Chloe had entered Sid's Gym with Lucifer following behind her. She noticed immediately that the majority of activity was happening further in the back and so headed straight there. Chloe entered the locker room knowing without looking that Lucifer would be following behind her.
That's why Chloe found herself surprised when she heard Dan calling out to her partner in confusion.
Chloe spun around, ignoring the victim for now, to look back the way she'd come. Following Dan back into the main area, Chloe's eyes were immediately drawn to her partner.
Lucifer was standing before the boxing ring to the right of the room. His head was tilted upwards as he spoke what she could only assume was a greeting to the man currently standing inside the ring. Chloe took in the stranger. He had round hazel eyes, skin that was enviously sun kissed and bronze curly hair that fell in an artful disarray around his face. Somehow, despite the fact their colouring could not be more different, Chloe couldn't help but notice a similarity between the stranger and Lucifer.
"What's he doing?" Dan muttered. It was then Chloe realised the stranger was holding the ropes open. And more importantly, her partner was currently climbing up into the ring.
Chloe needed no further encouragement to hurry over. She couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as she did so. The sight of Lucifer removing his jacket and cufflinks did nothing but deepen the pit of exasperation Chloe could feel gathering in her chest. She was nearly ringside when Lucifer started rolling up his sleeves.
From this distance Chloe could finally hear the words the two men exchanged.
"For the last thousand years?" Lucifer was asking with his left eyebrow elegantly arched upward.
The stranger shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I learned how to hold a grudge from you."
Lucifer had only just finished rolling up his sleeves when the stranger – who Chloe was coming to think was probably not in fact a stranger to Lucifer – surged forward. The unknown man brought his right arm back to throw a powerful punch toward Lucifer.
One which Lucifer gracefully leant away from, dodging the hit.
Chloe forgot how to breathe as she watched Lucifer dance away from another hit before moving further back from the unknown man. It was only once there was a fair distance between the two that Chloe forced her lungs to suck in some much needed oxygen.
She was just making to stop this whole thing when Lucifer spoke again. His words stopped Chloe dead.
"Holding grudges was never your forte, little brother."
Chloe's thought process screeched to a halt.
"What?" Dan murmured lowly beside her, bringing voice to the disbelief running coldly through Chloe's veins.
Lucifer had a little brother?
Chloe had always got the impression that Lucifer was the youngest child. Granted, that was mostly from the manner in which he acted. He had no idea whatsoever how to go about interacting with Trixie which spoke of an unfamiliarity with younger children. He was also known to act self-centred and self-important, all characteristics Chloe would associate more with either the eldest or youngest child of a family. Never the middle child as Lucifer apparently was.
Chloe was so absorbed in her spinning thoughts that she missed the first kick Lucifer's little brother sent toward him. She was brought back to what was happening in front of her as the younger brother spoke.
"That was before." He said in a snarl before he lashed out. The kick connected sharply with Lucifer's chest and sent Lucifer reeling backwards.
"Lucifer!" Chloe shouted out, concern for her partner forcing the cry from her lips. She couldn't help but notice the taken aback expression on Lucifer's wide eyed face before his little brother pinned him against the ropes. The younger of the two was sending a flurry of punches toward Lucifer. The first of which Lucifer managed to dodge before he was, inevitably, hit.
Chloe made to move forward but was stopped by Dan's hand on her shoulder.
"What-?" Chloe failed to voice the rest of her question as Dan grimly shook his head.
"Leave them." Dan told her solemnly. Chloe gaped at him in disbelief.
"You can't be serious?" Chloe blustered. Whether Dan was serious or not, Chloe would never know, for at that moment Lucifer let out snarl. Chloe whipped her head back in time to see Lucifer's brother's head whip backwards right before Lucifer landed a solid kick to his chest that sent the younger flying back to crash into the ropes closest to Chloe and Dan.
Despite herself, Chloe couldn't help but wince in sympathy. She knew just how hard Lucifer could hit.
Lucifer straightened up but he did not advance on his brother like Chloe expected him to. Instead he stood gazing at the other man with a peculiar expression on his face.
"You're truly so angry at me, brother?" Lucifer asked, and Chloe could hear his bafflement. She winced as he spat a wad of blood from his mouth. Lucifer's lips were smeared with blood, his face bright red in places while in a few spots, like on his jaw, the beginnings of a bruise darkened his skin. "After all this time?" Lucifer asked. His head tilted to the side slightly in the way Chloe knew it did when he didn't understand something.
"Of course I bloody well am!" The younger yelled.
Chloe let out a sharp exhale of breath as Lucifer was tackled around the middle. Her partner was sent down to the mat even as his younger brother knelt above raining punches down on Lucifer.
There was an urgency ringing in Chloe's blood that told her to interfere. It shouted at her to break this up. To get in there and bloody well help her partner. But there was another part of her that was beginning to blossom with an inkling of understanding – that was beginning to see the same thing she suspected Dan had first seen.
This wasn't just two men fighting for the sake of fighting. This was two brother's letting out God knew how many years of built up pain. Chloe could almost believe that it was cathartic for the two men.
Even as she thought it, she began to realise that Lucifer himself would not appreciate her interference. He had always maintained a distance between his family drama and his work/ friendship with her. If nothing else, Chloe would try to respect that.
Besides, she could always change her mind later and put a stop to this whole thing if it began to go too far.
"Enough!" Lucifer suddenly shouted. Chloe couldn't clearly see what he did given that it happened so quickly. But from what she did see, Lucifer had somehow flipped his brother off of him, sending the younger man flying to land further away on the mat.
Both of the brother's pulled themselves to their feet. Even from where she stood Chloe could see the intense eye contact the two continued as they began circling one another.
When Lucifer turned enough that his face was in view of Chloe, she felt herself wince. One of his eyes was quite clearly developing into what would no doubt be a spectacular shiner and his jaw was beginning to darken considerably. There was also a cut splitting open the bridge of his nose that sent bright blood running down his face. In comparison, Lucifer's little brother held only a darkening bruise on his jaw with some redness around the area.
"You left!" The younger of the two suddenly spat.
The accusation seemed to amuse Lucifer as he threw his head back and let out a dark chuckle. The sound of it had the skin on the back of Chloe's neck standing on edge. It tapered off even as Lucifer gave a wince, his hand making a worrying aborted movement toward his ribs.
"Hardly by choice." Lucifer bit out in a hard voice that Chloe had never heard from him.
"You left me!" The younger man threw back. And the pain behind the shouted words was breathtaking. For the first time ever, Chloe realised the trauma Lucifer had endured at the hands of his family might not have been entirely as one-sided as she believed.
"Do not imply I left by choice!" Lucifer bit out sharply. He stalked toward his brother. Every move of his body a subtle warning of coming violence. Lucifer feinted to the left but brought his right fist up in a move so quick it blurred in front of Chloe. His brother staggered from the blow but Lucifer did not let up. In fact he moved closer and threw another heavy punch. "I was cast out!" Lucifer shouted.
Chloe had to close her eyes in the face of the pain she could hear in her partner's voice.
She looked back in time to see the younger of the two do a spectacular spin manoeuvre that not only allowed him to escape his pinned position but also gave him the opportunity to drive his elbow into Lucifer's unprotected back.
Lucifer let out a snarl as he made to spin around but his brother was quicker. The younger of the two crouched low to do a sweep that sent Lucifer to the mat. Hard.
Lucifer was once again pinned to the mat with his brother knelt over him. This time his brother held him there with his forearm pressed to Lucifer's throat.
Chloe had to strain to hear what was next said. She thought she might not have been able to hear at all if it weren't for the deafening silence that had fallen over the entire gym. The only sound to break the silence was the panting of the two brothers.
"You left me!" Lucifer's brother hissed. "YOU LEFT ME!" The shouted words made Chloe – and quite a few others she'd wager – jump.
A terrible gurgled noise escape Lucifer as his brother assumedly pressed down further.
Chloe was just gearing herself up to get in between them and call this fight over, when Lucifer's hand came up to clasp his brother's neck. But instead of throwing the other off as Chloe half expected him to, Lucifer merely left his hand there.
"Lucifer." The younger man's voice broke horribly over the name before he flung himself away from his brother. He got to his feet and turned away, his hands clenched at his side and his head cast low. Meanwhile, Lucifer struggled to stand, resorting to using the ropes behind him to pull himself unsteadily to his feet.
Again, Chloe felt the urge to go to her partner's aid. Once again she was stopped. This time by the intensity of Lucifer's gaze as he looked at his brother, eyes never moving from the other.
"Gabe." Lucifer croaked horrifically, even as he took an unsteady step toward his brother.
Chloe didn't know which of the two moved first. What she did know was that Lucifer's younger brother fell quite suddenly into Lucifer's arms. She watched in shock as Lucifer held his brother tightly, his hand – boasting bruised and bleeding knuckles – was running comfortingly through his brother's hair.
In the silence of the gym, the small sounds of distress escaping the younger of the two were awfully loud.
Lucifer's head lowered until he was resting his chin against his, slightly shorter, brother's head. "I'm sorry." Lucifer breathed. The words sounded sincere even if Chloe could see they cost Lucifer something to utter them.
It was only at that moment that Chloe realised that the entirety of the personnel in the gym were currently staring at what could only be described as a private moment between the brothers.
Determined she now knew how to help, Chloe clapped her hands once sharply. All eyes turned to her – including Lucifer's which she could feel branding in to her, but excluding those of his younger brother.
"Alright people. Show's over. We've got work to do." Chloe ordered briskly. She stared them all down until every last person had turned away to return to whatever task that awaited them. Only then did Chloe allow her own eyes to sweep back toward the two in the ring.
Lucifer met her eyes and offered her a weak – but genuine – half smile. He nodded once to her before he turned his attention back to his brother. Chloe watched just long enough to see Lucifer pull away, his arm going around his brother's shoulder while the other man stayed tucked against Lucifer's side as Lucifer led them out of the ring and toward the door.
Chloe turned back to the scene at hand.
She knew rumours and gossip of what just happened would be circulating for weeks yet. But she also knew there was precisely nothing she could do to stop that. Instead, Chloe would focus on her work and hopefully encourage the others to do so as well, by example.
And if the only reason she was able to accomplish this task was with the motivation that the sooner it was complete the sooner she could go to check on her partner – well, that was no one's business but her own.
