#nonbinary!raphael

"Raphael?" Lucifer says. He's leaning back against the door to their dressing room. He's trying to pretend that he doesn't tense every time someone walks past, even if they're clearly only moving on to the next room to try out their own clothes. He won't let anyone ruin this for Raphael. He's willing to make a scene about it, to get thrown out of the store if he needs to. He hadn't spoken to Raphael in almost four years before today, but they are still his little sibling. 

He doesn't think Raphael would have called him if they didn't want a guard dog.

"I'm almost done," Raphael says, their voice low and muffled through the door. Lucifer tilts his head. He knows that particular tone of voice.

"Are you stuck?"

Raphael's quiet for a second. "Yes."

"Can I come in?"

"Please." Lucifer looks both ways, but there's no one else around at the moment. He turns as he hears the lock on the door click, and Raphael lets him inside. He sees the problem immediately. The zipper on the back of their dress has snagged in just the wrong place. He puts a hand on their shoulder as he fiddles with it until it slides up, covering up their shoulderblades and that sliver of a scar right at the tip of their spine from when they fell out of a tree as a kid. They'd been trying to steady Gabriel to keep him from tumbling over and gotten knocked off balance themselves. Lucifer could still remember vividly the way his fingertips brushed their little arm as he failed to catch them.

He touches their arm now, briefly. Their skin is softer now than he remembers, and he sometimes can't tell what changes in their face are age alone and which are from their new hormones. "There you go," he says. "How does it feel?" Raphael rolls their head and their hair falls down their back again, covering the zipper. The dress is Lucifer's suggestion, all because he doesn't want Raphael walking out of this store with only shades dark gray or blue. He'd found one in vibrant lavender, and now, they're-

"It's not as scratchy as the last one," Raphael says. "Does it look good?" Lucifer recognizes the tremor of uncertainty because he's heard it in his own voice before.

"Beautiful," he tells them. "You look beautiful." In the mirror, he watches their expression go from surprise to delight to new confidence.

Maybe there's a small part of Lucifer that's jealous. That wishes he didn't have to stand alone years ago and convince himself that he was doing everything right before he stepped out as scared as he walked in.

But there's a larger part that only cares about making sure Raphael never knows what that's like. He doesn't know his sibling as well as he should, and at this point, he's willing to take half the blame for that. But he's done this.

He will be here for them.