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The second Lute woke up in the morning she felt like shit. That was probably a result of a yesterday Extermination. The angels did a good job and the whole event managed to finish quickly so that the Lieutenant could just flop on her bed while the other Exorcists alongside with Adam went out to celebrate. Lute had no idea how did they still have enough energy to have fun, all she knew was that she needed to pass on that.
Her hopes for feeling better and more refreshed the next day quickly disappeared the second her opened her eye. The room was a bit dim because the blinds were still closed, however, it was too bright for her eyes, anyway. Every muscle in her body was aching and it brought her a lot of pain as she tried to move her leg.
"Fuck..." she mumbled. The best option now would be just stay in bed for the whole day but that was out of the question — she had her duties and one of them was to carry a workout for her division. It was an obligatory part of recovering after an Extermination. The point of it was to stretch the sore muscles and warm them up a little bit. Lute, however, preferred to warm herself up under her comfy duvet, again, that was out of the questions.
***
"There you are, bitches!" Lute could hear Adam's excited voice from the corridor and already knew that she would have to do her best in order not to snap at him which used to happened especially when she wasn't feeling the best. "Danger Tits!" he exclaimed, seeing Lute walking in. She only gave him a tired smile had a look at the Exorcists. Some of them looked exhausted, the others surprisingly quite refreshed and then there were the hangover ones.
"Alright, guys, let's get it done."
As much as Lute didn't want to participate in the exercises it would be perceived as unprofessional and she did not want to be perceived as unprofessional. She'd gone through a lot to be in a place she was now and despite all the rumours, no, it wasn't thanks to her being very close to Adam. In fact, he'd offered her help in getting promotions but since the beginning of their friendship she was always turning the offers down. She achieved all she had on her own and she wanted to keep it that way. Which, right now, was a very tricky thing to do, considering that only after running several dozen meters she had to stop and take a few deep breaths, hoping nobody would really notice her condition. Oh, how mistaken she was.
Adam was present during the whole workout that didn't happen often. Most of the time, he'd say that watching the Exorcists run around in circles or jump up and down for an hour or so was extremely boring. Anyway, the only angel that he was looking at was Lute, of course. Usually, he would admire her fit body but today he got quite worried, watching how much she was struggling. The best idea would be to stop the workout and dismiss the Exorcists but Adam knew that would only stress Lute out more than she had probably already been. That's why, he was just watching her closely, ready to take actions in case she fainted or something like this.
The Exorcists were about to finish their workout for the day — normally, the last part of it would be a short sparring match but Lute knew it would be too much for her so she just told the angels to walk off and get some rest.
"Hey, Tits, are you alright?" Adam stopped Lute when she was about to leave. The angel looked up at him with glassy eyes and red cheeks, maybe from the activities but probably more because of her current well-being. "You look like shit."
"Honest like always, aren't you?" she sighed, he was right, though. In the morning, she didn't even have time properly take care of herself.
"You're going with me, Lute," the man announced and took Lute's arm, leading her to his room.
"What? No! Where?" She tried to pull back from him. There was no way, Adam was taking care of her while he probably had more important things to do.
Adam stopped and turned to face Lute. He looked really serious as he looked at her but even through the mask she could notice that he was quite worried. Or maybe it was just her imagination wanting Adam to be worried about her?. "I'm going to take care of you. That's an order, Lieutenant." The woman only rolled her eyes and followed the First Man to his room.
***
"I really don't see why we're doing thi—" Lute didn't manage to finish because a series of coughing cut her off. It actually frightened her a bit because nothing like that had ever happened to her.
"You're sick, Lute." Adam took off his mask and placed it on a set of drawers while running fingers through his hair. The woman was watching him closely as he began to take off his robe, revealing a plain black t-shirt with a sign of horns printed on it and grey sweatpants. It was always rather adorable for Lute to see the so-called Dickmaster looking so casual and cosy.
"What are you waiting for? Lay down," the man said, fluffing the pillow for his girlfriend.
Lute sighed again. She took off her gloves and boots and just obeyed, making herself comfy in Adam's bed. Of course, it wasn't the first time she was in his bed, however, this time the circumstances were drastically different. Not that she didn't like them because as soon as her head touched the pillow, the amount of exhaustion hit her hard that she had to let out a rather painful moan.
"I haven't heard this one yet," Adam teased her and got hit by a pillow. "What!" he chuckled and sat down on the bed next to Lute and as he saw her shivering he grabbed his robe and offered it to her. "Put this on, it should help."
The women hesitantly grabbed the fabric to feel it in her hands. It was so soft and gentle — Lute had always wanted to try it on but was never brave enough to ask Adam to let her. Not it was the best opportunity.
Of course, when she put it on, she literally drowned in it. The sleeves were double the length of her arms, the fabric wrinkled at her feet because of how long the robe was in general and the collar was covering half of her face, only her eyes were fully visible.
Adam, sitting right next to her couldn't stop grinning at how adorable she looked. Even with dark circles under her eyes, slightly tangled hair and her sniffling from time to time she thought she was the most beautiful woman in the whole universe. Around her he felt like all his worries and sorrows disappeared. With Lute everything felt so natural, calm and casual. When he was with Lilith or Eve he always felt like he had to pretend, act tough and strong, and not keep his guard down. Being in the Garden made always made him feel like an animal kept in a cage and forced to do as he was told. None of these feelings had ever reappeared while Lute was next to him.
"What?" Lute eventually asked and blushed a bit.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just—" he chuckled. "My robe really suits you."
The woman hid her smile behind the collar. The robe did indeed suit her. It felt so soft against her skin like a little cloud hugging her, like Adam hugging her constantly. That was a dream come true. She always found it silly how all the time the two of them tried to touch each other. Whether it was a simple fist bump or one of them leaning against each other. They obviously so in love with one another, yet, so scared to finally admit it, afraid of being laughed at and harassed. Also, another thing, Adam was terrified of loving somebody and then losing them again.
Suddenly, Lute gasped and her whole face went pale.
"Hey, Lute, what is it?" Adam asked, seeing how disturbed suddenly the woman was.
"There's a Council Meeting today!" The man groaned and pinched the ridge of his nose. Council Meetings were always happening the day after an Extermination which Adam thought was really unfair and dumb because while Sera didn't have to move her ass even an inch, Lute and him had to do the dirty job. "I gotta get ready!" Lute began to get up.
"Woah, woah, woah! Chillax, Tits!" Adam put his hands on her shoulders and kept her sat down. "You're not going anywhere." He felt her forehead and as he suspected it was hot. "You have a fever, you're not going anywhere."
"Feve— I'm an angel, I can't get sick!"
"It must be some shit from Hell and these things are rather serious so there's no way I'm letting you go anywhere. You're staying here and resting, capisci?" Lute only nodded defeated. "That's my girl."
***
The meeting was as boring as always if not more. Normally, Adam would do something to kill the time with Lute — play tic-tac-toe, hangman, write her silly little letter to make her smile (that was his favourite activity) but now that she was absent he'd just yawned for the twentieth time. Sera was just repeating her usual bullshit just like during every single meeting. Adam always wondered why wouldn't she just let Lute send her a report or something. Less time wasted and more free time to spend messing around with his Lieutenant.
"Can you at least pretend that you're paying attention?" Sera turned to Adam who only pointed his famous finger guns at her and gave her a fake smile. "If Lute wasn't lazing around this whole meeting would have been already over."
Adam felt rage growing inside of him. How dare this bitch complain about the most hard-working angel in Heaven.
"Fuck you." He crossed his arms on his chest.
"Excuse me? Do you have something to add, Adam?" Sera glared at him, furious that he interrupted her.
"Actually, yes." The First Man stood up and looked around at everybody who was attending the meeting. "Let me tell you how many of you actually take part in Exterminations. Zero! Null! Nada! And you know who are the only ones who do? Me and Lute! And you dare to whine about her being absent while she is the one who risks her life in Hell when you get to sit on your fat bitch ass in your office only waiting for the results." He was now breathing deep, trying his best not to snap more. "You wish you were at least half as good as Lute! But, guess what, you will never be! Peace out, pricks!"
The angels started vocalising their disapproval as Adam was leaving the room but he knew they all could stick that bullshit up their tight assholes. Nobody can insult Lute in his presence. They all can't even comprehand with their narrow minds how amazing and awesome she really is.
***
As he reached his room he was really close to just slamming the door behind him but he stopped himself in time, seeing a small bundle sleeping soundly in his bed. A big smile grew on his face imediately and, even though, he was still pissed about the previous event but the Lute's calm radiated from her and spread onto Adam. Right now, there was nothing that he wanted to do more than to cuddle her and hold close to him. However, there were other things to be done first.
Once more, he took off his mask and robe (yes, he has a collection of them), miracling a bowl with chicken soup on the set of drawers for later — he gave it some time to cool down a bit so it wasn't too hot for Lute. He also thought that a good idea would be to leave a window ajar so the air in the room felt a bit more fresh. From time to time Adam was checking on Lute and it was good he did because a few times she would fell off the bed, tossing and turning constantly.
Under other circumstances, he would think that it was beacause of nightmares but having known Lute quite well know he just knew that it was just her way of sleeping. The only time when she wasn't really moving in bed was when she was cuddled to him.
Sometimes Adam thought about escaping. Escaping from Heaven, taking Lute on the Earth and starting a life with her down there — without Sera constantly following them with her annoying self and without Hell and them constantly putting their lives at risks. Adam couldn't remember how many nights he had spent crying himself to sleep after an Extermination during with Lute would get heavinly injured. He just wanted to keep her safe.
"Adam...?" He heard from the bundle and smiled to himself, sitting at the bed and moved Lute's hair out of her eyes.
"Did you have a good nap, Lute?" he asked quietly in order to let the angel properly wake up. Her voice was still quite hoarse from the sleep.
The woman nodded at Adam and still sleepily moved closer to him, nuzzling his chest. As she did it she felt his heart beating suspiciously fast.
"Adam? Are you okay?" She looked up to him, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Did something happen during the meeting?"
The man rolled his eyes, not letting go of Lute. There was no point in telling her everything, especially that it was really pleasent. Sera was just a bitch and Lute wasn't really in the best state to listen to her bullshit.
"Nah, just usual boring stuff. I was just sprinting back to check on you." Lute smiled widely at him and blushed. She wasn't usually that blushy or vulnerable so she blamed the sickness for it. Probably, Adam was also a cause of her behaviour. After all, it was very rare that he was so gentle and soft. "Now, I have soup for you."
The man gently moved Lute so she could comfortable lean against the headboard and he went to grab the bowl. It was not as hot as at first but still warm enough so it would help Lute. At first, she looked at the bowl hesitantly — eating wasn't really her thing, she doubted that it really had any effect on her but seeing Adam's care she couldn't just say no.
That's why, after a few minutes of fighting and encouraging Lute to let Adam feed her, they were both back in bed, eating the soup — well, Lute was eating the soup and Adam was helping her.
Very quickly the warmth of the tasty liquid warmed up Lute's body. The nap had already let her body rest a bit and relax so now the soup was only adding to it.
"You seem to have experience in taking care of sick angels," she chuckled a bit. Getting to know Adam's soft side was really amusing to her.
"Well, Cain and Abel used to get sick quite often..." he said quietly which was a big surprise for Lute because he hardly ever talked about them. She always wondered why he had never wanted to find them. But maybe that would open up old wounds...
"Then they had really amazing care," she smiled softly at him and let him feed her the rest of the soup.
Soon the bowl was miracles away and Adam pulled Lute close to him, rocking her gently. It was a very rare sight — the Exorcists' Lieutenant being so vulnerable and calm around him. The man was proud of himself that he managed to gain the angel's trust that much. He promised himself that he would continue being better and better for her and today was a pretty good start.