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You were on your back, splayed mindlessly on a particularly prideful demon’s bed as you stared up at the ceiling in boredom. If you had come in here with a question or just to hang out you weren’t really sure seeing as you decided to let Lucifer work on whatever it was he was doing at his table instead.
The only problem was that said demon kept huffing in annoyance and you could tell whatever was causing it was persistent. You hoped maybe it was just a particularly annoying stack of paperwork that he’d get through eventually, seeing as Lucifer had definitely been busier than usual but with how dedicated he usually was it was sometimes hard to tell what ‘busier’ counted as. Regardless you lay on his bed, drifting through thoughts and occasionally shifting around or sighing yourself.
“Hey, is something bothering you?” You eventually ask, sitting up and turning towards the other in the room.
The other didn’t even respond at first, only continuing to write whatever it was he was writing before you had said anything at all. He came to a sudden stop though, finished writing long enough to respond to the fact you had said something, “I wouldn’t say so, no..”
Admittedly used to the Avatar’s denial you pressed on, “If there wasn’t anything wrong then you’d actually be able to sit still without huffing so much.”
Once again he didn’t immediately respond, possibly contemplating how to further deflect your appropriately placed concern, but you weren’t going to hear it.
“Come here, everything will still be there if you take a break for a little,” you reasoned, scooting back a tiny bit to clearly indicate free space on the occupied bed. The gesture was far from necessary with the size of the bed but it was the thought that counted.
The ex-angel tightened and loosened his grip on the quill in his hand, glancing over the papers in front of him before coming to a decision. With an affectionate sigh the demon abandoned his table and mountains of papers in favor of sitting down where you politely made room, looking at you questioningly.
You scooted closer, as to be more next to him than behind, and skimmed over his face and expression, pulling an expression of your own while trying to figure him out.
“Now, tell me what’s wrong. You don’t usually complain this much over assorted paperwork, there's gotta be something else..”
The Avatar of Pride paused, meeting your gaze and considering his next course of action.
Instead of elaborating, in a blink of an eye horns had made their home on his head and four raven pitched wings ruffled behind him, one of which he carefully angled in your direction so you could see it the best.
You looked over the wing in front of you, searching for an answer to your concern but not seeing anything obvious like an injury. A good sign but not one that offered any kind of explanation for you.
“I’ve been busy,” he started, saving you from your confusion, “I haven't gotten the chance to preen them lately..”
At that you looked back down and lo and behold the feathers that made up Lucifer’s wings seemed a bit untidy and specks of dirt and dust dirtied their surface.
Lucifer never seemed the type to show extreme vanity in his appearance, as long as he looked respectable and commanding that seemed enough for him but this may be different. If you had to guess, it seemed he held his wings with great pride, probably still did when he was an angel, but here he was after having neglected preening them for however long and clearly uncomfortable because of it.
“Can I help?”
You were scrutinizing his top left wing, having offered to help on a whim despite having never helped preen feathers in your life. It felt right though, just being there, helping the one sitting in front of you with wings gracefully sprouting from his back.
Realizing that you didn’t particularly know what you were doing he talked you through it. Telling you how to stack the feathers and brush away what clung to them. Before you knew it you got the hang of it and you two fell into a rhythm, Avatar of Pride taking the time to sit and focus on the relief that the long overdue preening of his wings brought all while you were slowly getting dirtied by the dust that had found itself muddled in the taller’s wings. You worked through the feathers, not paying much notice to your dirtied clothes, the task at hand was admittedly a soothing experience.
Sometimes a wing pulled just out of your reach only to get coaxed back into your waiting hands after a couple of moments, disrupting the process but only a little, nothing you’d need to mind. Besides the aforementioned twitches the demon seemed the most relaxed you’d seen, the current moment was rare and tender and worth the occasional movements. You were just nearly done with the last wing when a thought tugged at your mind.
You had never seen the other’s angel form personally, only ever hearing the occasional descriptions from those who had, but you could’ve sworn they mentioned six wings. You considered asking, if only for a second, as your curiosity nagged at you but something was telling you the reply may not be pleasant.
“Hey, you there?” you looked up, meeting Lucifer’s gaze over his shoulder, “I was asking if you were done.”
“Oh-“ you glanced back down to the last wing, only now realizing your hands had stopped working when you got deeper in thought, “yeah, good as new!”
“They do feel better now, yes. Usually, I get through them in my free time but a lot has been happening lately.”
You nodded, watching as the other flexed and stretched the freshly preened wings. They really were beautiful, black as the permanent night of Devildom and all neatly laid in rows. They were perfect and you could only imagine how much they must’ve positively glowed when he was still an angel.
There it was again, the thought the demon seemed to be sporting one less pair than he used to.
Without realizing your expression shifted from the previously serene one and Lucifer paused, folding his wings neatly before opening his mouth to respond, “is something troubling you now too?”
Called out, you startled a little, still feeling bad for your curiosity but it’d probably be smoother to ask then leave it to your imagination so you took a chance, “did you always have four wings? Like, even when you were an angel?”
For the most part, the other didn’t seem to react, possibly anticipating the question or possibly being asked it multiple times before, either way, he simply used gloved hands to lift up the back of his shirt, revealing two parallel scars below his middlemost wings. Your reaction was involuntary but you couldn’t help it, the scars were jagged, definitely more malicious than patient.
“No, I didn’t always have four wings but defying the Celestial Realm has its consequences.”
The answer was curt, as were most things Lucifer chose to share about his past, but it told you what you wanted to know so you couldn’t complain too much.
You watched him for a little, letting him pull his shirt back down but when it seemed he was starting to get up you shot forward, wrapping the black-haired and winged demon in a hug. He seemed a tad caught off guard but after a couple of moments he embraced his nosy human back, even wrapping his remaining wings around you too. You both stayed like that for however long, neither particularly wanting to let go of the other, cozy glow surrounding the two of them.
When you eventually parted Lucifer held up a finger for you to keep still, looking through his wings for a little before plucking a spare feather from his plumage. Turning back to you he used his pointer and thumb to lift your chin a little, tucking the feather behind your ear so it lay snugly next to your head.
Taking a few moments to admire the placement he smiled proudly and once again moved to stand up. Despite warmed cheeks, you made your own advance, kissing the proud smile of an even prouder demon, a smile of your own appearing as he stalled at the action. After a moment he chuckled warmly, kissing you one more time before fully standing and returning to his table of work, marginally happier than before. You let yourself fall back onto the bed, careful of the feather now adorning your hair. Now as you lay sprawled on Lucifer’s bed you didn’t hear any disgruntled huffs, only content humming.
Eventually, you’d leave to relax in the common room that you found to be occupied by the Avatar of Wrath, Satan. After talking for a bit he gestured towards the feather, curious of its origin, face seeming particularly puzzled.
“Oh, Luci put one of his feathers there after I helped him preen his wings,” you explained, expression pleased until you noticed the dubious look on Satan’s face, “what?”
“Nothing, it's just Lucifer hasn’t let someone else preen his wings in hundreds and thousands of years, let alone give them a personal feather afterward.”