outside. The guest tried flicking on the switch near the door a few times, but the ghost knew that it didn’t work since it broke a few weeks ago. He heard a small sigh and the door closed, before the hallway was dimly illuminated by small rays of light from a phone. Jaylon chuckled softly, pushing his bedroom door open and turned on the light so it can pour in the hallway for the other to see.

Jaylon watched as the smaller jumped a bit at the sudden light and slowly raised his head. The small catlike eyes were wide in the dimly lit hallway, pouty lips gaping at the sight in front of him while Jaylon felt himself freeze as well.

/Oh. It’s a pretty one this time. /

| Chapter 3 |

Braylon almost shrieked when the ghost started flying in the air with a lopsided grin plastered on his face. He was twisting and turning around him and was shooting in and out of rooms through the walls instead of using the doors. Braylon waited for a while to see if he would stop, but nope, he started to play with the lights. The ghost was switching the lights on and off in every single room.

/ Oh fun, he is a brat/

“Hey! Get down here...”

The half demon weakly tried to persuade the playful one. He finally stopped moving but was now hanging upside down from the ceiling while grinning cheekily at him. Braylon bit his lip nervously, thinking that it might be a good idea to start with an introduction.

“Well okay, ummm, that’s better I think. So… hi? I’m Braylon. I’m here to help you so… can you tell me your name? I don’t want to call you ‘it’.”

The ghost started to pout, sinking through the ceiling until only his hair and eyes could be seen. Braylon started panicking and waved his hand anxiously in an attempt to stop the ghost that was in front of him.

“Oh! Um… you don’t have to answer me… just take your time ok? I’ll be staying here for a while, look.” He stepped aside to show his luggage. “If you feel like talking, please don’t hesitate to call me! Err… now I need a place to sleep… so if you don’t mind…”

Braylon bravely dragged his stuff forward, peeking into the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom and finally found the bedroom. Each room was a bit dusty, but it was habitable and neatly furnished. Now the half demon started to wonder where he should sleep.

If the ghost has haunted this place for eight months it surely meant that this apartment is something that holds great meaning to him and the bedroom might have been his own. Braylon nodded to himself and turned back to the living room, trying to ignore how the ghost slowly revealed more about himself. He was slowly dropping down from the ceiling to the floor. It was a bit eerie but Braylon has seen creepier things down in the underworld. The only difference was, that Adan never let him near the spirits. It's still a new feeling to him, but he could handle it.

Suddenly a cold wisp of air rushed past him. The young spirit stood proudly at the entrance to the living space and pointed to the bedroom.

“Oh,” Braylon raised one of his eyebrows. “I can sleep in the bedroom? Isn’t it yours?”

The ghost just looked at him and shrugged, not giving a single sound from him.

“It’s okay, the couch looks comfy enough for me.” Says Braylon, while carefully looking at the other’s reaction which resulted in a scrunched up face and a small shake of his head. Braylon was going to continue his protesting but the ghost just huffed and picked up his bags like it was nothing. He moved past Braylon towards the bedroom. The half demon took his chance to look at the spirit closely. He looked younger than his actual age, had chocolate brown hair, was tall and had some muscles.

Braylon shook his head, softly slapping his cheeks to stop checking the ghost out before following him into the brightly lit bedroom. His bags were stacked on the bed and the ghost was once again doing flips in the air.

“Don’t you get tired- … oh, you’re a ghost.” Braylon scratched his neck dumbly. The other grinned at him brightly and plopped himself down on the bed while patting the spot next to him and looking expectantly at Braylon.

“Ah,” The florist was a bit flustered, “I need to wash up a bit… I’ll be right back, wait a minute”

He quickly approached his smallest bag to find all his hygiene products and quickly left the room to do his business in the bathroom, aware of the spirit’s eyes that were fixated on him.

A few minutes later Braylon found himself lying on the left side of the really soft bed, facing the ghost who was in the same position again with a big grin plastered on his face. The half demon scanned the other’s clothing. He was wearing a large black hoodie and dark grey sweatpants while he himself was wearing an oversized white sweater and black sweatpants. The spirit was staring at him with his round eyes as if he was waiting for Braylon to say something.

So he did.

“Ummm… do you sleep?” A nod.

“Will you sleep here tonight?” Another nod.

“Oh… well, it’s getting late and I’m a bit sleepy now… I’m going to sleep, okay?” Two nods with a warm smile.

“Will you talk to me tomorrow?”

There was a moment of silence before the other stretched out his hand, his palm facing up. Braylon stared at it in confusion, not sure of what to do, so he just mirrored the younger’s action. The spirit lightly traced his finger on Braylon’s palm, writing out a ‘maybe’ and retracted his hand back to tuck it under his head. The demon stared at his own hand, feeling the light coldness that was lingering in it. He was still a bit fascinated by how the other could make himself solid whenever he wanted. He was determined to learn more about the spirit tomorrow, already satisfied with the little progress he made today.

“Okay then… goodnight kid.”

| Chapter 4 |

Jaylon was excited to have a living roommate.

At first, he thought that it was another boring grim reaper that was trying to be intimidating and drag him to the afterlife. Turns out it wasn’t. This time there was actually someone trying to get to know him slowly and spend time with him. The spirit felt giddy. He couldn’t stop moving last night but seeing the tired face one of the smaller forced him to eventually lie down.

Today he woke up earlier than normal. He was sitting patiently at the end of the bed and waiting for his roommate to wake up.

/Is he an angel? Why is he pretty? /

And then it struck him… he didn’t even know what Braylon was. Well he has the intention to get to know everything about Braylon as soon as he wakes up.

The ghost waits and waits and waits. He waited until the clock hit seven-thirty and Braylon’s phone starts to ring loudly. The owner groaned softly, pulling it out from under the pillow to turn the alarm off before sitting up. He was blinking slowly at Jaylon who was smiling at him.

The half demon smiled back, still looking very sleepy. “Uh….. Good morning?”

Jaylon was ready.

“Morning.” He says, observing the small eyes widening in surprise before a smile follows ´. The smile was so wide that it was showing the perfect white teeth and pink gums of the demon.

/Oh shit, he’s cute/

“You can talk! I mean you’re talking to me!”

“Yeah, I’m capable of that.” Replied Jaylon happily.

“Can you tell me your name now?”

“I’m Jaylon. This here was my old apartment.”

“Ah, I see… is that all you can remember?”

Jaylon shrugged, “Are we seriously going to play twenty questions this early in the morning?”

Braylon smiled sheepishly while muttering an apology before glancing at the clock. “I have work to do at nine but I’m leaving early today okay? Gotta find some breakfast for myself.”

Jaylon’s face fell at that, he thought the other was going to stay with him all day.

“When are you coming back?”

“Maybe five or six? I’ll try to close the shop quickly.” Answered Braylon, scrambling out of to do a few stretches and gathered his things to take a quick shower before getting dressed. After ten minutes Jaylon was still rooted to the same place and pouting at Braylon, who entered the room again to pack his small everyday bag.

“Hey,” Jaylon spoke up, making his roommate look up with a smile. “Are you a reaper?”

“No,” he says. “I’m half demon and half human.”

The spirit made a small noise of acknowledgement, but was still a little bit curious.

“Then why are you doing the job of a reaper?”

The demon hummed in response and tilting his head a bit. “I don’t really see it as a job, I’ve never done this before, but I just want to help.” He paused for a few seconds. “And… my shop is near too. So why shouldn’t I try to help?”

Jaylon listened closely, feeling his heart inflate at the kindness the one in front of him radiates from his words. He also perked up at the mention of a shop.

“Your shop? You sell stuff? Can I go with you?”

Braylon raises an eyebrow at him. “You can go outside?”

“I think so…. If someone accompanies me it should be fine.”

The older looked uncertain, shifting his weight from foot to foot before finally saying “I’m sorry, maybe on another day?”

Jaylon frowned, giving a small nod and slid back down on the bed. He was covering himself with blankets. The spirit could already feel himself start to sulk. He knew he wanted attention and when things didn’t go the way he wanted, he sulks. He can hear Braylon shuffling nervously at the side of the bed before he received a slight pat on the head through the thin cover.

“I’ll be back soon and I’ll promise we’ll get to know each other ok? Nice meeting you Jaylon, I’ll see you tonight.”

Jaylon laid there silently, waiting until he heard the older leave the room before throwing the covers off of him. He walked over to the window, pressing his face to the glass and watching people walk in and out of the building. A little while later Braylon was one of them. He was waddling away from the apartment dressed in an oversized shirt and ripped jeans. His bag was hanging from one of his shoulders and lightly swaying in the wind.

The ghost smiled to himself, adoring how tiny the half demon looked from down there. Sadly his smile quickly faded when he remembered, that the other won’t be coming back until late in the evening. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was only 8:16 o’clock.

“Ah… shit. I just met him and I’m already getting attached…. what’s wrong with me?”

The ghost mumbled quietly, crouching down to roll over on the floor in boredom. At least he has something to look forward to today.

Wait for Braylon to come /home/.

It definitely seems better than staying by himself in this room, but time passes slower when he steals a glance at the clock every minute. Jaylon sighed loudly, climbed up on the bed and decided to go back to sleep since he didn’t have much to do. He snuggled under the blankets facing the left side of the bed and was reminded of the sight of his roommate peacefully sleeping there earlier.

/Ugh, he didn’t even do anything and I still got attached. /