The moonlight and stars are what awaken me. The earth rock is shining so brightly that the pure white light seeps through my eyelids. "Ugh. I feel like I've been mentally hit by a truck."

"You're awake," Steven doesn't look super thrilled but he crawls over and gives me a kiss. "You're still a little cold."

I nod. "That was a half gem. Was it an attack from the Diamonds?"

That was the wrong question to ask. He pulls me into him and grumbles over a hundred curses under his breath. "No."

I push away with significant struggle and look up into his face. "Steven De Mayo, don't you lie to me."

"It's my fault. I picked off a cop without disposing of it." Now that I can see him better, I can tell he's shaking. "I couldn't kill the Lapis hybrid before he escaped. It's like trying to contain water with your hands."

"They'd have found us anyways. We're not very good at hiding." I try for a smile and he frowns further, so I pull his forehead against mine. "I think we should go talk to our parents."

He lifts my head and glares at me. "No. End of discussion."

"But why?! We have authority too, don't we? Can't we just tell them to figure it out like adults? This isn't our problem and we're better than all this! I just want to be in love!"

'Better than all this. Yes,' A voice hisses in my mind. 'Your pride is delicious.'

I look out the window toward the moon in muted panic. It's wrong. It's there: big and round, but there's an unsettling dimness about it. Every star in the sky is gone, the inky darkness above us is blank, but I know it used to be filled with them just moments ago.

Stevens about to open his mouth, but he's cut off when we both go full demon mode. Our wings and claws and horns appear almost forcefully, and involuntarily.

"Don't move."

We wait in complete stillness for what feels like hours. Steven's eyes stay locked on mine but the empty fear keeps making me want to glance behind him at what obviously is a cloud of pure strength and anguish and hubris. They are not trying to be careful, so my mind latches onto the last description. They are unconcerned with danger so they aren't bothering with obscuring themselves.

It materializes next to Steven and on reflex (insanely fast reflex that is) he punches them so hard their head cracks against the back windshield. "Ow! Ow, what the hell?!"

I charge next and press my claws into their throat, but pause when yellow eyes flash and I notice horns. "Oh."

"Could you get off of me? I'm not into all that."

I scramble back into Stevens arms and he protectively growls. "Why are you here?"

"Well duh, when I heard the demons who were supposed to save us all had reached adulthood. I wanted to come and see for myself." He extended an arm out to us and I notice his perfect face is unharmed and his yellow blonde hair is untouched too. "Alex, but I suppose you'd know me as–,"

"The First Son Of Pride," Steven whispers. "It's an..." He squints and I can almost feel a sudden flare of competition roaring to life in him. I feel it too. Something tells me we're better than this guy, what with being the children of Lust and royalty rather than the hildren of some other arrogant idiot. I can't tell if it's a real rivalry coded into us, or if his power is just that strong. "It's a pleasure."

Alex doesn't seem to mind at all and glances around the police car. "Have you guys been heading there already? Bold choice."

"Is there a reason you're bothering us?"

"Bother? Me? Good grief, to be in my presence must be overwhelming your mind. I'm just checking on your progress." Alex studies us closely and I take solace that his eyes are actually blue, but normal blue. The yellow must be directly from his powers. He's definitely not a gem. I realize I'm making eye contact and I roll my eyes at him. Something about him grates at my nerves. His eyes land on the bag of money in the front seat. "You robbed a bank? Very in canon for us demons. Old school, and I can appreciate that."

I frown. "I earned that money. We didn't steal."

A smirk and a raised eyebrow tells me that's the wrong answer. "You earned it?" He wrinkles his nose in disgust. "How quaint. I personally would have gone a more sustainable route, but go you!"

His little golf clap makes me want to sock him in the throat. It's clear he thinks he's so much better than us, which he's fucking not. "Can I ask you a question?" He raises an eyebrow and I gesture outside. "Let me see your wings." I have a theory, a stupid theory I think might be a mistake to try and prove correct but he snaps his fingers and rematerializes outside.

"Stay." Steven's command was a smart one because when Alex spreads his arms I nearly go blind.

I understand now why the moon and stars seemed to lose their luster because his wings shine with a brightness that is actively burning away at my skin and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I look down and see Stevens fist clenched, and the festering bubbling his skin is starting to do just as Alex puts them away and turns to look up at the empty sky with a huge smile.

I drop a kiss to his hand and watch momentarily as the healing spreads all the way up. I will my body to do the same just as Alex reappears. "Well, I should go but I wouldn't want you to miss the opportunity of saying goodbye. There are so many of us that are dying to meet you." He hums as I kiss Stevens other arm. "I apologize for my magnificence. I'd have thought demons as powerful as you would have figured out how to self heal."

"I have. Get out," I growl and he disappears without another word. I hadn't noticed but the car gets darker when he leaves. "Fucking arrogant asshole."

"I think we should hide out in a state park."
I turn to look up at Steven and he drops his head to place a long kiss to my forehead. "That wasn't a threat, merely a check-in."

"But now they for sure know we're together," I protest. "What if they try to wipe our memories or something?"

Steven slumps against me. "I will never forget the safety and wholeness I feel with you sitting in my lap. I'm... scared. But less scared with you here. Lucifer would've ordered Alex to stay away, so they aren't paying attention yet if he just did it anyways." Gentle hands brush over wherever he can reach, but it's not to much as hungry as it is... nervous?

"Steven. What do you know about The Firstborn of Pride?" I narrow my eyes at him and he sulks more obviously. "Hey! Quit making that face," I try to sound firm but giggle. He's acting a little ridiculous for no reason I can grasp.

"Everyone adores Pride and her family." Her? Pride is a her? Do The Seven Deadly Sins all have genders? "They're among the favorites besides, well, us." He sighs and pulls me into him closer, firmly. "Pridekin have a tendency to see beautiful things and think they deserve them. And they always get them."

"What you think Alex is gonna steal me from you?" I tease but his eyes hold no humor.

"Yes." His honesty is so blunt I can only stare. "Lust is attracted to Pride. We could've been two separate kinds of demons instead of lust, but lust has less weaknesses than the others," He tells me as he glares at the spot Alex had just been occupying. "Sometimes I wonder if they fucked up my coding with Greeds kids too."

I press a kiss into his chest. "Because you're jealous?"

"I am. But I don't have to be. You already smell like me, I make sure of it. The others know if they've spotted us that you're mine." He smiles a tiny bit at my blush. "And I suppose if they'd been extra nosey they'd know I'm not afraid to get violent to prove it." His horns begin to glow along with his eyes. I'd be less surprised if Steven wasn't one of Prides kids, actually. He's hot enough to pull it off, but while Alex was undyingly attractive logically, he just didn't fit my fancy like the curly haired boyishly handsome demon clinging to me.

"How did you mark me?" A smile breaks through my stupor and I straddle him. "You didn't pee on me, did you?"

He laughs. "I'm not a werewolf, goofy. I cum in you constantly for a reason. You're tight and beautiful but my claim has been always achieved deeper than skin deep. Every time you swallow or let me fill you," He stops and rumbles under his breath and his breathing gets heavy and strained. "That burning feeling you get. That's direct effort from me to renew my claim."

I shiver and brush our lips together. "With no permission? For shame. How often do you have to do it?" He doesn't answer me and I pull away to see his entire face burning red with embarrassment. "How often? I can take it silly."

"Once." Our eyes lock and he bites his lip. "We only have to do it once. The Pull Out Method was not a human concept. It was leaked." Taloned hands dig into my sides as he grows hard underneath me, staring down at where our hips meet. "I was supposed to be pulling out. But I didn't. And I won't stop. I can't now."

If I were a human, I'd have maybe been remotely upset about it in some way. Mostly because I can't stop thinking about how we would be siblings. How we kinda sorta are.

Nope. Stoping that unrelenting train of thought right fucking now.

Anyways, as a not human with apparent maliciousness showing every time we meet someone new, all it does is make me want him to do it again. "If we lived deep in an uncharted part of the woods instead of a state park, we'd be less likely to run into others. We could start a life there."

Steven's eyes, even glowing with lust, tear up. "Any life with you is worth living. But let's do that."

I stroke my thumb over his cheek. "All we have to do is make it through a grocery store trip, a farmers market, and a camping supplies store."

Instead of answering he flips us over so my back is pressed against the makeshift bed. "Sounds like a tomorrow thing. If Pride couldn't stay away, then I clearly need to fuck you again."

"Won't that cause attention to us?" I spread my legs anyways and a snarl falls from his lips as he catches my scent and dives for it.

"Let it. I want to treat my queen for that big bag of cash up there. This entire body is mine, and I'm going to cherish and take advantage of it."

I'm starting to think we make each other reckless because I smile past a moan as his tongue finds its way home. "A-ah- A meal fit for a king~."

He chuckles against my clit and I swear it's the most sinful sound I've ever heard. "A king? Try a demigod."