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“Mommy, is Lucifer going to come for dinner?”
Chloe glanced at Lucifer, eyes questioning. He grinned back at her. Then the sound of an office door closing drew his attention to Pierce, who was approaching.
“I can’t tonight, Beatrice.” Lucifer said, glancing at Pierce. “I wouldn’t want to deprive Marcus of the pleasure of my company.”
Pierce’s brow furrowed for an instant looking at the three of them before smoothing back into what Lucifer referred to as his resting Pierce face. “Lucifer. I’m a big boy. I can handle a night on my own. You can go.”
“But I thought tonight-”
A faint smile touched the edge of Pierce’s lips. “It will keep.”
He made an abortive move towards Lucifer, likely going in for a kiss, before glancing in Chloe’s direction and retreating instead.
Lucifer watched with an unhappy expression, but didn’t try to halt Pierce’s retreat.
Chloe was torn. On one hand, she’d decided she didn’t much care for Pierce. He’d led her on. Then shut her down. Then hooked up with her partner. He was rude to Ella. Dismissive of Dan. Seemed to have all of the emotional range of a rock. Also, he was her direct supervisor. It wasn’t a terrible idea to minimize socializing with him.
On the other hand, she really couldn’t say he’d been a terrible influence on Lucifer. If anything, he seemed to balance Lucifer out. When Pierce reigned Lucifer in on cases, her partner actually seemed to listen.
It was Lucifer’s distressed face that tipped the balance.
She called out to him. “Pierce… Marcus, wait.”
He stopped and turned, giving her a politely disinterested stare.
“You could join us,” she offered. “Dan was supposed to be coming, but I think he’s staying late to tie up a few loose ends on the Herrera case. We’ll have extra.”
Something like surprise briefly flashed across Pierce’s face, but it was covered quickly. He looked at her, then Lucifer who was nodding and all but bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Pierce’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling, but the look on his face bordered on indulgent. He nodded at her, then turned to Lucifer. “Are you going to give me a ride back here after for my bike, or am I following you?”
“I’d never turn down giving you a ride, darling.” Lucifer purred suggestively, sidling up towards Pierce.
“Idiot.” Pierce returned easily, slinging an arm around Lucifer’s waist.
Lucifer flashed Chloe an appreciative grin over his shoulder.
Chloe smiled back at him and pointedly ignored the fact that she could hear Lucifer making more lascivious comments to Pierce about what he could do in the passenger seat on the drive as they headed for the door. She turned back to Trixie and helped her put her things back into her backpack. “Let’s go Monkey, before they beat us home.”
With Lucifer driving, they did beat her there and Lucifer had taken his usual liberty and let himself in. She would have been irritated, but it smelled as though dinner preparation was already well in hand.
Trixie ran towards the kitchen and launched herself into one of the barstools. Chloe followed at a more sedate pace, eyes widening at the sight before her.
She knew Lucifer could cook. He’d done it more than once for her. What surprised her was the way he and Pierce had almost made a dance out of cooking together, moving around each other in the small room, trading space and utensils with easy familiarity.
She sat down next to Trixie, just in time to hear her start launching what she was sure was the first of many questions at Pierce. “Are you mommy’s boss?”
Pierce glanced up from chopping tomatoes. He stared for a second, eyes flicking to Chloe briefly, then answered succinctly. “Yes.”
“And daddy’s?”
“Yes.” As monotone as he was monosyllabic.
“And Lucifer’s?” Trixie question.
This elicited a snort from Lucifer. Pierce’s lips twitched. “Sometimes.”
Chloe bit her lip. The innuendo sailed over Trixie’s head. She continued questioning. “Are you Lucifer’s boyfriend?”
The knife in Pierce’s hand stilled and he focused on Trixie. “Do you always ask this many questions?”
“Yep,” Trixie replied, swinging her legs. “So are you?”
Chloe didn’t miss the way Lucifer had stilled, temporarily forgetting the sizzling pan in front of him, as if waiting for the answer himself.
“I’m hardly a boy.” Pierce replied, easily reaching past Lucifer and giving the pan of meat a shake to keep it from burning, nudging Lucifer. Then he looked back down at the ingredients in front of him. He dumped the tomatoes into a bowl and grabbed a pepper to slice.
“You aren’t a girl.” Trixie countered.
Lucifer let out a startled laugh at that and shook his head, busying himself again with stirring the taco meat in front of him, while Chloe frowned, giving Trixie a warning poke to the side. Her glare easily conveying Be nice.
Far from offended, Pierce smirked. “You aren’t wrong.” He looked back up at Trixie, expression serious. “So what if I am Lucifer’s boyfriend? What then?”
“Lucifer is my friend. If you are Lucifer’s boyfriend, then that means that we should be friends too.” she told him, matter-of-factly. Her arms crossed in front of her chest. Pierce set down the knife and folded his own arms, mirroring her serious pose.
Chloe looked over at her daughter sharply, then chanced a glance at Lucifer. He was giving her a wistful look. She felt mildly shamed that her daughter had come to this conclusion so easily when it had taken her weeks to do the same.
Pierce eyed them both, face serious.
“Is that right?” He questioned, arms unfolding. At Trixie’s enthusiastic nod, he cautioned. “I should warn you, I don’t have very many friends. I’m not sure I’m very good at it.”
Chloe bristled slightly. It sounded reminiscent of the speech he’d given her early on, about not being good at relationships. And yet here he was, in a relationship, and with Lucifer of all people.
Trixie, however, wasn’t put off in the slightest. If anything, her expression turned more sympathetic.
“That’s okay, Lucifer didn’t really know how to be friends either. But don’t worry. I can teach you.”
Pierce let out a huff of air that from anyone else might have been a laugh. “I bet you could.”
Chloe watched as Pierce returned his attention to the salsa he was making with a ghost of a smile on his usually impassive face. Lucifer scooted close to him and jostled his elbow, eyebrow raised. Pierce slid an arm easily around his waist and pressed a quick kiss to his temple before returning to the food.
Chloe continued to watch the pair, bemused by the casual affection. It wasn’t something she’d come to expect from either man.
But, she decided, it was something she could get used to.