Wednesday, DAY 11
Light streamed in from the slit window of Lucifer's room, falling directly on his face. He groaned and pulled the covers up over his eyes. One of these days, he was going to remember to move his furniture around so he wasn't greeted by a beam of heavenly light every morning. The shrill screech of his alarm finally registered in his brain, the tone filling his ears almost painfully. On the other hand, a beam of heavenly light accompanied by a choir of angels might be a more graceful way to wake up than this.
Grumbling to himself, he reached out, fumbling to find the off button on his alarm clock. He smacked the button and let his arm go limp, hanging off the edge of the bed. He continued lying there for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons of actually getting up.
Eventually, responsibility won out over lethargy and he flung his sheets off, swinging his legs out of bed. He rubbed the sand from his eyes and hauled himself up, padding out of his room and up the stairs in his t-shirt and boxer shorts. In the living room, the TV was already on and Uriel was sagged on the couch, still half asleep, watching the screen with a blank gaze. Lucifer heard cereal being poured in the kitchen and assumed it was either Raphael or Michael because like hell was Gabriel up at 6:30 on a Wednesday. Not bothering to prove if his assumption was correct, he crossed the hallway and continued up the main flight of stairs.
Anna's door was still closed so he knocked on his way by to make sure she was up. Her voice was muffled through the door but Lucifer caught "I'm up" so kept going until he got to Cas's room. The door creaked when it opened. There wasn't much in the old house that didn't creak anymore so everyone had learned to live with it but there was no question, the house was slowly falling into ruin.
"Cas? Hey, man, time to wake up." The little boy was curled into a tight little ball, cocooned in his covers with only the frizz of his hair visible. Lucifer sat down on the edge of the bed and unwrapped Castiel like a Christmas present. Cas's eyes blinked open when his hibernation was interrupted, his eyes bleary and his face groggy from sleep. Wordlessly, he held his arms out and Lucifer picked him up, shaking his head. "You know, you're going to get too big for this one day."
Cas draped himself over Lucifer's shoulders, arms hugging his neck loosely. "No I won't. When I go to college like Raph will you come carry me down for breakfast?" His voice was hoarse from just waking up but Lucifer could already detect a hint of Cas's normally spirited little babble.
Lucifer laughed. "I don't know, buddy, I'll have to think about it."
"Kay."
It turned out both Michael and Raphael were in the kitchen, and Lucifer automatically tensed upon walking in the room. They didn't acknowledge him at first; they were eating their breakfast and talking with each other. Lucifer set Cas down in one of the dining chairs and Cas cradled his head on the table.
He went to grab a bowl and some cereal to make Castiel's breakfast but Raphael stuck his foot out and Lucifer stumbled before catching himself on the counter. His two older brothers cackled as Lucifer stood back up, cursing himself for not expecting it. Better just ignore them, don't want this to escalate in front of Cas, he thought, getting a bowl out of the cupboard and pouring some Cheerios. There was just enough milk left for one last bowl of cereal but as he was about to tip it in, Michael came up behind him and snatched it out of his hands. Before Lucifer could say anything, Michael drained the last of it, tossing the carton into the garbage.
"That was for Cas, you dick," Lucifer said, trying to keep his voice level.
Michael put on a look of exaggerated shock. "Whoa, Luci-Goose. Watch the language in front of the children." He smiled and patted Lucifer on the shoulder before setting his dishes in the sink and going back to his room to get ready for work. Raphael left soon after, apparently unable to come up with any further insults without the aid of Michael.
With a sigh, Lucifer went over to Cas and laid his hand gently on the boy's back. Cas looked up at him.
"Hey, why don't you go brush your teeth and get dressed?"
"What about breakfast?" Castiel asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, the sleepiness rapidly leaving his body.
"We'll worry about it in a little bit, okay? Check on Anna when you're up there. Tell her to get her lazy butt out of bed."
Cas smiled and scurried upstairs, yelling at Anna to do exactly that.
Lucifer hurried downstairs and threw some clothes on, made sure his hair wasn't completely awful, and then went into the basement bathroom to brush his teeth. The downstairs bathroom was the most dilapidated room in the house. The tile was cracked and the wallpaper was missing in some places. The porcelain was faded and the whole room had an aged, yellow tinge. There was rarely a day that Lucifer went in there without having to kill some sort of insect. In fact, he and Gabe had a running tally and made it a contest. Currently Gabe was in the lead because he found a small nest of spiders in the corner behind the sink.
It was the kind of room, Lucifer thought, that was featured in horror movies. Creepy old houses where serial killers kept bodies in the bathtub and everyone screams at the protagonist not to go down there. Cas made it a point to never go in the basement at all; whenever he needed Lucifer, or on rare occasions Gabriel, he'd stand at the top of stairs and yell until someone acknowledged him.
That morning, Lucifer made it through his routine without being accosted by any bugs and dashed up the stairs to find Anna tying Castiel's shoes. She looked up at him and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Cas said he didn't eat breakfast this morning." She finished his shoes and tapped his feet, letting him know he could stand up.
Lucifer got his wallet out and handed Anna a few crumpled bills. "Yeah, we ran out of milk. Here, you guys pass a McDonalds on the way to school right? Why don't you drop in and grab something to go."
"Can I have a hamburger?" Cas asked, his eyes immediately lighting up. "For breakfast?!"
Anna laughed and looked to Lucifer for an answer, who shrugged. He ruffled Castiel's hair. "I guess if that's what you want. But don't think this is gonna become a regular thing. It's a special treat for one day. Don't be asking me for hamburgers for breakfast all the time, you hear me?"
Castiel nodded. He stuffed his arms into his jacket and slipped his backpack on, already on his way out the door. "When we get to Dean's house I'm gonna show him my Happy Meal and he's gonna be really jealous but I'm not even gonna share because it's my special treat except I might give him one fry because I don't want him to be mad at me…" He kept talking even after the door had shut behind him and no one could hear him.
Anna hurried to put on her own jacket and backpack, waving goodbye to Lucifer before trailing after Castiel. "See you at school, Lu," she called.
"Later." Lucifer went into the living room where it seemed Uriel hadn't moved from where he was when Lucifer first woke up. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"Shouldn't you go fuck yourself?"
"Wow. Very classy, Uriel. I'm inspired by your eloquent witticism." Uriel flipped him off and Lucifer left the room, deciding he wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Maybe a $5000 fine for truancy would be enough to get their father's attention, provoke him into interacting with his kids' lives for once. Speaking of which, it was Lucifer's turn to bring breakfast up to Father's room.
He went back into the kitchen and pulled a tray down from the top of the fridge. He stuck a few slices of bread in the toaster and some sausage links in the microwave and poured a cup of coffee while he was waiting. Breakfast of champions, he thought. He couldn't really find it in himself to feel that bad about it though, the fact that he was even making breakfast for his father should be a testament to his kindness. It was, after all, probably more than he deserved. Ever since their mother died, the Milton children's father had stopped caring. But for all his flaws, and all of theirs, they at least never stopped caring about him. It was the one thing that brought all seven of them together, even Cas doing his part when he was needed. His absence from the family's life was frustrating at the best of times but he was still their father and they all felt the responsibility to look after him in one way or another.
Lucifer stacked everything on the tray and carried it upstairs. He walked all the way down the hall to the master bedroom and opened the door. The curtains were drawn tight so the room was almost pitch black. The shaft of light that spilled in from the hallway illuminated a stripe of the room, including the bed where his father was still huddled in, his back to the door. His room was even sparser than Lucifer's; everything that was reminiscent of their mother was stuffed away in the attic because their father couldn't bear to look at it. Pretty much the only thing left was the bed and Lucifer was sure if his father didn't need it to sleep in, it would have been stored away too.
He set the tray of food down on the little nightstand next to the bed. "Morning, Dad," he quietly said. "Brought you some breakfast." There was no response. There never was.
Loki stared at his reflection with growing horror.
More specifically, he stared at the top of his head. At his hair. Because...because today was starting to look more and more appealing spent in bed. Under the covers. Where no one could see him.
Loki was having a bad hair day.
It didn't sound that horrible, but Loki's hair, when aggravated, tended to go into some sort of defensive maneuver where it went from wonderfully straight with just a bit of wave, to tightly knotted loops and random curls. Sections of his hair had also apparently decided to defy gravity as they were standing vertically. He had already tested his hair, and no, Thor had not put something in it to merit this sort of response. So this must just be the universe's way of telling him he was not allowed to be happy. Loki sighed and dragged his desk chair over to the mirror that hung above his dresser. He laid out the tools he would need and set to work.
There was a process to taming Loki's hair on a Bad Day, one he had long ago perfected. It took him almost half an hour to battle the knots out of his locks with a comb. He took as fast of a shower as he could, keeping an eye on the clock so he would make it to the bus stop on time. While wet, he combed his hair again with a fine-toothed comb. He patted most of the water out, then let it drip dry. Loki hurriedly threw on some clothes and put a package of Thor's beloved pop tarts in the toaster while his hair finished drying. He brushed it again when it was mostly dry, holding one pop tart in his mouth while he coerced the strands into their proper places. Now it looked fairly normal, and he felt confident in going to school. Loki grabbed his things and headed for the bus stop.
He took a step outside. And immediately regretted it.
Of course today would be windy.
His hair was a swirled mess by the time the bus arrived, pieces pointing every possible direction like a lost tourist in New York. He ignored the glances the other kids gave him-no one stared on the bus, it was some sort of unwritten rule-and sat in his seat, glad it was close to the front. He futilely pawed at the mess on his head, but knew that as soon as he got out it would be tangled again. Plus, now it was staticy from the plastic seat material. He sunk down in the bench-like seat. Today was going to suck.
Lucifer got to school a few minutes earlier than usual again, stationing himself by his locker and watching the double doors where the people who rode the bus came in.
"So we've progressed to locker lurking then, have we?" Lilith said, coming up to lean against the wall next to him, her phone in her hand.
"No, this is my locker so I'm entitled to stand in front of it whenever I want."
"Oh, please," she said, continuing to text.
"If I have to lecture you about how Loki and I are just friends every time, I'm going to have to start avoiding you in the mornings."
"And that, my friend, is why I'm decidedly unconvinced. I haven't mentioned Loki at all but you automatically assumed I was which tells me everything I need to know." She grinned and elbowed him.
He sighed. He really couldn't get anything past her. "I swear it's just platonic, Lil. And if you do anything to fuck this up I will personally make sure that you never—"
"Oh my god," she said, interrupting him. She flashed her phone at Lucifer but he didn't actually see anything. "He's going to get murdered one day and it's going to be all his fault."
"Who?" Lucifer asked, craning his neck to see who she was texting.
"Kili, obviously. Who else do you know that could be outwit by a hole in the ground?"
"Ah. How's Ireland then?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure how he got into the exchange program in the first place. Secondly, he's about to be kicked out of Ireland because he does shit like this." She handed Lucifer her phone where a picture message was pulled up. Kili looked to be in front of a restaurant, giving the camera a thumbs up. In the background was an incredibly short and incredibly pissed off looking man. Lucifer was confused until he read the message that Kili sent along with the picture. 'Look, Lili! I met a leprechaun!'
Lucifer burst out laughing and some passerby gave him some weird looks. "Wait, he calls you 'Lili?'"
"Shut up, he thinks it's funny because it rhymes with his name. But that's not the point, someone is going to stab him one of these days. He's going to get into a bar fight over something completely ridiculous and someone's going to shank him with a broken bo-" She cut off and looked over his shoulder and slapping a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Lucifer turned around and followed her eyes to figure out what was so funny.
Lucifer couldn't help but stare when Loki walked through the loading doors with, well, very creative hair styling.
Loki had a miserable expression on his face and he kept his head down as he went to his locker and turned the dial. Lucifer gave Lilith one last warning look before walking over to greet him, his mouth apparently electing to go for snarky.
"Did you befriend some squirrels this morning?"
"What?" Loki shot him a confused, annoyed glance, opening his locker and shoving books in with more force than needed. Lucifer leaned on the lockers next to him, Lilith texting on his other side.
"Your hair. It looks like a family of squirrels decided it would be a good home for the winter." Lucifer was grinning, but Loki glared, his hands coming up to covers his head protectively. Tufts of dark hair stuck up from between his fingers.
"That," Loki seethed, "is not funny, Lucifer."
Lilith scrunched her nose and looked up from her phone. "Actually, it kind of is. Although I probably would have leaned more toward dysfunctional lawnmower than squirrel family but that's just me. I'm Lilith by the way." She stuck out a hand for Loki to shake. "We've never properly been introduced."
Loki took her hand hesitantly. "Yes, I recognize you. You were at The Hub that one day."
"Yeah, I tend to show up here a lot too. But I usually fade into the background whenever you come along though." She smiled and flicked her gaze up to Lucifer whose eyes had gone wide. Loki looked like he didn't know what to say. "Anyway, we were talking about your hair?"
"...Um…" Loki brought his hands up to cover his head again.
"Oh, come on, let me see." Loki gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it can't be the worst bad hair day I've ever encountered." Loki slowly moved his hands back to his sides and Lilith appraised his locks. "Yeah, that's nothing. My friend Sarah once got a baby stuck in her hair. That was a mess. This is fixable."
She fished a brush and comb out of her purse, then stepped closer to him. "You're going to have to kneel, you're too tall."
Loki gave her a disbelieving look. "I will not kneel. This floor is disgusting."
"Get your head down here somehow or I'm leaving your hair like that."
Loki considered it, then slouched low against the lockers with his head tipped forward at a workable height for the girl. Lilith set to the task with the skill and speed of one well-versed in the art, and soon she proclaimed his hair done. Loki inspected her handiwork in the small mirror she handed him. He was impressed to find his hair looked relatively normal.
Loki decided he actually quite liked Lilith's company. She was quick-witted and sarcastic but he could tell that was just kind of her thing, she meant well underneath it all. A hand went to each of her shoulders and Loki gazed solemnly into her eyes. "Thank you, Lilith. You are a miracle worker and I owe you a debt."
Lilith laughed. "You're going to wish you hadn't said that, because I am going to hold you to it and I always collect on my debts."
Lucifer was biting his bottom lip, trying not to laugh. He got himself under control, but he still had a ridiculous smile on. "That was one of the most entertaining things I have seen all week."
"Well, it's only Wednesday," Lilith said, "I'm gonna head to class, I'll see you guys later." She waved and set off down the hallway, muttering "Kili, you little shit" under her breath as she continued texting furiously.
Lucifer rubbed the back of his head. "Uh...sorry about her. She can be a little...abrasive sometimes..."
Loki just laughed, finishing gathering all his things together and closing his locker. "It's okay. I suppose there's never a dull moment with her though."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Although sometimes I kinda wish for a dull moment. She has the tendency to get very involved..." Lucifer thought about how she always knew about everything before he had the chance to breathe a word of it. They started walking down the hall, and Loki looked concerned for a moment before wiping the expression off his face and replacing it with curiosity.
"So, are the two of you...?"
Lucifer was confused for a moment but the meaning of the question came to him in a sudden flash and for some reason he couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Me and Lil? Hell no. I mean, we kind of...experimented a few years ago but it was just weird. We didn't really work out like that but she's been my best friend ever since."
Loki smiled at the story and they stopped at the fork in the hallway. "So, I'll see you after school."
"Yeah, later," Lucifer said, clapping Loki's shoulder and hoping it was only his imagination that made it seem like his hand lingered there for longer than was necessary.
In a strange turn of events, Lucifer made it to detention before the teacher and Loki, so he sat alone in the room for a minute or two, staring at the clock. He felt no drive to get started on his homework, even though his books were in front of him and his pencil in hand. He found himself thinking back to that brief moment before class that morning. It was barely a second but it had been haunting him all day. He wasn't sure what made him reach out for Loki like that but he supposed that was just something friends did, right? Friends said goodbye to each other. It's just that he couldn't convince himself one way or the other whether or not the sociable gesture had segued into something a little...more.
He'd run through the exchange over and over in his mind but it altered slightly every time.
It started out the same. Lucifer puts his hand on Loki's shoulder. They smile at each other. In the next version, he squeezes gently. His hand sits a little higher next time. Then it slides up to cup the side of Loki's neck. Loki leans into the touch, his smile warm and wide. Lucifer's other hand comes up to rest on Loki's hip. They take a step closer. Lucifer's hand curls around Loki's hip more firmly. His nose brushes along Loki's jaw and the other boy shudders in pleasure.
"Lucifer..." Loki's voice is quiet and breathless. Lucifer ghosts his lips over the Norwegian's and Loki softly gasps.
Their lips meet in a gentle kiss, chaste, mouths closed. It quickly gets heated though, culminating in a hot make-out session. Lucifer pushes Loki against the wall with their mouths still connected. Loki's hands are in his hair and gripping his shirt as their bodies rub together deliciously.
Lucifer imagined he breaks away from the kiss and rests his forehead against Loki's. He whispers his name, "Loki."
"Yeah?"
The voice that answered was not the soft dreamy voice of the figure in his head and Lucifer was snapped out of his daydreams. He jumped when he realized Loki was sitting next to him, already halfway done with a calculus assignment. Loki had stopped to look at him with an amused expression.
"Loki! When, uh, when did you get here?!" Lucifer shuffled his homework around on his desk, trying to make it look like he had been doing anything other than imagining himself and the boy beside him kissing.
Loki turned back to his work, his pencil making a slight squeak as the lead dragged across the paper. "About 10 minutes ago. I tried to talk to you but you just made a sort of gurgly noise so I left you alone. You looked like you were enjoying yourself anyway." Loki glanced back up. "Wipe your cheek, you have pencil marks on your face." Lucifer scrubbed at the wrong side of his face. He hadn't even noticed his pencil was in his hand when he leaned into it. "No, you completely missed it. Oh here, let me."
He reached over the aisle space and swiped his thumb along Lucifer's jaw, the tip of the digit brushing Lucifer's bottom lip. Lucier felt his mouth go instantly dry and most of his blood rush to his cheeks and his penis, leaving very little for his brain. He swallowed, his eyes trapped in Loki's gaze. The older boy wanted to hold that hand to his face. He wanted to touch that thumb, kiss the sensitive pad, pull it into his mouth and suck on it. Lucifer wanted to do naughty, wonderful things to that thumb, and his face heated up with the thought of them.
The contact only lasted a few seconds. Lucifer was sure he was hallucinating when he felt the tip purposely brush the point of his chin as it retracted.
He coughed to cover up his embarrassment, wiping the back of his hand over his face to erase any more smudges and the slight amount of drool that had collected in the corner of his mouth. "Uh, thanks. Sorry about the…zoning out…"
Loki smiled, wiping his hand on his pants, and sat back in his seat. "It's okay. I just hope however you were picturing me was flattering."
Lucifer froze and his eyes went wide; he held his breath and looked straight ahead. He heard Loki snickering beside him, obviously pleased with himself. Lucifer hazarded a glance in his direction. Loki gave him a knowing, amused look.
"That wasn't—it's not…I wasn't…"
"Right, I know, I just assumed when you said my name it had something to do with me." Loki's grin stretched across his face, his teeth incredibly white.
Lucifer held his gaze, knowing that if he looked away it would only make him appear more guilty. "Well, I didn't actually say Loki…"
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I said….low-key, like mellow…I was uh, meditating…"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize." Loki turned back to his homework but he was still smiling. Lucifer resisted the urge to sink into his hoodie like a turtle and just stay there for the rest of his life, or at least until the embarrassment subsided. Which probably wouldn't be much sooner.
Coach Rogers spoke up from his desk where he was sketching idly on a scratch piece of paper. "Look, I'm glad you boys are getting along, but I'm technically supposed to keep you quiet so I'm gonna have to ask you to cut the chit chat."
"Sorry, sir," Loki answered, shooting Lucifer one more side-long glance before burying himself in his work. Lucifer twirled his pencil in his hand, once again unable to focus on the words in front of him. Thankfully, however, he managed to get through the rest of detention without slipping into another blissful coma.
When Coach Rogers dismissed them, he and Loki gathered up their things and walked out to the back together.
"So, am I still invited to The Hub or was that…?"
"Yeah, sure, if you want. I'm glad for the company actually; I can only be around Owen for so long before I want to bash my head in. Or his." Lucifer dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his car.
Loki propped his elbows on the roof, fixing Lucifer with another mischievous stare. "As I recall, you seem to be pretty good at entertaining yourself."
Lucifer's mouth twitched and he bit back a flurry of curse words. "I told you. I was meditating."
"Oh, that's right. I remember now." Loki disappeared from view as he got into the car and Lucifer dropped his forehead onto the car roof, letting the curses flow.
Regaining his composure, he slipped into the driver's seat and turned the car on. Loki didn't make any more cheeky comments on the drive over, which Lucifer was glad for. He didn't think he could handle any more of that without dissolving into a puddle of shame.
At The Hub, the line of customers was steady so Lucifer didn't get much of a chance to talk with Loki, although he did take his order and serve him his chocolate chip cookie and a cup of Myfanwy's Dark Chocolate Latte. He spared the theatrics today, knowing that if anything of yesterday's caliber happened again on top of what happened in detention earlier, he would most definitely cease being able to function.
Business proceeded as usual until a slight, blonde man walked through the front door carrying a laptop case and looking around sheepishly.
"Billy!"
Jack's voice carried across the restaurant and Lucifer looked up from his register. He saw the man wave at Jack and go to settle himself at a nearby table. Jack got up from his seat and caught him in hug which Billy returned awkwardly but with a smile.
"We've missed you, buddy! The wifi's been acting up lately and we didn't have our resident techie around."
Billy scoffed. "Well, glad I'm useful for something."
Jack laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, Billy stumbling a little under the force of it. "Nah, I'm kidding, we really did miss you. But actually I'm not kidding about the wifi, do you think you cou—"
"Welcome back, Billy," Ianto called from behind the counter, interrupting Jack. "How was the conference?"
Billy sighed and plopped down in his chair as Jack returned to his. "Ugh, it was so tedious. And the hotel they had us staying in was horrible. I got stuck rooming with this guy who couldn't stop sweating. I felt like I needed a shower every time I talked him."
"Doesn't your brother live in Seattle? Why didn't you stay with him?" Jack asked, sipping his coffee.
Billy gave him a scathing look, "Are you kidding? Spend that much time with my arch nemesis? Hell no! We would kill each other within the first day!"
"Oh come on, Billy," Lucifer interjected while fixing an espresso. "He can't be that bad."
"He's a menace is what he is." Billy got up from his table and went behind the bar to where a small white block of technology that controlled the invisible internet of the Hub sat on a shelf. He took it down and inspected the wifi modem, messing with the multitude of wires coming off it as he talked. "He's mister goody-two-shoes and 'everyone is a hero in their own way, Billy, you just haven't found your way yet' and I want to either shoot him in the face or stab myself in the leg with a spork." The little green light on the front of the modem blinked steadily and he put it back on the shelf. "There. Shouldn't give you any more trouble. If you do," Billy shook his finger at the modem, "we shall have WORDS."
Loki raised an eyebrow from where he was sitting, but didn't say anything about the blonde threatening the modem, as it seemed to be working. Besides, it appeared the technology was part of the staff; Loki had seen "CHAD" sharpied on the side when Billy had brought it down. At least he now knew who Jack yelled at when he would randomly shout, "Chad, quit being a drama queen and load the damn page!"
Billy and the rest of The Hub gang fell into easy conversation and Loki was left feeling out of the loop. When Lucifer took a break from the register and made his rounds cleaning tables, Loki asked about the newcomer. Lucifer looked confused but then remembered Loki hadn't started coming here until a week ago.
"Oh, that's Billy. He's kind of our resident tech doctor. He just hangs around here all the time so he's basically part of the family." Lucifer smiled as he swabbed Loki's table. "He says it's because he's got nothing else to do but we all know it's because he's got a huge crush on this girl that comes here sometimes."
"Where has he been since I've come here?"
"He was at some conference thing in Seattle. Something to do with computers and shit. Go talk to him about it, he's a nice guy, you'll like him."
"Um, alright...I guess," Loki said, looking back and forth from Lucifer to Billy before picking up his stuff and migrating tables. Billy looked up as Loki approached, the two introduced themselves, and Billy offered Loki a chair.
Nothing else terribly exciting happened after that and Loki saw his brother's truck pull up in front of the Hub. He waited until Lucifer didn't have any more customers, then waved goodbye to him. Lucifer waved back and Loki slipped out the glass doors. Lucifer watched him climb into the truck and it drove away.
It was getting close to two in the morning and Lucifer couldn't sleep. It wasn't a surprise that thoughts of Loki were plaguing him again but the...incident earlier wouldn't leave him alone. He stared up at the ceiling and listened to the pipes creaking in the wall.
Another war raged inside his head, the constant battle between one side convincing himself that yeah, he liked Loki, get over it and the other always trying to persuade him that, no, there's too many things working against him, there's no way in hell this could ever work. He rolled over on his side, pulling the sheets up to his chin. Of course, nothing in his life was ever easy. He was fooling himself if he thought this was just going to be a one-and-done decision. No, his mind was going to drag this out as long as possible until he went insane.
Finally, he pulled out his phone and punched in Lilith's number, forgetting for a moment it was the middle of the night and then realizing he didn't care. He'd listened to enough of her attitude and sass to warrant one late night call. When she picked up, her voice was slightly hoarse and heavy with sleep.
"What?"
"Did I wake you up?" There was a long pause on the other end of the line and Lucifer could practically feel the sarcasm building.
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Sorry, I just..I can't sleep and-"
"And I'm the only one that puts up with you. Well, go on. Tell me."
"Okay, well... Actually, I don't really-"
"I swear to god if you woke me up at two in the morning to chicken out and not tell me anything there will be hell to pay."
Lucifer buried his face in a pillow for a second, trying to collect himself. This was a bad idea; he could feel it. "It's about Loki-"
"Yeah, I assumed, let's get to the good stuff."
"Will you let me finish one goddamn sentence? Seriously, it's no wonder I never tell you anything, you never let me."
"That and you usually don't have to say anything for me to figure it out anyway."
Lucifer rubbed a hand over his face and huffed an aggravated sigh. "Can I talk now?"
"Yes."
"So, after you left this morning, we talked for a minute and then we were saying goodbye and I just kinda...patted him on the shoulder."
"How scandalous."
"Lilith."
"Sorry."
"Anyway, after school I got to detention early and I sat there and my mind started to wander." Lucifer paused but Lilith didn't interrupt. "If you even think about telling anyone what I'm about to say, just remember that I know where you live and no one will ever find the body."
"Alright, alright, I get it, my lips are sealed."
"Like I was saying, I let my mind wander and it kind of took that shoulder pat and...elaborated on it..." He could hear her start to giggle and then stifle it.
"Are you saying you basically..."
"Yes."
"Don't tell me he walked in on you! And by that I mean please tell me, I'm dying over here."
Lucifer pulled his blanket over his face as if that would keep the humiliation from escaping. "I said his name out loud and he heard me."
Lilith didn't even bother keeping her laughter covered this time. Lucifer held the phone away from his ear as she laughed, pulling the blanket tighter and wishing he could disappear. Just sink down into the mattress and stay there.
She got a hold of herself enough to ask: "What did he say?"
"He just said he hoped I was picturing him in a flattering sense."
Lilith cackled again. "I think I could get along with this kid. How did you respond to that?"
"I denied it, obviously."
"And did he buy it?"
Lucifer scoffed. "Of course he didn't fucking buy it. He's not an idiot."
"Alright, so you were embarrassed, big deal. What's keeping you up to the wee hours of the morning?"
He pulled the sheets down and sighed. "He…laughed at me, Lil. You've been saying all this time that everyone's been pushing me toward him. But what about from his side? He laughed at me like I was some kid with their first crush. I mean, have we even considered the fact that he might not…bat for my team?"
Lilith was quiet again. When she spoke, her voice was softer. "Oh, Luci. You must honestly be the most oblivious person on the planet. If you stopped beating yourself up for ten seconds and bothered to really look at the world, I think you'd be surprised at what you were missing. I've met this guy, what, like twice? And I can already tell he likes you. He's trying so hard to be your friend and he knows you're a little hesitant. If you're not comfortable with yourself enough to let it go farther than friendship, then fine. He's willing to give you time to work it out. So, stop being such a wuss. You need to man up and stop getting hung up on all these stupid doubts. Got it?"
Lucifer closed his eyes and felt some of the tension release from his shoulders. What a surprise, he thought, she's right again. "Yeah, thanks, Lil."
"Good. Now I'm going back to sleep and I would recommend the same to you." She hung up without a goodbye but Lucifer smiled and tossed the phone onto the nightstand. He flopped on his back and smoothed the covers down, taking a deep breath and letting sleep overtake him.
AN: Wow, I just realized we haven't disclaimed this story yet. WHOOPS. Anyway, neither of us owns any of these characters, nor are we making any monetary gain from this story. All we gain are feelings of the intense variety and tear stains on our pillows.
Wow, this chapter has first appearances of quite a few characters. Also, all of the Milton family is, at the very least, mentioned! Whoo! It is really a crowded chapter!
Thank you for your support, I love reading your comments! Please, let us know what you liked, didn't like, if we messed up anywhere; feedback is wonderful!
PS. The Captain thought of a more appropriate reference to make in the Kili part, so that is what has been updated. Carry on.