Fausto

I woke slowly, sunlight spilling through the curtains and stretching lazily across the bed. The space beside me was already empty, but still warm. He’d been up for a while.

Typical.

I smiled to myself, dragging a hand over my face before sitting up.

“Already making breakfast, huh…?” I muttered, voice still thick with sleep.

The smell reached me before I even left the room—something sweet, something buttery. He always tried so hard, even when I told him he didn’t need to.

I made my way toward the kitchen, barefoot, half-awake, completely at ease.

And then I stopped.

Right in the doorway.

“…Huh.”

There he was. My Darling. Standing at the stove, humming softly, swaying just a little as he cooked.

But that wasn’t what made me freeze.

No… it was the horns.

Curved, unmistakable, rising from his head like they had always belonged there.

And the tail—

A long, expressive tail flicking behind him, moving fast, betraying an excitement he hadn’t even turned around to show me yet.

For a moment, I just stared.

My mind didn’t… reject it. It didn’t panic. It simply… recalibrated.

Then I spoke.

“…Wait—”

My voice came out quieter than I expected.

“You’re a demon?!”

He stiffened instantly.

The tail froze mid-sway.

Slowly—very slowly—he turned to face me.

And there it was.

That look.

The same one he’d had when he first told me he loved me. Nervous. Hopeful. Terrified of losing everything.

“…I—” he started, voice catching. “I was going to tell you. I just… didn’t know how.”

I tilted my head slightly, still taking it in. The horns. The tail. The way his eyes searched mine like I was about to shatter his world.

But I wasn’t angry.

I wasn’t disgusted.

If anything… I was thinking.

Then, slowly, something warm spread through my chest.

A quiet realization.

“…So,” I said, stepping closer.

He tensed.

“You’re not human.”