Chapter Text
There’s thorns in your flowers.
You’re not exactly sure why you’re surprised when you had ended up falling for the most guarded of the brothers. Lucifer certainly wasn’t someone to let his feelings known easily so it only made sense that the stupid flowers that grew in your body would have razor sharp thorns.
At some point you weren’t scared anymore about the looming danger of the thorns one day puncturing your lungs or even your heart. Sure the pain would be slow and painful but you think that anything would be better than trying to confess your feelings then hear him spat some high and mighty speech about how love is stupid or whatever. The vines tightened slightly around your lungs at the thought of him.
Even when he wasn’t there he made you hurt.
The fucker towed the line between being ignorant of your feelings and knowing exactly how you felt then use clever word play to mask it. It drove you up the wall but the subtle affections you got from it almost made up for it.
Almost.
Who were you kidding? Any sort of attention he gave to you had your heart doing flips then making you feel like you were going to have a heart attack. The cycle was a vicious dance where you would be traded from partner to partner, hoping that your next dance with him will last longer than the last only to have you pushed along to the next. His gloved hands brushing against your arm or a single finger under your chin to make you look at him we’re the scraps of affection you gladly accepted.
As you lay in your bed you wonder what the rest of the year would look like. Mostly you just wanted to finish whatever tasks he had given you for the week as soon as possible so you had an excuse to talk to him for your report. Sure he would be stiff and standoffish but that would be ten minutes of one on one time. The flowers that grew inside of you felt as if they bloomed the more you spent time with him and although you knew that was the last thing you needed, you couldn’t help yourself.
With a heavy sigh you force yourself to sit up and dangle your feet off the bed. You cleared your throat, rubbing at your abdomen where you can almost feel the indents from the vines. An all too familiar scratchy feeling welled up in your chest and you shakily stood up to go to the bathroom before you vomited flowers everywhere.
His flower was a rose. It was very simple as you honestly expected something more grandiose but then again, he is a fallen angel. He’s a beautiful ethereal creature and deserves an equally beautiful flower. The only thing different about the flowers is that the tips were stained black.
Slowly opening the door you made sure no one was in the main hallway before making a b line to the bathroom. Each step had you more and more shaken than the last that was made even worse paired with the growing weight in your chest.
It was getting harder to keep yourself up and you found yourself leaning against the hallway walls, reaching for any sort of purchase to keep balance. A familiar door was nearby and you collapsed in front of it, clutching your chest as you doubled over, the first of many petals landing on the floor.
With a shaky hand, you weakly knocked at the door of a dear friend.
“As.. mo..” you called out, knocking one more time before retching onto the floor, whimpering when you felt thorns starting to crawl up your throat.
Your pitiful plea was answered once the door handle rattled and with it was Asmodeus.
He shrieked when he saw you and instantly kneeled down to your side, hands hovering over you, unsure of what to do. You had told him about your situation and of course knew about the disease but he had no idea how to handle it.
“H-Hey buddy.” You weakly grin at him.
He scoffed, arms wrapping around you carefully and picking you up off the floor. “Don’t do that with me. I see through your jokes.”
You curl up against his chest, coughing and covering your mouth to keep the flowers in. “‘S how I cope.” The demon simply sighed.
He went to the bathroom and locked the door once it closed. He then gently sets you down onto the floor before you let your weight go and crash onto the tile. What surprised you the most was that he wasn’t trying to make a joke about you falling for him or something along those lines.
The two of you had only just started to become real friends over the past week and in that time you had begun to open up more about your condition. You had figured that he knew about the disease most out of all the brothers since he was a bit of a player even if he toned it down. He helped you conceal flower petals and made you tea whenever your throat felt more raw than usual, always eager to cover for you when you were about to spill your guts out.
Like a true friend does.
“I’m glad you at least collapsed in front of my door,” he mumbled, filling a cup with water for you. “If it had been any of my brothers then you would definitely have to explain yourself. Not saying that I’m happy you collapsed but, hey, at least it was me.”
You smiled weakly at how much he was trying to keep cheerful about the stupid situation you found yourself in. It at least gave you something to think of instead of the raging garden that grew inside of you.
“I have grown very fond of you.” Your voice took you for a loop. Did you seriously sound like that? Asmo’s eyes grew when he heard you speak, covering his mouth.
“You sound..” There was a small crinkle at the corners of his eyes. “Ridiculous!! Oh my goodness you sound like me after I’ve had two needy doms use my mouth!!”
“Fucking what.”
“You know! Like, miss dom wanting me to eat her out for hours on end then mister dom fucking my throat. It’s all very strenuous for the throat and makes you sound exactly how you sound now!” Asmodeus said as if he was telling you about the weather for the day. The calm and collected tone made you snicker before bubbling up into laughter.
Busting out into a laughing fit probably wasn’t the best call on your part. You were using up precious air that could have been for just breathing yet here you are, wasting it because your friend told you about a sexcapade he had. Asmo took your wheezing and rattling breathing as a sign to calm you down before you died.
“H-hey!! It wasn’t that funny!” He whined, hands hovering over you, fingers twitching slightly as if he was too afraid to actually touch you just yet.
You snorted a couple of times before your wheezing laughter died down enough so you could utter a few words. “Y-You..! Pppfff!! Asmo, sweetie, you compared my ugly voice to you getting throat fucked and swallowing too much pussy juice!” You could hardly finish the rest of the sentence before you broke into another laughing fit, hitting the closed door to get some energy out of your system.
Asmo stared at you blankly and huffed. “Well when you put it like that.”
“How else could I put it?!” Reaching for the cup of water you took a slow sip, coughing up some of the liquid but tried again anyways. Now your spit tastes like rose water.
He snorted. “As much as I would love to continue this silly topic, we really do need to have a talk about.. You and you-know-who.”
The good mood instantly died and Asmodeus winced at how fast the smile melted off your face. He always did like to get right to the point and you couldn’t find it in yourself to be mad at him for that. Someone had to show you some proper tough love.
The lighthearted mood died out instantly when there was a heavy knock at the door.
“You two understand that it’s the middle of the night, correct?” Son of a bitch.
The two of you made a mad dash to clean up your mess even if it was mostly you trying to scoop up petals only to have Asmo swat away at your hands and make you look presentable.
“Fix yourself.” He hissed, dumping a handful of flowers into the trash and frantically covered it with toilet paper.
You weren’t sure how you could do that. Your legs still felt like jelly and moving an inch away from your current position was hell on your stomach. But fine. Sure, let’s do this.
Asmo gives out light commentary to sate Lucifer before he deems everything as perfect as can be to even consider opening that door.
He looks down at you, who is still sitting pathetically on the floor, and sighs deeply. “We’re in deep shit, aren’t we..” He grumbles.
“Let’s get it over with,” your eyes are trained on the door. “He can’t kill both of us so at least one of us is gonna make it out alive.”
The protective barrier between you and the spawn of hell is torn down and you find the very prideful Lucifer three feet in front of you. Fuck. He takes his time examining the scene before him before snorting. Guess all of Asmo’s clean up was for nothing.
“So, who are the flowers for?” Lucifer cut right to the point.
You wince, glancing over to Asmo who wasn’t in better shape.
It was just like Lucifer to drag the answers out of you when he already knew the answers. Anger welled up inside of you, your cheeks turning red the longer he stared at you. What an asshole.
“What’s it to you?” You spat. Literally. You had spit petals out at the end to make your point clear that you weren’t in the mood for his bullshit. Obviously he won’t leave well enough alone but you wanted to be petty.
“You’re under my care,” Came his smooth reply. “Whatever happens to you comes back to me so I have to strangle whoever did this to you in order for you to now be in pain anymore then I will. If you want to be rid of this burden and have surgery then I will pay your bill.”
Lucifer knelt down to your level, thumb and index finger holding either side of your cheeks to make you look at him. “I will ask one more time. Whose flowers are these.”
How badly you wanted to tell him. Maybe it would be better to just tell him that he’s the reason this is happening and get it over with already. There’s no way of knowing how he’ll react to it but at least it’ll be done with. Maybe Diavolo could fix it. He's soon to be demon king so he should have some powers to make things better.
The romantic in you thought about how nice it would be if he returned your feelings only to be punched when you remember you have fucking flowers in your chest.
But goodness, wouldn’t it be perfect if this moment was the one that made him stop denying his feelings and confess his love for you? The love he had been repressing for so long because he was afraid of what it could mean? You would almost forgive him for putting you through this then call him stupid and kiss him. A happily ever after ending.
The fantasy was much, much more appealing than reality. He’s still there. Just, holding your face. That’s kind of sweet you guess.
Lucifer wasn’t budging. You squint. No, now isn’t a good time. At least not yet.
“It’s Asmo.” You croak, eyes half lidded as he holds your contact.
Lucifer looked at you then to his brother. Asmodeus stiffly nodded, his hand slowly stopping from rubbing at your back, taking the slightest move closer to you. He was protecting you.
“Your unrequited love is comforting you from the pain he’s giving you?” Lucifer questioned, clearly not buying it.
Of course he’s not. The man is exceedingly intelligent. Too smart for his own good. You don’t even know how you managed to keep this to yourself without him finding out with how damn smart and perceptive he is.
He’s so smart. So handsome. Look at those eyes. If you pay attention and smudge the truth then you can fool yourself into thinking they hold an ounce of concern for you.
The vines clench tighter around your lungs that steadily grew further inside of you, the thorns scrapping at your inner lining before forcing more bundles of petals out.
Your eyes shut tight as you clutched Asmo’s hands while you hacked the flowers out. Snot dribbled from your nose the longer it went on, drool trailing off the side of your mouth, eyes watery but you refused to cry in front of them.
A bundle of flowers fell onto the tile floor, blood spilling along with them that you didn’t want to focus on. Asmo gasped when he saw the fully formed flowers with its thorns and grit his teeth together but you weren’t focused on him. How typical of you.
You were focused on Lucifer. Like you always are.
From what you can tell, which isn’t much, he’s just standing there as you struggle to breath and watching you. His feet hadn’t moved a centimeter since he made his presence known and you hated that you read too much into it to make yourself feel better. Like this was his way of comfort.
After fifteen minutes of this, the bundle of flowers turned to petals and eventually nothing. Your chest was by no means feeling any lighter at the end of it. If anything you felt heavier than before.
Now you gotta deal with this jerkwad.
Asmodeus helped you sort yourself back together. He wiped your mouth and held a cup of water to your lips, muttering things to you and occasionally crack a few jokes that made you smile. It hurt too much to laugh. You think he stopped trying to make jokes when you barely laughed and coughed up an alarming amount of blood.
He helped you up onto your feet and set you down onto the toilet seat. He held your hands, running his thumbs over your hands and watched over you. His back was facing Lucifer.
You looked at Asmo and smiled, pursing your lips together. “Why couldn’t it actually be you.” You whispered, tears once against trying to sell you out.
He sniffled, wiping his own tears off on his shoulder and choked out a laugh. “It would be much simpler if it was. Then you wouldn’t have to deal with.. all this.”
You nodded and let out a deep breath. Glancing behind Asmo you could see Lucifer looming in the doorway. His perfect hair was slightly tousled from where his horns normally would be. His gloved hand was gripping the doorframe so tight that you could make out the cracks and indent he had created. A small snort found its way out of you. Good. Let him be pissed.
“I’m gonna have to talk to him, aren’t I?” Asmodeus nodded stiffly, brushing hair away from your face and gently tapped your nose.
“I’ll be right outside the door. If he even tries anything you don’t like then knock once and I’ll bust in and tear his ass a new one until we’re back in the celestial realm.” The slightly crazed look to his eyes let you know that he was completely serious.
You snicker softly but nod nonetheless. With a wordless thank you, you press your forehead against his for a second before letting him leave you alone.
Asmo shoulder checked Lucifer on his way out and you could hear a distant huff followed by a soft creak on the wall that made you smile. Guess he really was serious.
Your musing was interrupted by a click of the door lock. Lucifer trapped you in here with him.
The bathroom was spacious enough, way more than what you were used to, though with him in here with you it felt like the walls were closing in.
“Just get your lecture over with.”
“Who said I was going to lecture you.” Lucifer took a step closer.
You roll your eyes, clearing your throat then pulled out a petal, looking at him. “I would be very surprised if you didn’t. Considering this bad boy and the rest of his asshole family.”
And what an extensive family it was. Lucifer's eyes glanced over the room to all the flowers covering the floor, taking note of the stems that had thorns still on them along with the splashes on blood coating it. He briefly wondered how you weren’t dead yet.
“It’s certainly a topic I want to touch on but for now I’m more concerned for your well being.” Your heart thumped.
He was worried. He cared. He cared about you! Holy shit he cares! Your entire body relaxed, your skin tingling and burning the more your mind swirled with him showing you an ounce of emotion. Every instinct in you told you that he probably cared because of the exchange program but you ignored the glaring detail.
“Glad to hear,” you sighed out. “Do you have any fancy demon magic to get rid of the flowers?”
Lucifer looked over the petals for a second before squatting down to pick up one of the barely still attached flowers and held it up. He traced his fingers over them carefully, taking a light whiff of them which only grossed you out a tiny bit.
“Lucifer.” You called out, snapping him out of his daze. He looked up at you, offering a polite smile before looking back down at the flower.
“Why are you lying to me about who the flowers belong to?”
That one sentence made you choke up.
Fuck.
“I’m not lying.” You lied.
He sighed, gently plucking the petals off. “You are but I suppose I understand why you would lie about something like this. If I were to catch wind of who they belonged to then I would without hesitation obliterate them where they stand for putting you through so much pain.” He sounded very matter of fact about it.
It’s not like he could ‘obliterate’ himself so there’s no reason to tell him, you reasoned with yourself. He’s in detective mode right now so it doesn’t even matter to tell him the truth. He’ll tell you soon enough.
“Would you really do that for me?” Your voice came out as a pathetic whisper. God, this was some cruel joke, wasn’t it? An extra punishment?
With all the calmness that the eldest of the infamous demon brothers could hold, Lucifer comes down to your level, idly pushing aside the flowers to reach and take a hold of your chin. His glove is so soft.. You can feel his warmth seeping through. Your eyes flutter closed to enjoy the comfort before opening to look back up at him.
A moment passed before he answered you. “I would do anything for you.”
Was this finally it? Tears well up in your eyes, leaning in just so. You had never imagined that he would even share an ounce of your affection and yet-!
And yet he speaks once more. You had nearly forgotten who exactly was the man your heart had unfortunately belonged to.
“I would do anything for you as I would for Diavolo. You are in my care, after all. It would be.. unfortunate if something were to happen to you.”
“Oh.”
Right. How could you have been such a dumbass.
Your hands circled into a tight fist at your sides and your lips raised into a scowl, fire blazing deep in you that you had never thought possible. Lucifer was a demon who only cared for his job and station.
He would never have time for a lowly human such as yourself.
Something changes in you in that split second of rage. The vines inside of you no longer squeeze and constrict every organ in your body but instead seemingly release. The throne dull down until they disappear altogether with the tickles of flower petals disappearing with them.
“Right.”
You take his hand into yours and stare at the glove for a moment. Huh. The warmth is gone. Had it been there to begin with, you wonder.
“Well, Lucifer,” you swallow thickly and muster a smile. “I think the worst has already passed so don’t worry about me, kay? Got Asmo with me, anyway.”
He looked entirely unconvinced. “It passed at the last second.” His deadpan voice would have made you laugh in the past but for some reason it doesn’t elicit anything. You find that you’re not really upset by this.
“Yeah! Must be the human blood doing some funky stuff. I promise you’ll be the first to hear if someone comes up. Cross my heart and hope to die.”
The two of you have a sort of stare down until you make yourself stand up off the floor, ignoring his open hand and instead using the sink counter to help you up.
“See you around, Lucifer.”