The Angel of Dan's Apartment

"I CAN'T SLEEP!" Lucifer shouted as he slammed his hands on the desk. A pin drop could have been heard during the deadly silence that followed.

"Detective, I can't sleep" he said in a defeated voice.

From across the room, Dan could see Chloe was about to explode with anger. He quickly walked over and guided Lucifer to an empty interrogation room, shutting the door behind them.

Dan turned around to look at the distraught devil. "Okay, Luce, what's going on man?" He didn't stop to think about why he'd just used that nickname for the other man.

"You wouldn't understand, it's my wings, they're back!". Lucifer was frantic,"My father's manipulating me again, making me do things that I wouldn't normally do!".

"Okay, I am not even going to try and unpack all of that," Dan said as he held up his hands in a placating gesture, "but maybe I can help".

"I don't see how, Daniel"

"It's simple," Dan told him,"You're going to come home with me, right now, and get some sleep. I'll keep watch over you and stop whatever craziness you think is happening".

Lucifer studied him for a moment. "Why would you want to help me?".

"Because I...", what was Dan supposed to say?

Because I can't stand to see you upset? Because I can't handle seeing how much it breaks you when Chloe shoves Pierce in your face? Because it tears me apart being so close and not able to touch you?

No, Lucifer definitely would not appreciate hearing any of that right now.

"Because...I'm your friend," Dan finally said,"and friends help each other out".

"Very well," Lucifer sighed, "It's not as though anything else has helped lately".

                        ***************

Dan turned the key and opened the door to his apartment, allowing Lucifer to step inside first. It was about a third of the size of the penthouse, but cozy nevertheless.

Dan directed the exhausted devil to his own bedroom, not trusting that the twin bed in Trixie's room would fit Lucifer's large frame.

He dug through his wardrobe and got out a pair of black shorts to give him. "Here you go, Luce, I think these will fit," Dan told him.

He went to walk back out of the room when Lucifer put a hand on his shoulder. "Daniel....thank you"

Dan turned around and smiled at him, "It's no trouble, Luce, you just get some rest. I'll watch over you".

With that, Dan walked out of the bedroom and shut the door. Once he was alone, Lucifer stripped down to his underwear, slipped on the borrowed shorts, and crashed the minute his head hit the pillow.

                       ***************

Dan was sitting in his living room, watching TV, and trying not to think about the other man sleeping a few feet away.

He could admit, if only to himself, that he'd been attracted to Lucifer since the moment they met. For every time that Dan wanted to throttle the man, there were even more times he wanted to kiss him senseless.

One of the reasons his marriage went downhill long before Palmetto, was because he kept denying a part of himself and what he wanted. He was attracted to Chloe, especially her dominate alpha male personality, but he just couldn't feel that all consuming passion for his wife like he should have. So he buried himself in work, in turn burying everything else in his life.