Sleep Deprived Devil

Part Five

a/n:
this story will be paused for a bit (probably)! i've got another story idea i'll be working on eventually—deckerstar, of course. i think i'll call it "performance anxiety," if i decide to post it.

nursing school has me busy, busy, busy, so i'll apologize ahead of time for the inevitably slow updates to come.

•••

"Ooh," Lucifer said teasingly. "This really is too good to be true." He stood from his spot on the sofa and walked around so she could get a full view of him. "Would you like a show? Shall I undress slowly?" he questioned. Chloe almost didn't want to tell him it wasn't sex she was after; his enthusiasm was too hilarious and oddly endearing. She fought the smile tugging at her lips and refused to correct him, afraid that what she really wanted to see would kill his enthusiasm all too soon. Lucifer assumed she was simply speechless and continued anyway. A show it is. He lifted his hands to the top button and began slowly working his way down. Chloe's eyes followed his hands, and the devil's eyes watched her lips, her tongue still working behind them on the sucker he had given her earlier. Once his shirt was open and his chest and abdomen were on display, he started walking towards her. At this point, she had almost forgotten what her original intention was with all of this, but not quite. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to collect herself again, but by the time she had opened them he was leaned down with his face was just a few inches from hers. He pulled the sucker out of her mouth, "Pay attention, detective," he said, placing it in his own as he stood back upright. Her face flushed, realizing she might have let this go too far as she watched his shirt fall to the floor.

"Wait!" she said, the urgency in her voice obvious. He froze in place and his eyes snapped to hers.

"Yes?" he asked. She averted her gaze, suddenly feeling guilty for leading him on like she did.

"Stay still," she replied. "Don't move." Forgetting about her injury, she stood, then hissed at the pain it caused her.

"Detective, what's wrong?" He hadn't forgotten about her injury, but that's not what he was worried about. Why had she stood so abruptly, and why did she have him stop? She walked around him until she was no longer in his line of sight, but he didn't move. As her eyes landed on his back, which was now free of the large, unsightly scars she had seen there before, the tension in her own back slowly dissipated. As he noticed she wasn't circling back around, he realized what she was doing. "Oh," he said, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice. "Is that all you wanted to see?" he asked. "My back?" The feeling of her cool fingers gently brushing against the newly smooth skin confirmed his suspicions and he sighed.

The detective ignored his disappointment and continued, letting her hands explore his back, now trying to figure out where the wings came from. Did they just... appear? Do they explode out from under his skin? She cringed at the thought; that sounded painful. She absentmindedly allowed her middle and index finger of her left hand trace his spine as her right hand poked at his right shoulder blade. Just as her left hand landed between his shoulder blades, the devil gasped, a gust of wind blew her back, and she yelped, closing her eyes tightly as she grabbed for Lucifer to keep her from falling. Her hand landed in warm feathers and fluff and without thinking, she grabbed it as she went down, hearing Lucifer cry out in response. By the time she opened her eyes again, they were both on the floor. Lucifer was on his hands and knees looming over her, his wings spread out as wide as he is tall.

"Be careful," was all he could say. His wings moved to rest on his back, no longer sprawled out like they were seconds before.

"Sorry," she replied. "I didn't mean to hurt you." She couldn't meet his gaze.

"I know," he said. "I didn't expect that to happen, either, and I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," she replied. "It was my fault. I should have just asked and accepted it if you said no. I shouldn't have—"

"Led me on?" he asked. She looked at him with guilt and there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Yes, that was very cruel of you." His voice was playful; he no longer seemed disappointed at the unfortunate lack of sex that was happening between them. "However, I need to learn to stop making assumptions, especially when it comes to you. It was just as much my fault as it was yours." She felt better hearing his words. He leaned back to sit on his heels and held out his hand, offering to help her up. "Consider it lesson learned." She sat up, groaning at both her sore bottom and foot, then took his hand. They stood together, using each other for support. Chloe headed towards the couch, but Lucifer grabbed her arm before she could sit. "Ah, ah, ah," he said teasingly. She turned to look at him, confused. He smiled. "Before you get comfortable, you're going to fix what you did to my poor wings," he continued, turning around to show her the disheveled and mangled feathers from when she had grabbed him. Three of the larger, more prominent ones were broken. She winced, then approached his wings, running her fingers through them to straighten them out to the best of her abilities.

"There," she said, taking a step back.

"They don't feel very straight," he replied. She sighed.

"I couldn't get it perfect. Some of the feathers are... broken."

He gasped, placing a hand on his chest, mocking surprise. "Broken?" he repeated. He wrapped the wing around to the front of him and turned over his shoulder, trying to see exactly how much damage she had done, but the damage was too close to the point of origin for him to see. He'd go in his bathroom to look in the mirror, but he knew he'd knock a few things over in the process, and didn't think it was worth the trouble. "Just pull them out," he said to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. She approached him and one by one plucked the offending feathers from his wing, feeling him twitch and hearing his breath hitch at each one. Once she was done, she was able to straighten them out properly this time.

"I'm sorry," she said again, holding the feathers over his shoulder. He took them.

"It's alright, detective. Easy mistake." Before she could touch them again, his wings were gone. He turned around, playfully tickling her nose with the crooked feathers, then walked off to grab his shirt. "I suppose I should clean up the glass before someone gets hurt again." He let the feathers fall to the floor as he walked into his room. By the time he returned, he was fully clothed again, but this time with one of his three piece suits thrown over his shoulder.

"Why do you have that?" she asked. He smiled at her.

"Look at the time," he replied. She grabbed her phone to check and cursed when she saw it.

"But you barely got to sleep," she said, exasperated, "and I didn't get any sleep at all!" She buried her face in her hands, groaning, the lack of sleep finally creeping up on her. She had four hours before she had to be at work, but even in that amount of time she wouldn't realistically even be able to wind down and get a good nap in before she'd have to get right back up again. Lucifer seemed a little shocked.

"You didn't sleep at all?" he asked. He walked towards her. "Maybe you should call in today and try to get some rest."

"No," she said. "I can't." She shook her head. "Do you mind if I use your shower?"

"Not at all. I need a shower too," he replied. He walked towards the bathroom and held the door open, waiting for her to join him.

She blinked at him. "Lucifer, we can't..."

"What?" he asked.

"We can't shower together." He looked slightly taken aback.

"Why not? There's plenty of room," he said. He eyed her carefully, then noticed the small blush creeping onto her face. "Oh, calm down, detective. You don't have anything I haven't seen before. We have both seen each other—" she held her hand up.

"Stop... talking," she replied. "I'm not showering with you. You can shower first." His shoulders slumped, mentally adding 'showering' to the list of things friends apparently don't do together.

"No, you shower first," he said. "The sooner you shower, the sooner you can sleep." She nodded in agreement, then grabbed her overnight bag and headed to the bathroom.