Chapter Text
Lucifer stared at his bedroom’s ceiling for what felt like hours on the end. He woke up that morning to an odd feeling, constantly tugging at the back of his mind, after giving it some thought, he pushed the slim arm circling his bare chest along with the muscular leg on top of his, so that he could raise himself up from his bed and start his day with a refreshing shower after an exhausting night to start his morning routine of taking a hot shower, brushing his teeth and finally dressing up to send anyone who might be still lying on his bed, if they haven’t left yet.
The absence of emotional connection with others wasn’t a new thing for him. After all, the only available beings he could connect with were mortals, whose biggest worry in their life time was discovering new ways to satisfy their unyielding desires. At least, he thought they were all that until he met Chloe, Linda, Ella, Trixie and dare he say even Detective Douche.
All they have done for him even after he did everything to show them that he wasn’t who they thought he was, they still stood by him and that’s more than he can say about those who did nothing when he needed it the most.
He stared at the considerably large pool of water under his feet and realized that he had been standing there dripping water on the black tiles of his elegant bathroom, naked while he had been thinking back to his life before hell with a small smile on his lips. As if on cue the scars on his shoulder blades awoke with a dull pain, reminding him why he didn’t think about those times anymore by invading his mind with the memories of how his family left him to suffer in the worst way possible.
He could still see the faces of his family as they forced the blame of all of humanity’s sins on him. He could still fell the same intensity of the rage aroused by the betrayal from the ‘gracious’, ‘all loving’ and ‘accepting’ beings he once called family.
They condemned him to a life where he was forced to spend his time in the same realm as the ones he hated the most, the liars, murderers, rapists. The sinners.
Lucifer knew that he specially created that place based on everything he stood against. Telling him that he was going to show him what he failed to see, just before he was kicked out.
Despite all this, what made him unable to face any of these memories without feeling the painful combination of guilt and rage was the fact that, there was someone who stood up for him, when all abandoned.
Who ended up getting punished just as bad as he was.
He snapped out of his dark thoughts with a shake of his head and continued with getting dressed up for the day.
Lucifer was fiddling with his cuffs while he waited for the elevator to make its way down to the garage until he noticed the time. It was hours before the time even the detective showed up to work, which was earlier than most of the officers in there.
After giving it some thought, he decided to go to the police station despite the early hour, after he drove around the city to help clear his mind.
Lucifer walked to his car with a slight frown on his face, hands in his pocket, his mind still bothered by the tugging feeling behind his head that kept telling him that something was utterly wrong.
He checked his wrist watch as he entered the police station, which was worth probably more than any of the people here will ever get to see in their life time, to see that it was still too early for the good detective to be here so he decided to look for something fun to tinker with while he waited for the detective- no, for another case in the laboratory.
As soon as he set foot in the place, he was thrown back by the force of something that suddenly crashed into him, nearly knocking all the air out of his lungs.
“Wha-umphh…”
“Hey! How are you doing? I am glad you are here, man was I getting lonely… Why are you so early here, anyways? Chloe isn’t here yet, if you are looking for her. Although, you should already know that since you have been working here for a while now…”Ella kept rambling with a genuine look of relief? Comfort? On her face caused by his presence in the room.
Strangely he felt suddenly warmer at the thought of that, huh… he could get used to this kind of warmth.
Ella however, was completely unaware of the shocked state Lucifer was in, so she kept asking questions, while she kept on hugging him with a firm grip.
After Lucifer recovered from the initial shock of the invasive gesture, he pushed her back gently from her shoulders in order to answer some of the questions he could comprehend, which seemed to be enough to shush Ella.
“No, I am not here for the detective and I am very much aware of her working hours.” He let his hands fall from her shoulders as he moved to straighten his jacket.
“I am only here because I want to focus on something to drown this vexing feeling at the back of my head.” He emphasized his words by pointing at his head.
“Woah… Dude are you ok? Just a bad hangover or could it be something serious?” She asked with a look of concern and a tilt of her head.
“I don’t think any human substance can give me a hangover like this one, even though it was for a brief moment, I know how that feels.” Lucifer says with a slightly offended voice.
“It’s just… this one is different and it somehow feels... familiar.” He said as his focus fell onto the floor, deep in thought even after he successfully gave an answer to why this feeling he woke up to, felt so odd to him..
“Hey, I’m sure it will get better. Sometimes I get frequent and annoying headaches but eventually they pass when I drink tons of water, or take my meds.” Ella said with a sunny smile on her face.
Lucifer gave her one of his looks which said “Right…you do you.” and turned the conversation into something casual (for him) which she surprisingly related with and tinkered with the stuff he could find lying around until Ella noticed and yelled for him to put it don’t because it was “important evidence” pffft.
After couple of hours, probably couple of hours, Lucifer made his way to the office breakroom to raid the vending machine for yet another snack break for his supernatural metabolism and maybe steal another one of Detective Douche’s puddings just for a little entertainment (they honestly tasted like a sweetened goo of protein powder, but the look on his face when he noticed yet another one of them were missing was priceless.).
That was when the Good Detective found him, skimming through the vending machine for what it felt like the hundredth time, entirely out of boredom.
“I see someone decided to show up early today, what happened? One of your bed buddies didn’t answer your booty call?” Chloe grinned while she reached for the coffeemaker.
“How dare you imply that?! I’ve made no “booty calls” nor will I ever make any, the booty simply calls me or to be more accurate, throws itself on me.” He puffed and straightened his jacket.
“Before you talk more about how ‘the booty calls you’, could you please answer the reason behind your early appearance, is everything ok?” she said with an adorable crinkle between her brows formed at the end of her sentence, as her eyes fell on his body, to make sure that he was physically alright.
Of course her scrutinizing eyes on him didn’t help Lucifer as he felt himself get somehow warmer under her searching gaze.
“Ugh… what is it with you humans, getting your panties in a twist every time I do something slightly differently? At this point you should have noticed that I am the most unpredictable being on earth.” Lucifer sighed with the roll of his eyes to help him look as nonchalant as he could.
Chloe put her hand around his arm to grab his attention back on her.
“Lucifer, I can see something is bothering you. You know that you can trust me right?”
He nodded
“Great, so you should also know that I will always be here for you, you are my… best friend. I want to be close to you.”
Lucifer was sure that despite him quickly covering the expression Chloe’s words have triggered with one of his famous smirks, his face briefly but precisely showed her, how deeply her confession shocked him.
“And you detective, know that my doors are always open for you, if it’s your desire to get closer to me. I am sure I can get close enough to please you.” He flashed his pearl white teeth to her with one of those smirks of him which had the power to get everyone in the room practically drooling with lust.
Not amused from the daily flirting Lucifer insisted on making, Chloe pushed him gently by the shoulder. Little did he know, it pained her to relive the same scenario for every time she tried to open up to him.
“Ok, if you don’t want to talk about it I won’t push you Lucifer, you can do as you please, I don’t even know why I even bother hoping that maybe, for once, you’d stop building walls around yourself for every time I try to get close to you.” She said with a frustrated tone.
Lucifer stared into her eyes with a guilty look, as if he was aware of what he was doing. Little did she know, it pained him to be forced to hide how deeply he cared for her. It felt as if he was lying to her.
Oh no…
He could see the desperate search of her eyes as she tried to see behind the expressionless mask he put on. It looked as if he was hurting her…
No!
He had to protect her, she had no control over her feeling, of what she truly desired and he would not let him ruin her life just like he did with Lucifer. She was too good for that…
Chloe’s ringtone broke the oddly comfortable silence, accompanied by a staring competition, between them. After briefly talking on the phone, Chloe flicked her fingers on Lucifer’s arm in order to signal him to follow her.
“C’mon we got a new case.” She said as she continued to walk towards the exit with Lucifer following suit.