Work Text:
Chloe rests her head on the headrest behind her, closely watching the ship in front of them. “You awake?” she murmurs to Lucifer, her voice tinged in humor.
He snorts. “Very funny, Detective.” She can hear his grin and one of her own tugs at her mouth.
“You know,” she says, after a moment of silence between the two of them. “We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.” Chloe turns her head slightly so she can look at him. He’s still staring out the window. She remembers a time when he was so resistant to stake outs. So impatient and ready to jump into the action. The man she sits next to in her cruiser now after all their years of working together is a changed man. “You did good, Lucifer.” What she doesn’t add is how proud of him she is. She probably should’ve.
As she looks back out the front window, he speaks again. “Do you think I’m different when I’m at work… to when I’m not at work?”
It’s not something she’s expecting him to say but then again, she never usually expects anything that comes out of his mouth.
But she answers honestly. “Mm, I think we’re all a little different at work,” she responds, looking back at him. Their eyes meet finally. Lucifer’s face is soft, calm. Something that it’s usually not. And when it is, she’s pretty sure it’s only around her. Just the thought of it makes her stomach do somersaults. “You know, trying to put our best foot forward and…” She trails off after a glance down at his lips. But now is not the time for anything like that. They have a job to do.
“But do you think the person I’m trying to be at work is… ah, I don’t know… dishonest?” He sounds anxious. If not even a bit desperate.
“Do you… like work?” Chloe prods.
Lucifer looks over at her and they lock eyes again. Her stomach flips again as she sees his eyes flick down and back up again. “I do,” he says softly. “I like work very much.”
She suddenly realizes what work is. It’s her. He doesn’t want to pretend to be someone he’s not around her.
He continues, as if reading her mind, “Work makes me want to be a better man but…” He looks away and Chloe thanks… Well, she thanks someone for that.
She makes him want to be better. To be a better man, a better person.
“If I’ve never been that man before… is it even real?” he finishes.
“Yes,” Chloe answers without hesitation. “Because you’re changing. And the fact that you notice that this is a new you just proves it. You say work makes you want to be a better man, that want is inside you. And it’s real. That’s as real as it gets, Lucifer.”
A knot forms in her throat. She tries to swallow it but it’s no use. Stealing another glance at him and hoping he doesn’t notice, she sees he’s looking at her. He looks like he was going to say something but he’s trailed off.
The world around them feels like it’s stopped. For once, it’s just the two of them and nothing else in the world matters.
She remembers the last time Lucifer was this honest with her. It was that day at the beach. Where they had their first kiss. It felt the same then, as if they were the only two people on the face of the earth, in their own little bubble.
Chloe blinks herself back to reality to find Lucifer still watching her. Well, ”her” is too vague. He’s really staring at her lips and she knows it. And she knows he knows it too. She bites her bottom lip out of habit and she could swear Lucifer flinched just ever so slightly.
She doesn’t quite know what to do with herself until Lucifer leans towards her ever so slightly.
He’s going to kiss her.
And she lets him.
Their lips meet and to her own surprise, Chloe doesn’t pull away. She kisses him back slowly at first but something in her says to go deeper. It seems Lucifer has the same thought as she feels his hand cup her cheek and pull her closer. She leans into him, her own hand sliding over his shoulder and up towards his neck.
All the air feels like it’s been suddenly sucked from her lungs. She pulls away quickly even though every bone and muscle in her body scream the opposite. Her hands shake as she removes them from his chest. She sighs deeply. She’s dizzy.
“Lucifer… We shouldn’t…” Her voice is quiet, a bit hoarse.
But why? Why shouldn’t she? She knows how she feels about him and clearly he feels the same.
Chloe internally kicks herself. They’re on a case. That’s why. She doesn’t know when the right time would be exactly but it’s not now.
Lucifer looks disappointed. Or horny. She can’t really read him. But he ignores her completely and kisses her again.
He holds her face carefully in both his hands, pulling her towards him again. She lets him and climbs not-so-gracefully over the center console into his lap. Lucifer breathes a shaky sigh down the front of Chloe’s shirt. She shivers and starts kissing him again.
Something in her mind tells her she should stop. She doesn’t listen, wanting to keep going. She fumbles with the buttons of his white shirt, desperately trying to feel underneath the luxury fabric. Unfortunately, there isn’t much room for them to do much in the front seat of her cruiser, so she settles for running her hands up the sides of his chest.
Lucifer seems to have the same idea and helps her shed her jacket onto the driver’s seat. His one hand goes to undo her tight ponytail, letting her hair fall down her shoulders. He brings it down to cup the side of her face once more. His other hand finds its way up the back of her shirt and somehow very gracefully undoes her bra clip. He’s about to pull it off when Chloe notices the sound of gravel crunching under car tires.
She pulls back, gasping and looks out the front window. Two men, one of them Jacob Tiernan, to nobody's surprise, usher a group of crouching girls down the ship ramp.
“Detective?” Lucifer says, sounded dazed.
“Shit,” she curses under her breath. Unceremoniously once again, she climbs back into her seat and attempts to pull her jacket back on.
Lucifer looks dizzy, kind of like how she felt earlier.
“Fix your shirt,” she replies.
He takes a breath and does as he’s told. He doesn’t look at what he’s doing though. Instead, he watches Chloe put a hand on her gun as her hair slides over her shoulder. She didn’t bother to put it back up. He would do anything to lift it up and kiss the back of her neck and—
“C’mon,” Chloe says, interrupting his thoughts. She’s out of the car before he even finishes buttoning his shirt.
———————
Lucifer’s watching the coroners close up the body bag as Chloe comes up behind him. She stops next to him, not knowing if anything she’ll say will make it better. But she tries.
“It’s not your fault, Lucifer.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.” She turns to face him and he looks down at her, eyes somber. “It’s not. He got away, he shot her—”
“He killed her, Detective.”
“Yeah. I know. But it happens. That’s part of what comes with the job and she knew that. This is not on you, Lucifer.”
He doesn’t respond. Chloe takes his hand, intertwining their fingers. She doesn’t know what they qualify as after a makeout session in her passenger seat but she knows he needs grounding. She hopes this helps.
“Come on,” she says quietly.
Lucifer follows her numbly to her car. He grips her hand tightly, as if afraid she might leave him standing alone with the flashing police lights and sirens.
She gives his hand a squeeze before letting go and looks at him. He manages to press his lips into a line that she assumes is supposed to be a smile.
“Do you wanna get a drink?” Chloe asks once she’s pulled out of the scene. “I could stop by Lux and stay with you for a bit if you want. You don’t really… seem like you should be alone right now.”
“No,” Lucifer says.
“No?” Chloe repeats. “No what?” He sounds like Trixie when Chloe is trying to pry how she’s feeling out of her when her daughter is sad. But she doesn’t get frustrated. Emotions are hard, especially for him.
“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” he answers after a moment. His voice is hardly louder than a whisper.
“Okay.” Chloe nods. She swings a left towards Sunset. “I’ll have Maze watch Trix tonight and… I’ll sleep on the couch. So you’re not all alone up there.”
“No,” Lucifer says again. Chloe glances at him as she rolls ups to a red light. He’s not looking at her. His eyes are glazed over, teary. “I’d rather not be at Lux tonight.”
Chloe nods again. “You can take my bed tonight. I don’t mind the couch. Trix should probably be asleep by the time we get back.”
“Detective…” Lucifer says quietly. His hand finds hers on the steering wheel and he’s the one who intertwines their fingers this time. Chloe looks over at him again. “I—”
A car honks behind them and Chloe pulls her hand away. The light is green so she speeds through the intersection. They aren’t far from her apartment but Chloe’s mind spins the entire way home. She has no idea what he was going to say but a certain three word phrase is stuck at the forefront of her brain.
But there’s no way he would say that yet. Right? They’re not even dating. They’ve only kissed one. Twice now. She doesn’t even think he’s said those words to anyone. Not even his brother.
Chloe shakes the fog from her head as she pulls into the apartment complex. She gets out first, holding her hand out as she waits for Lucifer to take it. Once he does, she tugs him close to her. Being close to people has always made her felt safe and understood so she hopes it’ll make him feel even just a little bit safer.
Trixie is passed out when they arrive, just as Chloe suspected. Lucifer roots through Chloe’s kitchen cabinets, looking for the bottle of whiskey he knows she keeps only for him. Chloe waves the babysitter goodbye and leans back on the door as she closes it.
Lucifer no longer seems to be sad as he was when they left the crime scene. His movements are tighter, rougher. He’s angry.
“Hey,” Chloe says softly. “Hey, hey, hey.” She moves towards him quickly and gently grabs his hands. He calms at her touch. One hand holds a whiskey cup, which she pries from his fingers and rests it on her counter.
“Detective, you know I can’t get drunk,” he says bitterly.
“I know. But I can. And if you start, so will I. And I don’t think either of us need that tonight.”
Lucifer meets her eyes and his face softens. Chloe nods and leads him to the couch.
“Do you wanna watch anything?” Chloe asks, sitting down next to him. “Want a blanket?”
“Sure,” Lucifer answers quietly.
Chloe nods and reaches for a blanket folded on a nearby chair. She lays it over both of them and rests her head on Lucifer’s shoulder.
“Any movie preferences?”
“No, that’s okay, Detective,” Lucifer says. He sounds sad. Chloe reaches her hand around and grabs his, giving it a little squeeze. She does it for Trixie whenever she’s stressed. Lucifer presses his lips into the smallest smile. “I’d just like to… stay here with you, if that’s alright.”
“Yeah of course,” Chloe responds immediately. “You know you’re welcome here any time, Lucifer.”
He looks a little defeated—well, even more defeated now—after Chloe says that. She wants to press him on the matter but she doesn’t know exactly what to say that could help. But she might as well try.
“You know,” she starts slowly, sitting up to face him. “We, uh… we never finished our conversation from earlier.”
“What conversation?”
Chloe takes a deep breath. “This one,” she says, and kisses him.
She pulls his face towards her gently, running a hand through his hair. But this time, Lucifer’s the one to pull away.
Embarrassment crashes down on her. Was it not good? Does he not feel that way? Did he not mean that with that look on his face?
She watches him as he watches her. He’s looking her up and down and looks dazed. As she opens her mouth to start rambling, he kisses her again.
Chloe leans back, letting him take control as he pushes her back onto the couch. She starts to go towards his button down but quickly remembers Trixie is sleeping in the other room and thinks better of it.
Lucifer moves down, leaving kisses on her jawline and down her neck. The moment he starts to suck on her skin, she starts to giggle, putting her hands over her face.
“What’s so funny?” Lucifer asks incredulously.
“It tickles!” she says through her laughter. She pulls her hands from her to reveal her red cheeks.
Lucifer loves it when Chloe laughs. She glows. Smiles with her eyes. She thinks it gives her wrinkles but he thinks it’s adorable.
“Oh, so you’re ticklish?” he remarks, a playful tone to his voice.
Something warm bubbles up in Chloe. Only he can make her feel like this. She shrugs her shoulders, grinning wide.
“No!” she squeals as he moves his head back towards her neck and begins to kiss it again. She giggles more, wrapping her arms around him. “Stop! Okay, okay!”
Lucifer pulls away with a smile. The first real one she’s been able to get out of him all night. It makes her feel special when that happens, especially because she’s the one of the only people who can make that happen.
She grabs his face gently and kisses him. Softly this time, taking him in. Just in case.
“Upstairs?” she murmurs against his lips.
“Ooh Detective, taking me to bed so soon? Should’ve told me earlier and I would’ve been more than happy to oblige, you know—”
“No! No, stupid,” Chloe pushes him away playfully, sitting up. She holds her hand out. “Just… just sleeping tonight. Okay? I think that would be better for both of us.”
“If you insist,” Lucifer replies, taking her hand.
She leads him up to her room and lets go of him so she can get ready for bed. After she’s changed and washed up, Chloe walks out of her bathroom to see Lucifer still standing in the days clothing.
“Wat are yoh doin?” she asks, toothbrush sticking out of the side of her mouth.
“I haven’t got any clothes to wear to bed. Not that I usually wear any, but I know you’re all about decency so…” He shrugs.
Chloe shakes her head, grinning. She heads to the bathroom again to wash out her mouth and leans back to look at him. He still stands awkwardly by her dresser.
“Just… at least keep your underwear on, okay?”
“As you wish, Detective.” Lucifer nods and begins buttoning his shirt.
“You know you’re allowed to call me Chloe, right?” she says, pulling back her duvet and sliding under it.
“Mhm,” is all he answers with.
Chloe doesn’t mean to watch him get undressed but she does. She’ll never admit it to anyone but he’s quite mesmerizing.
He slides under the duvet next to her. “‘Chloe’ is reserved for special occasions.”
“Oh.”
She turns over so her back is facing him, hoping he’ll pull her close. And he does. Her back now rests against his bare chest, with his head right next to hers. He’s very warm, probably one of the many perks of being the Devil. Always warm equals personal portable heater.
“So… what is this?” Chloe asks suddenly. Best to get the harder questions out of the way first. “Like, what are we?”
“I think we should leave that discussion for tomorrow morning, love,” he replies softly. He plants a kiss on her shoulder.
The flutter in her stomach doesn’t stop her from being disappointed. She just wants them to be… something . Something official. After all these years, they’re finally going forward and not suppressing what they’ve felt for each other for so long. And now he wants to wait?
Chloe takes a deep breath. It’s not a big deal. She’s waited this long. She can wait until morning.
So, she curls closer to him, if that’s even possible and he draps an arm around her midsection. “Goodnight, Lucifer.”
It takes her a few minutes to get pretty sleepy but in her half asleep daze, she could swear she heard him say, “Goodnight, Chloe.”
But she’ll ask about it in the morning.