Chapter Text
“Can you tell us what led you to work together?”
“Actually—” The Detective started to answer the journalist, but Lucifer quickly pulled the rug out.
“Actually, an acquaintance of mine had been murdered. Delilah was a former employee of my nightclub. I had helped her get her singing career off the ground, you know, as an artist myself…” Lucifer solemnly said as rearranged his cufflinks. He then crossed his legs, assuming a more serious stance next to his partner. “Anyway, the Detective was investigating the case, so she questioned me as a witness: standard procedure,” He waved it off as a minor fact before resuming. “She came into Lux to do so and I was sure I already met her. You see, I could've sworn I had seen her naked, but I couldn't quite remember if we'd slept together or not. I couldn't bring myself to leave my case unsolved. Neither Delilah's. So I had to investigate by myself.”
Chloe facepalmed. What came out of Lucifer’s mouth was the complete opposite of his serious attitude. As it often was— she should’ve known better.
The journalist and her cameraman blinked in disbelief at Lucifer's nonchalant seriousness.
Yeah. That's exactly what it felt like when you weren't used to his out-of-bounds behavior.
She attempted a cool smile. “Lucifer, I'm sure that it's not what—”
“What was the result of your investigation, Mr Morningstar?” The journalist cut her off, seemingly very interested by her devil of a partner's story.
Lucifer grinned. “Well, I was obviously right from the start about Jimmy Barnes being our murderer. As for Detective Decker, I was— unluckily for her —way off the mark. We haven't had sex, and that's her surname that finally put me on the trail.”
“Hot tub high school.”
Period .
She didn't expect it to come from the cameraman, though. And as if that wasn't embarrassing enough, the guy drooled, staring at her. Yikes.
“She was amazing, wasn't she?” Lucifer added, deeply into it. “I mean, it was the best part of the movie; only a blind man could say otherwise,” he huffed.
The cameraman wasn't blind, that was for sure. If anything, he was clearly squinting at the discreet décolleté Chloe was wearing. Unlike the journalist who paid her no attention as she hung on Lucifer's every word. The woman was at the edge of her seat— literally —ready to rip out any juicy detail that had absolutely nothing to do with their job at the LAPD.
Chloe shifted on her seat. She opened her mouth, trying to speak up and interrupt his diatribe, but Lucifer was on a roll and her mouth eventually closed with a helpless sigh. Maybe if she let him praise her ‘ hot tub acting’ , they could get back to business real quick. After all, she was way past remarks about that nude scene. She'd heard so many in her rookie’s years that she was used to it and way over it. No big deal, right?
Wishful thinking .
“Besides, I'm not blind and as a normally constituted man. Beyond normal, actually— well far beyond —I can say these are a lot better in real life. TV makes them look a little bigger though: more like an 80C. But we're clearly on an 80B, pretty much more harmonious with the whole picture, if you ask me.” With his hands, Lucifer reproduced their approximate size in front of his chest, making the whole interview all the more awkward— if possible .
By the way, that last declaration was way far beside the point! Off the topic of their professional partnership. Very out of line with her performance as an actress. Very very out of place!
“Lucifer!” Chloe scolded, casting him a death stare.
“Wait. It's okay, Detective. I made it clear we hadn't slept together and I never lie," he whispered, addressing her rather than the audience for the first time since the beginning of the interview. "I never lie," he added in a louder voice, straight to the camera this time.
The journalist nodded as Lucifer just threw a bone into the hungry wolf's mouth.
“The two of you seem intimately close. Are you in the early stages of a relationship that hasn't yet reached physical intimacy?”
“Sorry, but this has nothing to do with our professional partnership,” Chloe pointed out, not concealing her irritation anymore.
“Since kissing doesn't count, the answer is no. No physical intimacy between the Detective and I. But the day it happens, hell will freeze over.” Lucifer chimed in. “Not that humans would notice anyway.” He shrugged.
The journalist frowned but eventually ignored the last remark and resumed.
“So we can obviously state the fact that you two are fooling around while working together?”
Chloe pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, thwarted. This was one hell of a mess. She should never have accepted this interview with the Devil. But Lucifer was so enthusiastic at the proposition. So was Ella. And Trixie… And Chloe had finally given in. Now she was thinking about the aftermath, and if she wanted to keep it under control, she had to step in. Right now.
“Lucifer? Maybe you shall put that mouth of yours to better use?”
Scratch that.
All she wanted to do was give him a polite warning to shut the fuck up... But it had to come out as a sexual innuendo that he would definitely pick up on without going easy on her. There was absolutely no way he'd ever let her live this down.
Chloe waited a beat, letting the innuendo hang in the air before gauging her partner’s reaction out of the corner of her eye. Contrary to her expectations, Lucifer didn’t look the slightest bit smug or ready to deliver one of his usual cocky remarks. If anything, he appeared puzzled and uneasy.
“I... I think the Detective's right. I'm getting off track there. So…” Lucifer cleared his throat before proceeding, “...after solving Delilah's murder,...”
There had been an unresolved tension between the two of them since the end of the interview.
At least that was how Chloe felt. Every nerve in her body was tense after Lucifer's reaction. Or rather, his non-reaction.
She was ashamed to admit it, but... she was surprisingly disappointed that he hadn't taken the bait. Of course, she would have been falsely annoyed, but deep down, she liked the way he made her feel, and she longed for it.
To say that the electricity in the air could have caused sparks to fly around them was an understatement. They could have easily burned the building to the ground.
As the elevator took them down to the underground garage, a deafening silence had settled between them. Neither dared break it. They also avoided eye contact. Any kind of contact, actually.
Still, Chloe could feel Lucifer's gaze burning down the back of her neck. She could almost feel him tensing behind her. Obviously just as uncomfortable as she was.
“Lucifer?”
“Detective?”
They spoke in unison.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have—” Lucifer started but she turned to face him, speaking at the same time as he did. Again.
“Why didn't you say it?” She asked, out of the blue.
He raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat.
“Say…what?”
"What you obviously had on the tip of your tongue earlier during the interview, but didn't say." She offered him an equally meaningful second chance. "By the way, I still don't know why you suddenly showed such restraint."
Her fingers drummed on her thigh as she waited for him to seize it. He had no way to escape, and neither did she— literally .
Tipping his head back, Lucifer glanced up at the ceiling with a sigh. “Bloody hell. Because…why would I do something that would obviously make you run away?”
"That's your thing, Lucifer. I never ran off to Vegas to get married," she said bluntly. She was reluctantly opening a can of worms she would have preferred to keep closed.
"You almost married Pierce," Lucifer pointed out bitterly, splitting the score.
Annoyed, Chloe pushed the button to stop the elevator. No way out. They would get to the bottom of it this time.
Then she took a step closer, closing the arm's length he kept between them.
"Go ahead, Lucifer. Say it," she urged him. "I have nowhere to run," she waved at the elevator suspended in air- and time . "And there's no reason for you to hold back any longer."
"There's always the security cameras, Detective." He tried a devilish grin but it didn’t match his usual sassiness.
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, unimpressed by the subtle way he tried to evade her original request. At least he looked back to his usual uninhibited self… Almost.
Why did the innuendo sound normal when it came from him, but when it came from her, it was suddenly much more inappropriate?
Very much more real , actually…
“What the hell is wrong with you, Lucifer!? You had no trouble unpacking earlier, until I gave you a taste of your own medicine.”
He fidgeted, hopping from one foot to the other. She assumed he was unsure if he should actually argue with her or go around her to restart the machine and end their conversation.
Chloe wasn't going to let him run away. She took another step closer and looked up, seeking eye contact with her partner. "Maybe you should put that mouth of yours to better use?" she repeated what she'd said before, before she could chicken out.
Lucifer finally relented and delivered almost instantly, "I can think of dozens of better uses, Detective," he mused, his voice barely above a murmur.
He said it. Now she couldn't seem to find her voice. She wasn’t sure she was breathing either. Performing CPR would probably be one of dozens of ways to put his mouth to better use.
"Show me," she whispered, surprising herself at how needy she sounded.
There was no triumph in Lucifer's eyes. No smug satisfaction. Just a furrowed brow of confusion. She wasn't expecting the insecurity lurking in his eyes when she had first voiced her desire.
Tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes, he looked at her with a fleeting flick of a vulnerability, a sense of uncertainty, that sent her heart into overdrive and her brain overthinking.
But then Lucifer moved toward her, and the next thing she knew, her shoulder blades hit the wall of the elevator, and all traces of apprehension were long forgotten. She was trapped. His palms rested on the wall on either side of her. He didn't touch her anywhere, but she could still feel the warmth of his body merging with hers.
Chloe lifted her chin, a silent invitation this time. She was done talking, and he'd better be done too. She still longed for him to put his mouth to work, though— just some other way.
“Detective,” he whispered breathlessly.
Glancing down at her lips, he swallowed, his Adam's Apple bobbing up and down.
“I'm not sure it's the right place to put on such a show.” His voice was hoarse and subdued as his breath ghosted over her lips. Though once again full of undertones.
She knew what he meant: the dozens of ways he could use his mouth. Though right now she would settle for only one of those ways.
“Less talking, more doing, Lucifer.” She murmured, brushing her nose against his.
Lucifer delivered. One of his hands moved to Chloe's face, gently cupping her cheek. She closed her eyes, basking in the warm contact of his skin against hers. Then his lips pressed against hers, light as a feather, tentatively. It didn't last long enough for her. When he pulled away, they were not out of breath and she felt an instant cold set in, already missing his lips on hers.
As she slowly lifted her heavy eyelids, her gaze met Lucifer's, who studied her as if he had memorized every line of her face. His thumb on her lower lip slowly traced the plump curves.
Chloe was breathless. "This is real. Don't you dare stop," she murmured, reassuring him, anticipating the dozens of ways he was already screwing things up in his head.
They collided into each other as his lips crashed fiercely against hers.
Chloe's heart raced, her chest heaving as she opened her mouth to him and surrendered completely to the kiss. He tasted of whisky and cigarettes but she didn't care. It was pure him and it made her head spin. Her senses were drowned out and overwhelmed by the abundance of him that surged through her like a torrent of lava from an erupting volcano.
Even though it wasn't their first kiss, the previous ones were nothing like this one . It wasn't tentative and shy. It was filled with ardent conviction, driven only by the urge to finally give in to the desire that had been fueled for months– years by an irrepressible longing and strong, undeniable feelings.
Chloe’s hands drifted into Lucifer’s hair, pulling him closer to her, deepening their kiss as much as it was physically possible. Her partner greeted her eagerly, one arm tightly wrapped around her as one hand cradled her head. Fingers sliding behind her skull, down her ponytail, Lucifer tore the elastic that held her hair in place, leaving long, blonde, wavy hair cascading over her shoulders. When they finally parted, they were both gasping for air.
"Detective," Lucifer whispered as he tucked a wild strand of hair behind her ear. "Chloe." He let his forehead rest against hers.
Then there was a loud bang that unfortunately burst the bubble of bliss they were basking in. Someone was knocking on the elevator doors.
“I'd better show you the other ways to use my mouth somewhere else,” Lucifer cooed.
“You better,” she grinned.
Lucifer pressed the button to restart the elevator so they could leave as quickly as possible. Just so they could use another elevator: the one leading to Lucifer's penthouse.
TBC ...?