For you, i will

chapter XIII

seven months had passed since shane and ryan had become official. well, almost seven months. only a week remained until their anniversary, which they would be spending in nassau. it'd been a while since the two had gone on a much needed trip, and the timing seemed perfect, with unsolved on hiatus and their anniversary around the corner.
ryan always talked about relaxing on a beach with shane by his side and a bourbon in his hand—though the last part was probably ricky goldsworth speaking.
so shane had surprised ryan with tickets to the bahamas for their seven month anniversary. ryan had been so happy when he found the tickets waiting for him on the kitchen counter, and even happier when he found shane waiting for him in the shower. little did ryan know, however, that shane had more surprises waiting in nassau.
•••
it was strange, shane thought to himself, that after seven months of being in love with a human he was still able to retain some of his demon powers. he was much weaker now, practically a mortal, but occasionally he could make his horns pop out of his head was still able to cross over to hell, which was what he planned on doing tonight.
•••
there was no line in front of his old friend's door at this hour. in fact, the office was closed; but shane still snuck in, knowing he would find lucifer here. if he remembered correctly, something about after hour hook ups appealed to the man. and he was right.

as shane made his way into lucifer's office through an open window, he found him and another demon making out, a scene he found no guilt in interrupting. even after lucifer's hook up gave shane the death glare and made some rude hand gestures, he stood there and waited for her to leave, which she did, slamming the door behind her.

"yeash shane you didn't have to be rude."
"hello to you too." shane said, a bit annoyed.
"so what brought you all the way down to hell? did ya miss me?" lucifer grabbed the neck of shane's shirt, but was pushed away by the man.
"i needed to talk to you about something, actually."
"gosh, when did you get so serious?" lucifer said, grabbing a chair and sitting in it backwards because that's his vibe.
shane also sat down and crossed his legs, letting silence fill the room.
"don't speak so fast shane i can't keep up." lucifer teased, a little bit uncomfortable from the tension silence had brought on.
"i don't think i'll be able to come back to hell anymore. i came to say goodbye."
"wait are you serious? you're mortalizing?"
"i told you i'm with ryan."
"yeah but i thought you would have moved on by now."
"moved on?" shane looked up at lucifer, a bit defensive.
"well, i just meant he's a human. you're going to lose your powers shane. i thought you'd have fun with him for a while and be done before it would go this far."
"is that the kind of person you see me as?" shane asked, regretting ever making the trip back to hell.
"i mean, it was who you were back when we were together."
"we weren't together, we occasionally hooked up. which is all you seem to be doing even now."
"yeah but wasn't it nice. why are you doing this to yourself shaney, just come back here and re-demonize."
"i can't do that luce."
"shane you're going to DIE!" lucifer suddenly stood up from his chair, confused by his friend's insouciance towards that fact.
"how can you not care about that?"
"it used to bother me. remember when i first came and saw you about it?" lucifer nodded, sitting back down in his chair.
"but then i realized death is the one certainty about being alive. and i kind of liked that. it's for sure. there's no other thing that can ever happen. it made me value what i have so much more, because it won't have it forever."
there was some silence before shane spoke again.
"actually, there's another certainty i want to add to my life."
lucifer was confused as shane reached into his back pocket and pulled out a silky velvet colored box. he lifted the cover and stared inside it for a while, not letting lucifer yet see it. then he turned it towards him.

the ring shimmered in the dim office light, it's silver emphasized by the luminescence. the black diamond in the center made the ring seem ethereal, and lucifer had to reach out and touch it to make sure it was really there.
"when are you going to..?" lucifer asked.
"next weekend. we're going on a trip for our anniversary."
"wow i'm. i'm speechless shane." for the first time, lucifer was sincere, "congratulations."
shane smiled at his friend in gratitude for his reaction. he had been scared that half the building would be up in flames by now.
"you know," lucifer begun, "i never considered getting married before. i was always satisfied without love."
"there's no one way to live life you know, you don't have to get married or fall in love if it's not for you."
"but you seem so happy."
"i am happy."
"but how?"
"because being in love is a good feeling when it's with someone like ryan. and, hopefully, i'll be able to wake up every day for the rest of my life and think 'wow, i'm in love with this amazing person and i get to call them my own.'"
shane shut the box holding the ring and got up to leave. then he turned and faced lucifer.
"you told me you're satisfied with physical intimacy alone. and if you are, that's your life. but you also once told me that 'bitter fruit is sweet if that's all you've ever had.' think about that for me."

with that, shane hugged his long time friend goodbye and left through the door, looking back for the final time before leaving lucifer alone with his thoughts.