Shout At The Devil

by Bucket of Skies

Chapter 4 : One More Time

Do I really need to speed things along Brim?

Yes, we don’t have all eternity. At least they don’t. I could be here for all eternity since I’m immortal.

Okay fine, where should I start then?

Probably the only part I cared about before the real main stuff happened, right after class when you were off to work.

Really, can I at least talk about one detail from class?

I’m sorry, but no one here gives a shit about your class as much as you do Rocky. They only care about the RockyXBrim art that they are going to make when this gets released.

They make that?

It’s rule 34, it’s gonna happen. Now keep telling your story already.

Alright fine. So where I left off was after class. I had the biggest smile on my face from finally receiving the recommendation letter that I needed to get an internship at a better job. So much so that I think I managed to look even more crazier than when I was talking to Brim when no one else could see him.

“I can’t believe that actually worked.”, I exclaimed to Brim.

“I told you it would work if you stayed calm. You need to trust me a whole lot more with what I advise.”, Brim said walking alongside me on the Manehatten street.

“But what if he finds out about the fact I copied them word for word?”, I asked him.

“He won’t find out anything. That's because I erased his memory completely.”, He said calmly.

“What?! That was a nice man you just ruined!”, I exclaimed stopping in the walkway.

“I’m just kidding. Sweet Lucy, I may have evil tendencies but I’m not cruel. I only erased his mind about the part for filling it out with your own words.”, Brim said clarifying.

“Well, one thing’s for sure, I won’t be needing you around much longer after I quit my job.”, I said proudly.

“Oh that reminds me, You and I need to talk about that if you want to get rid of me so quickly.”, Brim said making a cigarette appear from a snap of his fingers.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“It’s about how you plan on quitting. I can read your thoughts right now and I can tell you right now that it won’t work.”, he said puffing the cigarette.

"How do you know that?", I asked smugly.

"Rocky, I'm gonna be honest with you. You are a pussy.", he said pointing a finger at me.

"And what's that supposed to mean?", I asked crossing my arms.

"Look, you play situations out in your head that make you think you can do it, but when it comes time to do it you back out. And I know exactly why. Because you don't have anyone to back you up on it. Tell me I'm wrong. Your next line is going to be,'You don't know me like that', I bet money on it", Brim said.

"You don't know me like tha-....what?!", I exclaimed to him reading my next line.

"You don't know yourself that well either the fact that me, a demon who has known you for a day and a half, could read you like a book.", Brim said putting out his cigarette.

I don't know why, but that really bothered me. Not to a level of annoyance level of bother, but like something that sticks in your head when you reach that reality.

"Well what can I do about it? If you think that I don't have what it takes then what do I do?", I asked him.

"Don't you worry, I'll be there to walk you through what to say and what to do when we get there. Oh and that reminds me, you need to take a different route. ", He said to me.

"What why?", I asked.

"The first step of this plan is to arrive late. Like I mean really llate.so late that there is no one but that fat grease-ball of a human working that store like he works his wife, uncomfortably hard.", He said with a grin.

"That's a little too much information than I wanted to know about my soon to be former boss.", I said cringing at that idea.

"Trust me, when we get there it will all come together. ", Brim said continuing our walk in the long route.

Our talk along this route was actually kind of nice. If this is what having a true best friend felt like, Brimstone was definitely starting to become one. It was weird the way he would make fun of me though. He would make fun of me but not in a really harsh way. If that's what friends do then I may need a lot more to get used to that.

On my way to work I decided to take a seat on a bench to try and show up even more late like Brim had asked. It really gave me a chance to pay attention to where I live and how it acts when I'm on the move. While I was looking, me and Brim talked a little bit more about his place in hell, more specifically who “Lucy” was since he would always say that name in frustration. Turns out, Lucy was the devil that everyone fears to meet when they get to hell. It is actually not as bad as people think because the majority of people mistake her for some buff and scary looking demon. That is actually her gay brother. What she does to people who make it to hell is sentence them to work on a certain job in the office of hell, all depending on what you did. So thankfully I had nothing to worry about since Hitler is the plumber of the office of hell.

“Rocky?”, a surprised voice said from behind me.

I turned around to see Sunset in a completely different outfit, as well as her hair tied back. I stood up from being surprised by her attire.

“Oh Sunset hey! Uhhhh, what are you doing here?”, I asked nervously.

“This is where I work, the diner behind you. What are you doing here?”, she asked.

“Umm, I was gonna arrive late for work. I-I’m quitting today anyway so what is the point of showing up on time if I’m going to be quitting later.”, I explained.

“That doesn’t seem like you.”, Sunset said tilting her head.

“Told you you were a little bitch. “, Brim said.

I ignored his comment and continued on with my conversation with Sunset.

“I decided to change things up and try to stand up for myself. You know how cruel that Al is with the people he employs.”, I explained.

“And how’s that gonna work out?”, she asked.

“Well, it’s a little complicated. I, um, am seeing someone to help me with confidence. I didn’t expect him to be helpful, but it’s working out so far.”, I said scratching my neck.

“Oh so you seeing a therapist?”, she asked.

“Not exactly, he is more like a friend I met in my apartment.”, I explained.

“Oh well that’s good. It’s important to make more friends where you live.I wish I did.”, she said looking down.

“You...don’t have friends?”, I asked nervously.

“No I do it's just…very very complicated. Thankfully you make it a bit more simpler.”, she said looking back up.

“Oh that’s good I guess.”, I said nervously blushing from her compliment.

“Aand I’m going to predict the nervous silence stops abooooout, now!”, Brim says snapping his fingers.

“Well, I’ll see you later Rocky. I have to go to work now.”, Sunset said walking away backwards.

“Yeah, I’ll see you…...Oh Sunset!”, I exclaimed before she walked away.

She stopped at the door before looking back at me.

“I….I-I think I might take you up on your offer for breakfast one day. I don’t know when, but I may do it.”, I said nervously.

Sunset smiled and gave an approving nod before walking into the diner she worked. I don’t know why, but I felt satisfied and couldn’t help but smile…….for a few seconds before Brim had stated his opinion on the situation.

“Oh sweet Lucy that was difficult to watch. And this is coming from someone who has seen pain and despair in hell.”, Brim said in disgust.

“Could you do any better if you were in my shoes?”, I asked.

“Actually, yeah I could. But let’s agree to disagree, we have an even bigger goat to sacrifice when we get to your workplace.”, Brim said standing up.

I followed him as we managed to make our way to the Manehatten mall to try and get our way out of the hell hole that was, Al’s Shoe Emporium.

---

“Are you listening to me Rocky?”, Brim asked snapping his fingers in front of my face.

“Oh yeah, I just blanked out for a moment. Tell me again what you said.”, I asked looking over at him.

“Oh my lord this is going to be a shitstorm if you fuck this up. What I was saying before was that I’ll be there holding up signs behind someone that can’t see me saying everything that you should mention. I can’t exactly be quick in writing exactly what you say so you will need to take charge with what I have written as a note of what to say. It’s not that complicated.”, Brim explained.

“So I have to say this based on the keywords you put on the sign?”, I asked.

“Do I need to put it on a sign for you to get it? Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question. Of course you have to make it up.”, He said with frustration.

“Yes I get that, but how complex are you gonna get with it?”, I asked.

“I’m a demon in hell, we don’t exactly have the highest scholars there so it is going to be extremely dumbed down. One other thing is to stay strong, because based on what I see in your mind with what your boss looks like, he is four foot nothing of harmless rage.”, he said.

“That’s not easy for me Brim.”, I explained embarrassingly.

“You mean to tell me that you are threatened by that guy? He literally looks like he roleplays as a gay horse when he fucks someone.”, He said pointing it out.

“It’s just that I’ve never been disrespectful to anyone before. I don’t know what to say to him when I quit. Should I just say that I’m done and just walk out?”, I asked.

“No, that is the last thing you want to do. If you do that, you’re going to look back at that when you can’t stand up for yourself later when someone is telling you bullshit you don’t believe in. Just stay calm and composed and you got this. I’ll give you the basic idea of what to say when we get there.”, Brim said putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Good grief.”, I said to myself as I kept walking forward.

I decided that the best place to arrive was out in the front since there would be no point showing up in the back to change in my uniform since I was quitting in like two minutes. It was no going back now, either I get fired on the spot and I'm still with Brim for a long time, or I can nut up and finally be a man and take control. Tough choices. Which would you choose?

This isn't a choose your own adventure book Rocky, that is way too complex to design for the author. He's only a boy.

Are you ever going to introduce me to "the author"? You talk about him a lot.

Maybe when this story somehow gets big enough to stand on its own. Keep going, we're on a schedule still.

Right, so I finally walked into the store where I saw the four foot nothing troll named Al frantically running around to try and keep up. For some reason I found it funny to see him run around that quick with as short of legs that he has.

He finally got a view of me walking up to the store to see him scurrying around for someone to yell at. As he approached me, I could feel the rage in his tiny steps towards me. But only a little bit.

"Where… in all that is holy and living….have you been?!?!?!", Al said breathing heavily from rage.

I stayed calm like Brim had said, although I almost broke from that calmness when he threw up his arms. I stood there as strong as I could, waiting for Brim to show up with his notes. Just in time before I ended up looking like a complete mute being yelled at by some bigot, out from behind the counter I saw a sign sprang with a pig on it followed by Brim squinting his eyes at me to read out what he put. He then gave me a thumbs up letting me know I got this. Or at least I think I did. I said the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the sign.

"I…..was out eating pulled pork?", I nervously mustered out.

Not a great start so far. Brim slapped his forehead in frustration and began to work on another note.

"What the hell are you doing out there eating pork you numbskull?!?! You got a job to do, now get back there, get in your uniform and get to work!", Al demanded.

I stood silent again waiting for Brim to write something down for me to say next. Thankfully it was short and straight to the point, saying nothing but the words,"no (but actually mean it.)". I took a deep breath to try and reach a more direct tone that I never reached before.

"No.", I said as seriously as I could.

"What did you just say? I told you to get back there and get ready for work!", Al said turning back around.

Brim gave me two thumbs up before going back to work on his board. Meanwhile, things were getting heavy with this gross man.

"If you keep bad mouthing me you numbskull it's going to get worse for you! Capiche?!?", He said aloud.

By this time he was gathering attention from the people inside the store and even some outside. Just in time before I looked mute, Brim popped up with a new sign with a vacuum cleaner and then the words "it you fat bastard". Right away I connected the dots on what to say. I don't know why, but I felt strong saying it.

"S-Suck it you fat bastard.", I told him making a few people gasp in shock.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?! Who do you think you're talking to!?!?!", he said getting more and more angrier.

All that Brim had left on the sign were the words," Bring it all home and walk away". This was the endgame now.

"Someone I'm not working for anymore.", I said before turning around and walking away from my job for good.

"Hey! You get back here right now! You don't quit on me! I quit on you! You got five seconds to get back here before you get the worst possible outcome!", Al yelled out.

Not once did I look back nor did I stop. I kept walking, occasionally looking over at Brim who had followed me and gave me an approving nod as we left the mall. I felt so much better about myself after doing that, mainly because I can finally put that chapter of my life behind me.

Not long after I did that, I decided to take myself and Brim out to celebrate at some fast food restaurant nearby. I didn't really like to eat there, but then again I had just put a gross chapter behind me so I might as well have done it anyways. I also wanted to find out if Brim could interact with the real world by eating something there, I wanted to really double check that I wasn't really losing my mind. I was thankful to see that I was completely sane by him using his magic to teleport two cheeseburgers for me and him to have from the back.

"I didn't think you would turn out that great when talking back but holy shit that was exactly what I was hoping for. ", Brim exclaimed while taking a bite into his burger.

"Yeah, in a way I didn't expect it either.", I said sipping my orange soda.

“Man oh man you made him waddle around like a sunburnt penguin with how red he was getting to being so pissed off. I got to hand it to you, you read it almost perfectly. Although the beginning had me seriously worried.", Brim said.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened with that. I think my mind went completely blank on me when I saw it for the first time. ", I tried to explain.

"Well no matter. The day is saved and all problems are no more. Now we have all of the rest of the dinner and then you finally can get rid of me. Bet that sounds good.to you.", Brim assumed.

"Yeah. Little bit.", I said softly.

Truth be told, I felt a little bit saddened by him leaving so soon. By the end of it I was really starting to like him. He helped me out and in return gave me one liners and random references to some author I don't know about. That and for some reason, I felt like there was one more thing I needed help with. It was sudden, like it happened right before I quit my job at the mall.

The rest of the meal went on like usual, we would talk and give comments about the day and a half we'd spent with each other and what moments we liked the most. His favourites came from me being the most uncomfortable and all that. I tried to honestly think of one,, but I couldn't. Not to say that I hated it, but it was more like I didn't want him to leave just yet. I was sure that some problems would arise where he could help me out.

After we finished the meal, we headed outside where it was starting to get dark on the Manehatten streets. The streetlights were starting to turn on as well as the Manehatten street cars moving by a little bit faster to get home. I was standing opposite the doorway of the restaurant we had came out with Brim on the other side. To the untrained eye, it would look like that moment in a first date, but this wasn’t going to be like that. Not gonna add fuel to the fire to the apparent need for Brim and I yaoi.

“Well this is it. Looks like I finally did my job and can move on to the next poor soul who needs me. Not gonna lie, this is the first time I ever solve a problem with someone so this is pretty special.”, Brim said pulling out the last cigarette in his pack and lighting it.

“Is it really?”, I asked him.

“Yeah, most of them have either ended up dead or were just a hopeless cause. This will finally move me up the ranks. Maybe now I could manage two souls at once. All thanks to you.”, He said smoking his cigarette.

“Yeah, that's great.”, I said softly.

He finally finished out his cigarette before snapping his fingers to pull up a small suitcase. He even threw on a small fedora like hat.

“Well, this is it. I’m on my way back to hell. It was nice knowing you Rocky. Glad I was able to fix all your problems.”, He said holding out his hand for a handshake.

I took his hand and shook it. For a moment it felt all too real when I felt his hand. All of a sudden another idea popped into my head. I didn’t want him to leave just yet because I needed one more problem to be fixed. With him embracing me with that handshake, it reminded me that the one who would be the closest to him: Sunset Shimmer. I wanted something like that, but with her. I didn’t have that strength without him guiding me to do it.

Right before he was about to snap away for good, I grabbed his attention.

“Brim wait!”, I called out at the last second as he pressed his fingers together.

His ears perked up as he turned around to face me.

"There is...one more problem that I need help with. If you don't mind, of course.", I said.

"One more time? Haha, title of this chapter.", Brim said chuckling.

"You see, there is this girl I've been talking to and I really like. Like I mean REALLY like. And well, I really want to tell her how I feel and it's not easy for me.", I propose to him.

"And once again I guessed your next line correctly in my head. Right from the get go when I saw you talking to that one girl who smells like bacon I knew you needed my help.", Brim said snapping away his suitcase and hat.

"Then why'd you say that you were leaving?", I asked him.

"Cause I wanted to hear from you that you had a change of heart to have me stick around. ", Brim explained.

"Well whatever. I just need your help to try and get me to man up and talk to her in a way that I want to.", I said rolling my eyes.

"Hmm that's tempting, let me talk to my receptionist to see if in free.", He said turning around and facing me again before continuing, " yep, I'm good with my schedule".

"Oh thank you. This is gonna be big after this.", I said to him.

"Yeah sure, that's what you are gonna say when I fix this situation again.", He said snapping his fingers again with his suitcase and hat.

"Wait, what are you doing? I thought you were staying. ", I asked.

"I am. I just need to go back to hell for the night to study up on how to fix man up problems when it comes to women. I have to study up on those books and of course to see if I can get clearance from Lucy. Can you handle one night without me champ?", he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I should be able to.", I answered.

"Good. Well I'm gonna head out. You get a good night's sleep because tomorrow we get to work. I mean seriously serious work. Talk to you later.", Brim said before snapping out of my sight.

I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye for the night, but that didn't matter since he would help me get with Sunset. That was now my next quest in life at that moment; to try and get with the girl I had a crush on for a while now. This time I had the guidance to help me make it to my goal. I hoped.

Collecting myself, I headed back to my apartment in the darkness of the night. I felt like I had been away from my apartment for a thousand years when I finally opened the door to my empty apartment. Shutting the door behind me, I felt the weight of my tiredness hit me as I felt heavy. Not wanting to waste any more time from rest, I quickly threw off my shirt and threw myself on the bed. I laid there on my back and took my glasses off and put it on the side along with my phone.

"Oh good grief. Finally a night alone. ", I said as I pulled the covers of my bed over me.

I shut off the lamp next to my bed as I played there on my side. I let my eyes close for a second before feeling myself drift asleep. It can't possibly get any crazier from here can it?

Author's Note:

Yes. Yes it can.