The muffled sound of slippered feet, gliding across the polished floor of the House of Lamentation, ceased abruptly when interrupted by some faint noise originating from the kitchen area. Lani’s sleep-muddled mind vaguely recognized the faint tune of a song first heard long ago. Rubbing lazily at one eye with a loose fist, the woman silently made her way over to investigate. She soon realized she’d caught an oblivious Lucifer humming hoarsely to himself while cleaning up the kitchen. 

Said task had been assigned to Belphie that night, at least according to the ever-rotating chore schedule Lucifer had come up with; yet another measure designed to teach his younger brothers a thing or two, even if that was merely cleaning up after themselves. Though it was clear that night the schedule hadn’t been followed, most likely due to the sleepy nature of the purple-eyed demon.

As the eldest, more often than not, Lucifer had to step up to the role of caretaker, and Lani found her lips curling into a fond smile on their own accord. She now stood flush against the frame of the arched entrance of the kitchen. Keeping most of her body behind her and out of sight, she let her cheek rest against the cool wall while watching the raven-haired demon move freely about.

He wasn’t wearing a jacket like he usually did, and she spied what she assumed his go-to leather gloves to be, tucked into the back pocket of his well-fitting pants. His shirt was the colour of spiced wine, its long sleeves neatly rolled up to his strong forearms. With one else around, his shoulders seemed broader in their relaxed state, though she could almost see sculpted muscles moving under his tailored clothes with every movement. The fabric strained slightly around Lucifer’s biceps, and Lani’s gaze moved without shame, wasting no time to admire the star of her fantasies in a way she seldom had the luxury to.

A clean, dry cloth was rubbed against a freshly washed plate, while Lani focused on the demon’s strong hands and long, slender fingers. Those which she definitely had not thought about before, in the darkness of her quarters, during the seemingly endless nights when slumber avoided her like the plague.

“Is there something you need?” a low voice asked, snapping the woman right out of her thoughts, and sending her skittering backwards in a feeble attempt to hide. “Or are you content enough ogling me from where you are?”

Lucifer teased her, and her heart pounded against her ribcage so loudly she was sure he could hear it all the way to the sink, from where he hadn’t moved or even looked away from.

“I think you’re smarter than trying to pretend you’re not here. You have been for a while, I sensed you as soon as you left your bedroom.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and let her head fall back against the wall behind her. Of course, he knew she was there. She’d been an idiot.

“Hm,” Lucifer let a soft sound when she continued to refuse showing herself, and Lani instantly pushed away the treacherous thought of him sounding disappointed.

It took her longer than she’d ever admit to muster up enough courage to finally step into the room. The dim light overhead seemed to cast an accusing, mocking shadow over her. She swallowed hard and squared her shoulders, schooling her expression into what she desperately hoped looked like sleepy disinterest.

“I came for water but heard you singing. I didn’t dare interrupt, you seemed to be enjoying yourself,” she finally spoke.

One of Lucifer’s eyebrows arched in apparent surprise, one side of his mouth curling slowly. “Is that so. Well, I hope the show wasn’t too unpleasant.”

“Not at all!” she cut in far too quickly. “I mean. It was a lovely tune, but what surprised me most was that I recognized it. I wasn’t aware you enjoyed… well, I suppose I never thought we’d have similar tastes.”

Agate orbs cut right through her, then. And she felt rooted to the spot from the sheer intensity of his gaze.

“What would make you think that?”

She rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet as she hummed thoughtfully, both her hands now clasped behind her back. “I don’t know. I’m just a fragile human, and you’re… you.”

Lucifer flinched inwardly at what she called herself. At what he had referred to her as, before.

Before he had gotten to know her at all.

“I think you’d be surprised,” he spoke after a long beat.

“I am,” she chirped with a smile so easy and bright it almost hurt.

He huffed out a quiet laugh, letting his head fall forward, leaning his weight on the palm now resting against the sink.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly; head tilted a little to the side. She looked like a confused puppy then, but Lucifer knew better than to say so out loud and risk angering the woman standing before him. Forcing down another chuckle, he gave his head a shake to clear his mind and turned to face her fully.

“As am I.”

Her confusion grew and her frown deepened. His thumb was gently rubbing it before his brain could catch up, vanishing the wrinkles from her forehead and trading them for those eyes he seldom stopped thinking about, eyes so big he could get lost in them.

“Pardon me,” his touch was gone as quickly as it had come, and somewhere deep inside her chest, Lani mourned the loss. “It’s rather late, I’m not acting like myself.”

She agreed. “No, you’re not. But I like it.”

It was his turn to freeze in surprise, and she had the audacity to smirk triumphantly when she noticed. Without another word, she moved past him to fill a cup with water. After a few long gulps that gave him unobstructed view of her naked throat, he found his mouth dry like the desert. To his seemingly never-ending surprise, Lani stepped forward again and raised the cup to his mouth in silent offering.

The pads of his fingertips brushed hers and he bent slightly to take a drink despite refusing to grab the cup himself. The action brought intense heat to Lani’s face, her wide eyes blinking repeatedly in astonishment.

It seemed neither of them was acting like their usual selves.

Typically, Lani would feel him much more distant. Almost as if he were always inside an invisible cage, separating him from the rest, even his brothers. But tonight there was no cage, and she felt so utterly surrounded by his presence it was nearly overwhelming.

She noticed his lips moved, he was speaking to her, but she couldn't make out the words when all she could hear was her pounding heart.

He took one step toward her and she instinctively stepped back, hating herself as soon as she did, but refused to let herself truly believe hurt flashed across his eyes when she dodged him.

“Are you certain you feel all right? It looks like you could use some fresh air. Come, the last thing we want is for you to get sick.”

His voice was so clear then, despite its low volume as he spoke against the shell of her ear. A full-bodied shiver shook her then, and she nodded so enthusiastically she was certain her brain hit her skull a couple times.

“Yes! That sounds like a great idea! All I need is some fresh air and –”

One large hand wrapped around her bicep then and led her in a straight line to and past the front door, until they were both walking slowly along a pebbled path outside their house. No. The house. The House of Lamentation. Not their house.

That sounded… stupid.

Almost like… No.

It sounded stupid.

With the way the night was unfolding, Lani guessed she shouldn’t be so surprised by the familiar way Lucifer treated her. They had known each other for a long time now, but somehow it still felt like they had never had an actual conversation before.

The chill night air did turn out to be a great idea, for Lani felt instantly more awake and less tangled in a web of dangerous thoughts and feelings she’d tried to convince herself didn’t exist in the first place.

Conversation came easily, surprisingly. Or unsurprisingly, rather.

Lucifer was sharp as a whip and charming in a way only he could be.

It was far too easy to forget about the whole “demon thing”, and just listen to his voice tell her short anecdotes and chime in with her own thoughts every now and then. That was a whole feat all on its own. Lani spent far too much time in her own head and was often content to simply watch the world pass her by, instead of acting like an active part of it. She second-guessed herself often, and if she felt bold enough to share her thoughts and opinions every once in a while, she most certainly spent the following night wide awake, replaying said conversations in her mind over and over, cringing at every word she’d spoken.

“I really admire how much you love your brothers,” she confessed before realizing the weight of the words she’d kept inside for a bit now. “Sometimes it’s almost like you’re their parent instead of just an older brother. Always picking up after them, making sure they don’t get in trouble. And man! There’s six of them, can’t possibly be easy at all!” she laughed heartily and glanced up at the onyx sky. “It makes me wonder how you manage to make time for yourself at all. Especially since you’re always so diligent with your work at RAD and with Diavolo, it’s just… Sometimes I feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day to do all I have to do, and it’s like you… It’s like you carry the world on your shoulders like Atlas, but you’re so strong it doesn’t even show! You always look so put together and… I don’t know. I’m kind of envious, I guess.”

She chuckled lowly before noticing that during her ramble, Lucifer had stopped dead in his tracks and was staring at her with something so indescribable, she feared the intensity would crush her.

“Shit,” she mumbled. “Shit. Shit, I’m so sorry. I said something I shouldn’t have, didn’t I?” she ran back to where he stood and fought the overbearing urge to grab his hands in hers and beg for forgiveness. “Lucifer, I’m sorry, I just talk without thinking and…” she trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

Lucifer gazed down at his shoes for a second, the tip of his tongue peeking out to wet his now unbearably dry lips. “Stop.”

Lani swallowed and froze, almost like he’d given her a pact order.

He shook his head once again before leaning it all the way back, eyes squeezed shut.

What was it about this woman that made him loose his footing like an absolute fool?

She winced but said nothing, her gaze scanning his every moment while every second went by unnaturally slow.

“Do you really believe all that?”

“Huh?” she twisted her neck like a little owl, once again confused and oblivious. “I do. That’s why I said it, but I’m very sorry if I offended you.”

He made a low sound, almost like a chuckle, and gazed at her incredulously.

“What?” she huffed in annoyance, her palm colliding against his solid chest in a feeble attempt to shove him.

The nerve of her, Lucifer thought to himself with a smile.

This seemed to annoy her even more, because she got both her feet steady beneath her and looked like she was prepared to shove against him again. Only her footing wasn’t as solid as she’d thought, because Lucifer caught her hands in one of his effortlessly and pulled her forward, trapping her arms between them, and causing her to stumble and collide with his body, her entire frame engulfed by his.

“Do I really look that old to you, to be the father of those idiots?” he nearly growled, pleased, like a tiger with its prey between its claws. “The cheek of you, Lin. I should punish you for that.”

“Whaaa–!”

Her eyes grew wide and round like saucers and she would’ve flailed about in pure embarrassment if he hadn’t such a firm grip on her. “That is so not what I said! Is that’s really what you got from all that – Are you – Of course not! You’re… You are old! You’re super old and you know it, you’re toying with me! You know that doesn’t matter because you are so handsome it’s unfair, you don’t even care about your age! I only meant to say I think you would make a great father someday!”

“…Really?”

The knot in Lani’s throat would not go away, no matter how hard she swallowed. Not when he looked at her like that, with his pupils blown so wide only a thin ring of crimson remained. Not when he looked at her like he wanted to eat her alive.

The pair of arms around her tightened, snaking around her silhouette, almost like she was being enveloped in iron, rendering her nearly motionless.

“R-really.”

“You called me handsome.”

“I did. Don’t act all smug about it like you didn’t know it already,” Lani huffed in defeat and settled for avoiding his gaze at all costs. The warmth from before was back in full rage, not limiting itself to her face, but spreading from her chest to every corner and fingertip, until she felt she might overheat and combust.

“You consider me handsome,” he stated as if correcting himself.

Lani grumbled and struggled to no avail, and settled to keeping her gaze locked on one the undone buttons of his collar, desperately trying to compose herself and not let her eyes wander over the exposed skin of his collarbone and neck.

“I’d be an idiot not to,” she tried to justify herself. “Are you satisfied now, oh great Avatar of Pride?”

“Oh, no. Not even close.”

Gulp.

Defying all logic, when Lucifer’s cool and smooth lips pressed against hers, she felt like she’d swallowed a fireball and her gasps only fed it more oxygen to grow. Both his hands were now cradling her head with a delicacy he wasn’t aware he possessed, afraid to feel her crumble beneath his fingertips, to have turn into smoke and slip from his grasp like she did in his dreams every morning he woke to an empty bed.

Lani’s brain was out of commission, then. She threw both arms around his neck and returned his kiss with wild abandon. A pleased growl rumbled in the depths of his chest, one hand moving up to knot in her hair while the other dropped to grab a handful of her backside, causing her to moan out loud.

He wasted no time to taste the inside of her mouth, caressing her soft tongue and exploring every inch. They stumbled blindly until her back was pressed against a tall piece of marble. They had apparently wandered into the cemetery, and Lucifer wasted no time to seize the opportunity to hoist her up against the wall to wrap her legs around his waist.

No longer unsure of her every move, Lani leaped at the opportunity to experience wide awake what she had dreamed about longer than she’d ever admit. Lucifer’s hair was soft, and she couldn’t stop touching it, tousling it and making a mess of it while he kissed her like a man starved, a mix of tongue, lips and teeth, nipping and tugging at her soft mouth, the one he often spent hours fantasizing about.

It didn’t take long for layers of clothing to be shed. She’d all but ripped the buttons of his shirt open, his trousers barely yanked halfway down his thighs while he pawed at her breasts after piercing through the thin fabric of her sleep clothes with his claws, leaving them to fall to the ground in shreds.

Lucifer used whatever what was left of his self-control to stop himself long enough to look Lani straight in the eye, one arm holding her up by her bottom while he gripped himself with his opposite hand, pressed flush against her, but not quite yet. Not without her full consent.

“Fuck’s sake, Lucifer, please, please, f-fuck me already!” she whined, then wept in relief when she felt her body nearly split in half when he sheathed himself with one rough thrust. She wailed and flailed in his embrace, overwhelmed by feeling so incredibly full she might explode. But then he rolled his hips back, and she swore she could cry at the loss.

“You make such pretty noises for me, my love,” he purred against her ear merely a split second before ramming himself back inside her, setting a punishing pace he could not fully control when their bodies seemed to act on their own accord, so attuned to one another, so in need of each other.

Tears of absolute bliss rolled down Lani’s flushed cheeks, but she fought with everything she had to keep her eyes open, not daring to miss a second of her wildest fantasies coming true. “O-oh… Oh! You have no idea how long I’ve – fuck!”

“I do, love, I do,” he assured her before claiming her mouth in yet another searing kiss. “Can you imagine? When I fill you to the brim, could you imagine my seed taking root inside you? Your belly growing round and ripe with my child? I – I, ahh, fuck, so feel so good… So good. My sweet Lin. You have no idea of what you do to me.”

Lani screamed then, pushed off the edge of the precipice by his words alone.

“…Sometimes it’s almost like you’re their parent instead of just an older brother. Always picking up after them, making sure they don’t get in trouble…”

“…I only meant to say I think you would make a great father someday!”

Lucifer held her tightly, kept her caged between the marble wall and his chest, her face pressed against the curve of his neck while she whimpered and mewled and he fucked her all through her first orgasm and into the second. Lani felt like all her nerve endings were exposed, like she was a live wire crackling with electricity. Her teeth sunk into the softness of his neck, nearly piercing the skin and made his knees buckle. The mere sound of their coupling was downright pornographic. The wet sounds and her juices coating her thighs and trickling down his was, at best, lewd.

Unwilling to let go of the sweet woman who’d had yanked him around with an invisible leash even she was unaware of, Lucifer took her apart piece by piece only to put her back together and repeat the process all over again. Her thighs were shaking so hard she was having a hard time not slipping down his body, so he eased her to her feet and flipped her around so her back was flush against him, ripping a scream from her worthy of a Banshee. With one hand wrapped around her throat, he held her upright while the rhythm of his hips refused to falter. The shamelessly loud slapping of her bottom against his skin merely egging him on. Lani was certain she’d wake with bruises, the sharp angles of his hips digging into her skin without mercy but couldn’t find it in herself to care one bit.

Somewhen in the heat of the moment, the demon had released his true form. His large black wings arched inwards to cradle her like the extensions of him they were. She rubbed her cheek against the unbelievable softness of his feathers while one of her arms reached behind her head to grab firmly onto one of his horns.

Lucifer shouted his release, but didn’t dare relent until Lani was a weeping, slobbering mess, unable to wring yet another climax from her exhausted body. His human was unable to stay awake for long after that and he smiled proudly to himself.

He fixed himself up as best he could with one hand, unwilling to release her from his hold even as she slept peacefully against his strong wings. With them, he enveloped her and covered her modesty as best he could, for her clothes laid beyond salvation on the ground, marking the spot where two halves of a soul had finally became one.

A/N: This is my first time writing for this fandom and it's shamelessly self indulgent so I'm quite nervous but I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it because it's my first fic in a very, very long time.

Feedback is always encouraged and appreciated :)