#human!mc

He still thought of you, though it had been years since anyone dared mention your name. Diavolo and Barbatos, unaware of your existence, and his brothers, who now knew better.

But he didn’t forget you. Couldn’t forget you. You haunted his dreams, your airy laugh echoing in his mind when he awoke, inescapable. Every line of your face was still sharp in his mind, not dulled, like many of the other memories from the Angel Realm.

Once, he had thought time closed all wounds, but now, he knew better.

When Diavolo had put him in charge of picking out exchange students, he couldn’t stop himself from paging through all of the applications from the Angel Realm, looking for your name. It wasn’t there, and Lucifer wasn’t exactly surprised. You never had been big on politics, and who knew if you still missed him the way he did you. It had been hundreds of years.

Despite the very logical and understandable reasons, he couldn’t help but be upset. Did you not remember him? Did your promise of never leaving his side truly mean nothing now that he was no longer graced?

Lucifer felt a headache building behind his eyes and looked at the stack of applications from the Human Realm he still had to go through. The job was a chore, and he wished to be done with it.

Perhaps he had been more hopeful than he was willing to admit.

A gust of wind scattered the papers on his desk and he reached over to grab one, not even bothering to look at the name as he slid it into the stack of other chosen applicants. Whatever. It was a human anyway, not like they were going to last long here no matter who they were.

Sighing, Lucifer set about collecting the rest of the papers and throwing them in the wastebasket. Diavolo would have to live with his choices, and really, the sooner he finished with this he could turn his attention back to internal affairs, more important ones.

Surveying his office one last time to make sure everything was picked up, Lucifer stood. He would take the chosen applications to Diavolo to look over and then wash his hands of it all until Diavolo needed him again.

*

Lucifer stood next to Diavolo, on his right, as always. Today was the day they’d be welcoming the exchange students in and he had to be in top form, especially since he’d be welcoming Simeon, who, while wasn’t you, was someone he also missed from the Angel Realm, loathe as he was to admit it.

Besides, he thought to himself, perhaps I can ask him for news of you. Not right away, of course, but still…

Performing his duties as Simeon and Luke were welcomed to R.A.D. was painful. The small glimpse of the familiar palace he used to reside in through the portal was enough to send his mind wandering, even is by all appearances he seemed perfectly focused. Diavolo, of course, seemed to see something was off, but Lucifer ignored the probing look he was sent, smiling pleasantly, impersonally, at the angels.

It took no time at all for the angels to be shuttled off to their new residence, though Simeon managed to nod to Lucifer as he was led out, something Lucifer acknowledged with the slightest nod of his own.

“Are you alright?” Diavolo asked when they were alone once more, asides from Barbatos, of course.

“Ah, yes,” Lucifer said calmly, smoothing his tie down. “I apologize.”

Diavolo’s face softened slightly, and Lucifer couldn’t stop the frown that pulled at the corners of his mouth in response. Despite having been born and raised in the underworld, he was still too full of love, too caring of others. While that made him a good person and leader, it didn’t always make him a great demon.

“Is this about Belphegor?” Diavolo pressed, and Lucifer’s spine straightened.

“Of course not,” he said smoothly, watching as Barbatos’ eyebrows climbed up towards his hairline. Maybe he should have lied; it would have stopped the questions. “Shouldn’t we be getting on with it? We don’t have all day.”

Diavolo gave him one more, deep, searching look, but dropped it. It didn’t take long for everyone to be settled back into their places, him included. Shaking off the thoughts and memories of you and of his time as an angel, Lucifer drew his sin around him like armor, forcing his shoulders down.

Solomon seemed to see right through him, his mischievous gaze giving Lucifer a slimy feeling. Thankfully, the sorcerer was able to make himself comfortable quickly, as it was likely this wasn't his first time in the Devildom.

Only one more, Lucifer told himself. Then you can leave.

“I’m going to begin summoning the last exchange student,” Barbatos intoned, beginning the magic. A swirling portal, the same as all of the others, opened up, and you fell through, not quite managing a graceful landing like everyone else.

Lucifer felt frozen, as he looked down at you. It couldn't be! No, seriously. When he had fallen, you were a favored angel. This human in front of him couldn’t be one and the same.

But, as you looked up at him, eyes gleaming, he knew.

Diavolo went through his little speech and Lucifer only barely managed to deliver his lines. His mind was whirling, and he couldn't look away from you. How were you here? Why were you here?

You stared at him right back, steady. Lucifer could barely contain himself. He wanted to sweep you up in his arms, shake you by the shoulders, get to the bottom of things.

It seemed like an eternity, but eventually, he was tasked with taking you back to the House of Lamentation. He waited for you to gather your things, which you did with haste, your fumbling so far removed from the graceful movements from before that he was thrown into another loop of doubt.

Neither of you spoke until you were out of the R.A.D. building and walking down the street.

“Is it really you?” Lucifer asked, staring straight ahead. “Not some- magic, or trickery?”

“It is,” you said, and your voice, so familiar, made his heart beat faster. “I’ve missed you, Lucifer. So much.”

“Prove it to me,” he challenged, his cocky tone only barely covering up the plea in his voice. “If it’s really you, what promise did we make to one another in the grove by the palace?”

You looked up at him, a little half-smile on your face. “We promised to always be together. And I’ve come here to fulfill that promise.”

Lucifer swallowed, elation singing in his bones. “I’ve missed you too. How are you here? How are you human?”

You sighed, looking up at the dark sky. “I was… displeased with the situation around your fall and the Celestial War. I kicked up enough of a fuss that I was stripped of my grace and sent to live with the humans.” There’s obviously more to the story that you’re not saying, but he won’t pry. For now.

“I was trying to get down here, and I think Micheal knew that,” you continued, “which is why he put me in the human realm. Enough of my grace remained that I did not age nor could I die, so I stayed. In limbo, waiting. When I learned about the exchange program I knew I had finally found my way back to you.”

“You’re foolish,” Lucifer said, but there was no heat. “To get yourself stripped of your holiness for me. I was not- am not worth that.”

Your face twists into a scowl. “It wasn’t just about you,” you explained. “Heaven was just no longer the place for me. There were many things I did not agree with that only got worse when you and your brothers were gone.”

“I see,” Lucifer said. He had had no idea.

“But that’s all in the past,” you insisted. “I’m here now, and you’re here now, and we can begin anew. I mean,” you say, shy for the first time since you had appeared, “if that’d be something you were interested in, of course.”

“How could it not be?” Lucifer asked wryly. “A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought of you. MC, you were the love of my life and I hope that you still are. Though this is all a bit unorthodox-”

“-When have we ever been?” you finished for him, grabbing his hand like you had so long ago. And, just like before, Lucifer held it properly, weaving his fingers between his. He felt off-kilter and unsure, but for the first time in a long while, looked forward to the future.

You were humming under your breath, obviously in good spirits even though there was so much still unknown. Lucifer was never one for being fanciful, nor did he ever think that the ‘reunion’ trope was a particularly poignant one, but maybe he was wrong.

“A lot has changed since we last saw one another,” Lucifer said suddenly, the words bursting out of him. As much as he loved you, so much was different. He had another brother, for crying out loud! “I’m not the same man you fell in love with.”

“And I’m not the same person either,” you replied after a moment. “I don’t expect you to be the same, or for us to be the same, but like I said before I’d be interested in pursuing a relationship despite that. I have faith that I’ll love you, no matter which version of yourself you are, and I’d never fault you for growing and changing, especially with all that has happened.” You laughed. “You probably think I’m being naive, and so what if I am? It’s only the first day I’ve been here. We have a whole year before we truly need to worry.”

There you go again, calming him down when he gets ahead of himself.

“I suppose you’re correct,” Lucifer says, seeing the wrought iron gates to the manor. “As always. Ah, prepare yourself for my brothers. We have a lot to explain.”

“I’m excited to see them all again,” you said lightly. “And to meet the new one. Satan, was it?”

Lucifer jolts, remembering Belphegor. “About that,” he said, “first we may have to take a trip to the attic.”

“Whatever for?” you ask, but already seem prepared to follow him, no questions asked. Diavolo may be mad, and Lucifer would be in a lot of trouble from a bunch of people, but situations change and he thought he was doing the correct thing, so…

“It’s kind of hard to explain.” Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck. “But when you yell at me I promise I’ll deserve it.”

“Okay,” you declared, dubious. “You’re not exactly filling me with confidence here.”

That made him chuckle a little. You were so different, but still you. And oh, how he had craved your presence.

“I really missed you,” he stated again instead of the hundreds of other things he wanted to say. He thought you knew what he meant regardless. The ‘l-word’. The one he had been too hesitant to say, even back when you were both angels. Surely, it was too soon to say it now, even though he felt it in his heart, whatever of it remained.

“And we’ve established I’ve missed you,” you said, a note of humor in your voice. “But thankfully I don’t have to do that anymore.”

“Thankfully indeed,” Lucifer murmured as he prepared himself for the chaos that would come. The chaos that would be completely and undeniably worth it, because now, he had you by his side once more.