Chapter Text
Dan felt more rested than he had since the week began. His migraine was gone and his limbs felt lighter than ever. He laid back in bed, just enjoying the feeling. He had the weekend off and Chloe had Trixie this weekend, so he did not need to get out of bed anytime soon.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to notice the sweet smelling aroma of breakfast permeating the air. Once he did, he bolts out of his bed faster than he thought he could. He got dressed quickly, before checking to confirm the presence of his firearm.
No one was supposed to be in his apartment. He did not bring anyone back with him. Trixie knew better than to touch the stove, after the incident with the melted pan. He spared an amused thought that his bugler was making themselves breakfast after stealing from him, but quickly dismissed it.
Despite the lack of threat he felt at the unknown presence in his apartment, Dan still had his gun aimed when he emerged from his bedroom.
He was both shocked and pleasantly surprised to see Lucifer at the stove, dressed only in a pair of sweatpants too short for him. The bond mark where his neck meets his shoulder is clear, contrasting against the pale skin.
"You're up," Lucifer greets cheerfully. He looked so happy to see Dan, the sight freaked him out a bit. He is very sure that Lucifer had never been happy to see him since the first time they met. "Sleep well?"
Dan felt like he had tripped into another dimension. Lucifer looked relaxed and at home. Even more relaxed than he had been during brunch at the penthouse. "Lucifer?"
He got a questioning brow for his trouble. "Daniel."
"What are you doing here so early?"
He smirked, but there was something in the expression that Dan couldn't quite name. "Was your brain really that sleep addled that you do not remember the previous night?"
"Last night? Are you saying you spent the night here?"
"You looked cognizant enough last night. Were you talking in your sleep?"
"I thought I was hallucinating." Oh, God. Hope he didn't do or say something he might regret. "That was all real?"
Lucifer's face shut down. "That depends, what do you remember?"
Did something happen? Dan touched his own neck, to make sure he hadn't missed being marked or permanently bonded. There was none. He did not feel like he had sex, and he doubts Lucifer would do something like that.
"Umm," Dan wracked his brain to try to recall the details of the previous night. "We talked, I think. Something about the bond and your life?"
"I see. I suppose that would be correct." Lucifer pulled out a seat at the kitchen island for him. "Hope you like omelette, there wasn't much in your cupboards."
Dan feels like he's missing something, but the promise of breakfast was too good to pass up.
"So, what did you uncover while you were away?" Dan asked halfway through the meal, when the silence became oppressive.
Lucifer shrugged. "I tried to ask my sister, whose specialty is plants and herbs but she responded, only to inform me that she does not answer to me. Not even informing her that her actions put the life of a mortal in danger made a difference."
Dan thought about his words, as well as Ella's theory. "Are you really the devil?"
Lucifer fixed him with a blank look. "Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Because you're you? Isn't the devil supposed to be the prince of evil and all of that? Don't get me wrong, you have your faults but I'd never go as far as to say that you deserve to be in the same category as literal Satan. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm more evil than you are."
Lucifer's smile is more real this time, if a little small. "That's quite flattering, Daniel. Your faith in me warms my heart."
Dan scowled, but he couldn't stop the blush that stained his cheek. Damn Ella and her crazy fanfiction theories.
"As for my history, you need to understand that human language is limited in its translation, combined with your collective need to overcomplicate and over simplify everything, the truth of the event that led to my fall has been over edited through the millennia of human storytelling. I did have a falling out with my father, that resulted in me being cast down, but that is between him and I. It had nothing to do with humans. You all just like having someone to blame for your avarice and cruelty."
Dan can't argue with that. The devil has been a convenient scapegoat for any and all crimes humans committed. Hell, how many people used God as a shield for the awful things they did? How many times did humans hurt other humans and claim it was in service of God? Having a divine being to offload responsibilities for their awful actions on, is a major staple of being a human.
Still.
"Look man, I hear what you're saying, but I still find it hard to believe. Ella thinks you're who you say you are, because the bond is acting differently than a normal one would, but I just can't wrap my mind around it, you know?"
"I could prove it to you, if you think you could handle it."
Dan snorted. "How do you prove something like that? Do you have an ID card that identifies you as the devil?"
"That would be convenient, wouldn't it?" Lucifer laughs. "I could look into that, but I was referring to letting you see my devil face. Or my wings. It's up to you."
Dan perks up. "You mean your angel wings?"
"Mmm hmm. Though I've observed few humans can handle coming face to face with it."
Dan rolled his eyes. Now he's just being condescending. "How many humans have you shown?"
"Over the course of my existence or just recently, in the last decade?"
Something about the question piqued Dan's curiosity. He wants to ask who all knows. Does Chloe know? Seemed like something she would, considering how close they are, but he did not. He wasn't jealous. Ella's crazy theory be damned. He was simply unsure he wanted confirmation that Chloe had known all along.
"I'd like to see both," he paused, then added. "the face first, since the implication is that the wings look better."
Lucifer shrugged and stood up. Dan copied the movement, moving around the island until he stood next to Lucifer.
For some reason, Dan had expected the transformation to be slow. It was anything but. If Dan hadn't been informed what was going to happen, he may have dismissed the sight as another hallucination, or an acid trip. One moment, Lucifer looked normal. The next, his face was different. Kind of grotesque looking, with red eyes and horns. It looked unreal. The stuff of a bad fantasy television drama.
He wasn't sure how he should feel. Scared? Maybe if the sight ambushed him with no warning, he would be running in the other direction, or knowing him, most likely pulling out his firearm. Would a lead bullet hurt the devil, or is there a specially created divine object meant for that?
Lucifer stood still, unmoving, as he waited for Daan to react. He looked calm, and any other day, Dan would say confident, but he could feel Lucifer's fear and nervousness, as he watched Dan.
He had no idea why Lucifer was scared. What did he think Dan would do? Pull out the Holy water and cast him out. Would that even work? Dan wasn't sure but the emotion felt so wrong. All he wanted in that moment was to fix it.
He reached out, cradling Lucifer's face in the palm of his hand. The temperature is warmer than usual, almost burning hurt.
He traces the features with both his hand, relishing in the way Lucifer's eyes slip shut as he leaned into the touch.
Dan couldn't explain what happened next. Maybe it was the sight of Lucifer enjoying his touch, or maybe it was just his impulses at work.
But he pulled Lucifer's face forward, even as he reached up to brush their lips together.
Lucifer answered immediately, slotting their lips together in a gentle kiss.
The kiss was almost shy, unlike anything Dan had come to expect from alphas. It felt like Lucifer was yielding control of the kiss to Dan, even as his arms wrapped around Dan, pulling him flush against his bare chest.
It could have lasted a minute or an hour, Dan couldn't say, but he stayed in Lucifer's arms, teeth teasing each other and his heart threatening to beat out of his chest.
It was the beeping of his phone that pulled him out of his haze. He jerked back, eyes wide in shock and embarrassment as it dawned on him what he had been up to and with who.
He didn't stop to hear what Lucifer had to say, as he grabbed his phone, no even checking to see why it was beeping. Only calling out an obviously fake excuse as he fled his own apartment, leaving a confused Lucifer behind.
It took until the cab dropped him off at Ella's apartment complex for him to realize he left his wallet behind. Thankfully, Ella was home and did not mind lending him the money to pay the cab.
"This is all you fault!" He accused her, pacing her living room.
Ella looked like she wished she had remembered to grab a bowl of popcorn.
"How is it my fault?"
"You're the one who said to keep an open mind and was saying all that," he said, his arms flailing.
"Dan, I said keep an open mind that he may be the devil, not stick your tongue down his throat." She laughed and wiggled her brows. "How was it?"
"Very nice," He told her. "And you were right."
"Wait, really?"
"Ella, focus. I'm having a crisis."
God, Dan can't believe he said the words. He was almost forty. He was married and has a kid. He's not a teenager, for goodness sake. What the fuck was happening to him?
Thankfully, Ella only snorted. "Okay, tell me what really happened between you two."
Dan did. He told her everything from the night before, when he thought he'd hallucinated Lucifer.
By the time he was done, he was sprawled on Ella's couch, with a mug of coffee in his hand, while Ella occupied the love seat opposite him, with her own coffee mug.
It felt good to have someone to talk to about everything.
"That's-- wow." Ella exclaimed. "Sounds like you and Lucifer have a lot to talk about."
"Not really?" He disagreed. "It's just the bond complicating everything. Once we figure it out, everything will go back to how it used to be."
He got a skeptical brow for his trouble. "Is that what you really want? Dan, the bond doesn't make you feel new things. Otherwise, bonding would be a very messy affair."
"No one has ever been bonded to the devil though. How would you know." Dan sighs, frustrated. "All of your talks about unresolved sexual tension just got to my head. I never should have listened to you!" he accused her.
"Are you saying you've never thought about what it would be like to be with him?" When he opened his mouth to answer, she stopped him with a raised hand. "Don't tell me. You don't answer to me, but you should think about it and decide what you really want."
Dan does not know what he wanted. He knew he did not want to be subservient to any alpha, or another notch on Lucifer's bedpost.
"Does it even matter?" he asked. "What about Chloe?"
"All the more reason why you two need to talk."
He does not return to his apartment that day. Or that weekend. Ella was gracious enough to endure his company and he spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with her, trying to get the kiss out of his head.
He was only mildly successful.
He did enjoy spending time with Ella. They've never spent so much time outside work, which is a shame if you asked Dan.
"This is cool." Dan told her on Sunday evening, after braiding her hair in an updo style. It's a pattern he learned so he could surprise Trixie. "We should get together more often?"
"Sure, whenever you need a place to hide from Lucifer." Ella shrugged.
"You're killing me here." Dan groaned. Ella laughed.
After two days of hiding, he returned back to his house. Lucifer is nowhere to be found. The kitchen had been cleaned and the extra food stored in the fridge.
Dan wondered how long Lucifer waited for him to return. Guilt eats at him. He wanted to call Lucifer. But what would he say? He could apologise for the kiss, for running away. That was only part of the issue.
His thoughts are jumbled. He wasn't sure what he should do and he's got a splitting headache.
Dan decides to put it off, till tomorrow when he's better rested and has his shit together.
Lucifer does not show up at the precinct on Monday. Dan half expected it but he was still surprised and more than a little bit disappointed, but he could hardly focus on the devil's absence when he felt so irritable. He hardly slept the night before and his migraine defied medication. Ella may have been up to something when she said he was going through a withdrawal
Throughout the week, he got knowing looks from Ella about the talk he kept putting off, as well as concerned looks from Chloe. For some reason, he was even more reluctant to talk to her about it.
How awkward would it be to tell her he kissed Lucifer? Was she aware the alpha was who he said he was? Would she hate him for making moves on Lucifer? He had hated it when he thought she was moving on with the alpha, and now it looked like he was even more of a hypocrite.
Not that he was moving on with Lucifer.
Dan still wasn't sure what he wanted from the alpha. What would they talk about if he called the alpha up to talk, when he could not decide what he wanted. There was also his status as the devil to consider. Still, Thanks to his constant fatigue and shortness of breath, Dan had even less time to devote to anything that did not absolutely require his attention.
"Dan!" Chloe snapped, interrupting his musings. "Did you even hear anything I just said?" she asked annoyed.
She was saying something about the case they were working on. A series of shootings that looked unrelated, until recently. He opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly, everything went blurry. His chest felt tight and he couldn't breath.
It felt like he was having a heart attack.
Distantly, he couldn't help but be reminded that putting off the talk with Lucifer had been a mistake.
"I-- " He starts, but it cuts off in a choked sound.
He saw Chloe's stricken face and someone was yelling. There was a rush of footsteps.
He tried again. "I-- Luc, call L--"
Whatever he wanted to say was quickly lost as the ground rose up to meet him and everything went dark.