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"Uh, nothing, I suppose. I was just confused," he said once he'd gotten over his shock, and I nodded slowly before turning my attention back to my food.
Carefully, I picked out the peas and slid them to one side of my dish. Sneaking a glance at Dakota and making sure his eyes weren't on me, I used a bit of magic to make the peas disappear—or rather, I moved them to the trash.
I was glad the King of Otherworld hadn't limited our use of magic. Our only orders were that we couldn't use magic to harm humans, but other than that, we were free to use it however we liked.
"Did you have a good day at work?" Nico asked, and I forced my gaze to stay on my food so I wouldn't roll my eyes at him. I didn't know what book or TV show he was emulating—out of us, he was the only one up to date with human pop culture—but he sounded like an old housewife talking to her husband, which was equally hilarious and embarrassing.
I took a peek at Ryk and found him biting his lower lip to hold back a laugh. I widened my eyes at him, and he glared at me as a laugh almost slipped out of his mouth.
"It was okay. Tedious as ever," Dakota said with another almost-smile, and Nico dipped his head in acceptance.
The rest of the meal passed by in silence, and then Nico made Ryk and me clean up. Of course, Dakota got off scot-free, but since he was still around, we couldn't use magic and call it a day. Instead, we were forced to clean the dishes the human way, and I grumbled under my breath as I dried the dishes Ryk handed me.
"Oh, chill out, Star," Ryk said, blowing some soapy foam my way that I magicked away before it could touch me. I didn't care if Dakota saw it; I was not letting it anywhere near my skin. "Boo, you're so finicky."
"I know," I said levelly, and focused on the dish I was wiping. It wasn't news to me. I was the least 'fun' demon in the demon realm, and I'd been told that many times.
Even with all his little rules, Nico was a lot more fun when the occasion asked for it. Me, on the other hand? I was picky, I didn't get along with most people, and I could be an ass most of the times. It was a wonder these two had hung around as long as they had, but maybe now that they had someone else to play with...
"Well, I like your finicky-ness. It's cute," Ryk said with a wide grin as he handed me another dripping dish, and I sighed. How could a demon be as pure as him?
"Don't call me cute," I grumbled since I didn't know how else to reply, and he laughed.
"Aw, you want me to lie?" he asked, his face the picture of innocence, and this time, I flicked some soapy water at him. With my magic, of course.
"Ugh," Ryk mumbled as he wiped his face, not using magic to clean himself at all. "Nico's put me on a magic ban because I accidentally used it near Dakota yesterday," he said, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
"Sheesh, you're so needy," I teased as I wiped the water away with my magic, and he scowled at me.
"You're the one who messed with me," he said, and I held back a smile. I didn't think telling him he looked adorable when he was annoyed would help matters for me.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes.
"Stop teasing me! Look, it's the last dish. We're done!"
Chuckling, I took the dish from him, wiped it dry, and placed it in the rack. "Come on, let's see what they're up to!"
When we walked into the living room, we found Nico chilling on the couch, Dakota nowhere to be found.
"Where's Dakota?"
"Oh, he had to call his family, so we went back to his room," Nico said nonchalantly, and something in his voice piqued my interest.
"When exactly did he do that?" I asked, and Nico's eyes slid to mine.
"Fifteen minutes ago," he answered, and I glared at him.
"You meanie!" Ryk exclaimed, jumping onto the couch to straddle Nico, who'd been happily lazing about while he made us clean up without magic when we hadn't needed to.
Nico was the smallest of us, but that didn't mean he wasn't strong. Yet he didn't try to buck Ryk off or get away from him and instead watched him with a tiny smile on his lips.
"Hey, I was just giving you a chance to get some new human experiences," he said, no teasing in his voice. Sometimes, Nico could be the weirdest one of us all.
"Just for that, I'm not getting off of you for at least an hour," Ryk declared, spreading himself over Nico. "Star, join us! Let's make a sandwich."
I stared at them, shook my head, and turned around, waving at them with my back turned. "No, thanks. I'm going to bed."
I wouldn't have minded joining them in a bed, but I was not squeezing myself onto that tiny couch.
