betterthanaplan | Lucifer's mansion, Wednesday night

Lucifer had no idea about Duke's wandering, but he would've approved if he'd known. (Well, about the wandering. Who even knew about the plants and the water features.)

His keys audibly hit the lock roughly around their scheduled time. He let himself in, shutting the door behind him, and walked into the--

"Duke," he said warmly. "Came here early, I see."

"I did," Duke confirmed, coming over to greet Lucifer with a kiss. "I've been thinking about how to make this place a bit more my own. You know, without ruining the essential Luciferness of it all."

"I appreciate the consideration," Lucifer said, and cupped his cheek so he could return that kiss properly. "Pick up any interesting ideas?"

"What would you say to adding an indoor pool?" Duke asked.

. . . Look, that was just a very large water feature, okay? The slides coming down from the upper floors were optional.

There was a long pause.

"Well," Lucifer said, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Octavia and Duke loved swimming!

Right? And if it was private, there was no need for pesky swim suits or anything!

“Right? I’m almost surprised. That basement is practically begging for one.”

Lucifer shrugged. "I did have this mansion decorated while I was in my 'depression chique' phase," he pointed out.

It had been perfect for lounging around feeling sorry for himself in.

"That explains all the lounging spaces," Duke said with a nod. "Which, by the way, I kind of wish I had remembered in my depression phase."

Which he was still taking baby steps away from, yes, but shhhhhhhh.

"To be fair, I do feel the boat has several natural lounging spaces, whereas the remaining rooms aren't quite conducive to it," Lucifer mused. "But yes, I could have helped you with your depression floor plan."

“I’ll remember for next time.”

He was desperately hoping there wouldn’t be a next time.

"If it turns out to be necessary," Lucifer added. "I would prefer it doesn't."

"Yeeeah. Me too." And yet he was terrified that it would come back at any moment. Since he wasn't entirely sure how it had suddenly gone -- other than just. Not being full of troubles anymore.

And how much could he count on that staying true?

". . . Anyway. We need a nicer topic."

"Or a drink," Lucifer teased, "Or dinner, or a spot in one of my nice lounging areas..."

"Or all of the above," Duke suggested. "Drinks and dinner in a nice lounging spot, where we talk about something that isn't depression."

Lucifer chuckled. "Fair enough," he said. "So... what's for dinner?"

"Orange and maple glazed salmon with wild rice and a roasted root-vegetable salad," Duke said. "And some very nice wine I picked up to go with it."

He was even going to drink some of that wine himself! Not a lot -- he was trying not to dive back to the bottom of a bottle now that he had energy again -- but a glass, certainly.

"Oh my," Lucifer said, his eyes lighting up. He slid an arm around Duke's waist, and tugged the man into the living room. "That sounds excellent."

"I thought you'd approve," Duke said. "Everything needs a few more minutes in the oven, and then we can eat."

"And we'll eat on the couch, just to be decadent," Lucifer agreed, smiling. "And you can talk to me about... whatever you like. Wine? Food? Diner?"

". . . Turning the backyard into a sunken grotto so the basement pool gets natural light?" Duke suggested.

You meant "do major reconstruction on part of my house" when you said Duke should treat this place like his own, right, Luce?

There was only one partner in this relationship who had any sense of proportion and it wasn't either of them, so...

"The backyard is mostly useless lawn now," Lucifer allowed. "Though we should probably take care to ensure no one climbing the peaks gets a peek at Octavia's peaks."

Duke nodded thoughtfully.

"Really big plants," he suggested. "Nice and green and not at all bunker-like!"

"Ooooh," Lucifer said, brightening. "We can hire a landscaper!"

(Not the one from Pick Your Poison, please.)

"We are going to hire so many people for this," Duke agreed. "I might even actually have to use your credit card."

This was well outside of Duke's usual budget, yeah.

"It's yours, of course," Lucifer said, tugging Duke towards the couch. "Please use it. And order us some drinks with it if you're doing so anyway."

"Absolutely. What's an indoor pool without thematically appropriate drinks, after all?"

The timer in the kitchen went off, and Duke grinned.

"Make yourself comfy. I'll be right back with dinner!"

And he sauntered for the kitchen.

Lucifer laughed, delighted by... all of this.

"As you wish," he called back, and walked to the couch, to artfully recline.

He had time; Duke got a little fussy with the presentation of the meal before arranging the two plates on a tray, complete with silverware and wine glasses. The bottle itself ended up tucked under one arm as he carried it all back to the living room.

“Here we are! A gorgeous meal for two gorgeous men.”

Lucifer looked up, and his face lit up.

Delighted, indeed.

"Oh, now you're just spoiling me."

"That is kind of the point of Date Night, right?" Duke asked, setting the tray onto the coffee table and opening the wine. "Besides, you spoiled the hell out of me last week."

In many creative ways.

"Ah, but that was a spoiling I thoroughly enjoyed," Lucifer chuckled, and reached forward to get a bite of some of that sumptuous food.

"As did I," Duke said. He poured two glasses, set the bottle aside, and sat down to pick up his own plate. While keeping an eye on Luce to see how the food had come out. "And I haven't thrown myself into a meal like this in ages. Definitely fun for me, too."

Lucifer sat back, thoughtfully chewing on a bite. He swallowed.

"I'd almost forgotten how excellent of a chef you are," he said, only half-teasing. "That is very good."

"Yeah?" Duke shouldn't sound so surprised. "Good to know I've still got it."

"Absolutely," Lucifer said happily, reaching for the wine. "I'm going to make you cook more often again."

"Going to make me, huh?" Duke asked, spearing a bit of beet. "That sounds like fun."

Lucifer laughed. "After I make you do a great deal of other things," he teased. "I can make a list."

"What, and spoil the surprise?" Duke asked. "Hmmm, though I guess if anyone could make a chore list sexy, it's us. . . ."

"I'll draw sexy diagrams," Lucifer promised. "Mm, the ropes help."

"The ropes are extremely sexy on their own, yeah," Duke said, taking a thoughtful sip of his wine.

And started picturing trying to do some chores while tied up in interesting ways and choked a little.

Lucifer raised an intrigued eyebrow.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Duke cleared his throat. "You ever see the movie Executive Assistant?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Lucifer said, and now he sounded delighted. "Why, are we discovering new kinks?"

"More . . . an idea that I never really thought I'd end up trying out," Duke said. "But I'm now definitely thinking about trying."

Lucifer took another bite.

"Well, Octavia and I use the traffic light system," he said, after a moment or two. "You know, red means stop entirely, orange means 'do something else'..."

"That's a good system," Duke agreed. "Something to add to our list of things to try."

"It's more of a precaution than 'thing to try'," Lucifer said. "If we are going the executive assistant route."

He took a sip of his wine. "Anyway, continue."

"Yeah, no, that's what I meant. The movie stuff is something to try. With the light system in place." Duke shrugged and took another bite of his food. "Uh, specifically the, like. Doing stuff while tied up. Like, chore-type-stuff."

"I'm not sure whether I'm surprised or deeply unsurprised that you're interested in that kind of thing," Lucifer said, taking another bite of his food. "I'm up for it, of course."

But he was up for anything his partners were up to, so...

"I would definitely be more surprised if you weren't," Duke said. "You were really good with the ropes and stuff last time."

"I have had a lot of practice," Lucifer said, beaming. "Hence, diagrams."

"Okay, see, now I'm picturing, like, the Kama Sutra as illustrated by the people who make IKEA instructions."

Lucifer chuckled. "You must know of shibari techniques," he sighed. "They get rather intricate."

"I believe it," Duke said. He leaned in to give Lucifer a kiss on the cheek. "And I'm looking forward to learning more about all of them with you."

Lucifer smiled at him, leaning into the kiss a touch.

But then he rose. "Just a second," he said, walking towards one of the bookcases lining one wall of the living room. He rifled through it, and then came back with a book.

It had rather a lot of pictures.

He offered it to Duke.

Duke took the book and flipped it open.

And did some staring.

And flipped the page and stared more. He leaned back into the couch, his food forgotten for the moment, as his eyes traced the lines of the ropes in the pictures.

"Holy shit," he said softly. "You can do this stuff."

It wasn't a question. He had no doubt at all with regard to Lucifer's abilities. His tone was almost pure awe. (The rest was horniness.)

"I have gotten in a fair bit of practice over the centuries," Lucifer agreed, taking an easy sip of his drink.

What? He enjoyed awe and horniness on Duke, and he was determined to enjoy it.

"Can we --" Duke started, then changed tacts. "You should take photos. When we do this. For all of us to enjoy later."

Especially if he managed to get to the point of enjoying being dominated by Octavia again.

"As you wish," Lucifer said, mouth curving. "Can't ever have enough naughty pictures of either of you."

"And these will be . . ." Duke looked at the book again. "This is art."

He might have very different tastes in a lot of things than Lucifer did, but Duke did have strong aesthetic tastes.

(Especially when it came to ropes.)

"Might have to get a few more ropes, if we decided to travel to the later pages," Lucifer said, eyes flicking ot the page. "As well as other things."

"We've got time," Duke said, tilting his head at one of the photos. "I'm gonna have to get some flexibility back for some of these."

He'd let too many yoga sessions fall by the wayside this summer.

"Mmm," Lucifer said, grinning. "I do miss watching you bend through your morning yoga."

"I'm working on that," Duke said with a rueful smile, finally closing the book again and setting it aside. "Along with . . . so much else." He sighed. "I had no idea how much of my routine I took for granted."

"You were... preoccupied... for quite some time," Lucifer said delicately.

It felt like years. Had it been years?

It honestly could have been. Duke didn't much want to look close enough at it to know for sure and liked to tell himself that it was just over the summer.

"Too much time," he said instead."Way, way too much time."

"You should do all the things you lost track of," Lucifer decided. "These next few months. Yoga, yes. But also dancing, sailing, perhaps finding a nice warm beach somewhere..."

"Dancing would be amazing," Duke said. "Maybe I can get Octavia to go with me to your club on the mainland some night."

Or they could dance at the party on Friday, that was also going to be a thing that happened.

"I doubt it'll be hard to convince her," Lucifer said, smiling. "She does love to dance. And I love to watch you two do it."

Heh. Heh.

"Someday maybe we'll even convince you to join us."

Lucifer chuckled. "I have no objection to dancing," he said, "But it seems to hold some particular value for the two of you. Historically."

"I like seeing her lose herself a little," Duke said. "When she dances, she throws everything into it. It's amazing."

"She throws herself into everything," Lucifer murmured. "At least the things she finds worth doing."

"Yeah." He let out a long breath. "She doesn't do anything by half. It's all vital. I honestly don't know how she does it."

"I think it's just who she is," Lucifer said. His voice was soft. "I think she wouldn't know another way to do it."

His hand slid onto Duke's. "And somehow that led her to us."

"I met her at the Nest, you know," Duke said. "Just . . . happened to sit down next to her and started talking."

"I know," Lucifer said wryly. "She does not take kindly to threats to the Nest because of it."

He gave Duke's hand a squeeze. "But do tell me about it."

"She started talking to me in Trig. I don't even remember how we got it started. But, you know, I've always enjoyed languages. So I started working on learning it." Duke chuckled. "She called me 'meizen' and refused to translate, so I joked that I was just going to assume it meant 'pretty'."

Lucifer laughed softly. "Knowing her, she appreciated the effort."

She had, in fact, been mad at him for just knowing, rather than learning, the language.

"Yeah, we've talked about it since." Or, you know, he'd thrown it at her once in an argument. "I guess I really impressed her." He shook his head. "She was . . . so young. And I was teaching at the time. I was actually trying not to flirt with her for a bit, but uh. Yeah, clearly that failed."

"I'm not sure she has ever been truly young," Lucifer admitted.

“She was never a kid, maybe,” Duke said shaking his head. “And her life has never been light. But she was young.”

Duke reached for the wine and took a long sip.

“You know I took her to get her first tattoo?”

Lucifer shook his head. "Which one?"

"On her shoulder." Duke traced the shape on his own shoulder. "We hung out when I was girl-shaped, and she admired mine. The butterflies, specifically." He smiled fondly at the memory. "I think that was around when she started calling me 'flapkrasha'."

Lucifer chuckled softly. "You two were adorable in those early days," he said. "I was quite fond of you."

"I remember," Duke said. "I worried that Tavi was going to decide she liked you better than me."

Lucifer chuckled. "We weren't quite like that at the time," he said. "Besides. I really did love watching you two together. You had a magic all your own."

"Did we?" Duke chuckled. "I guess we must've. She used to wait for me on the docks when I took the Rouge out on trips."

He'd tended to come back beat all to hell. Because Haven had been fucking with him since day one on the island.

Lucifer smiled. "Tha sounds like her," he said. "And you."

"We are who we are," Duke said. "And always have been." He reached over to rub Lucifer's knee. "And we are both so lucky to have won you over too."

Lucifer chuckled softly. "'Won me over'," he said. "As if it was a difficult thing to do."

He smiled at Duke. "I still remember how you were there for me when I came back from Hell."

"Yeah?" Duke smiled back, leaning into him a little. "We're pretty good at being there for each other."

With rare exceptions.

"You just let me come over and harrass you at any time I pleased," Lucifer chuckled.

"Well. I've never been great at telling you 'no'."

"It was early," Lucifer reminded him gently. "You owed me nothing."

"It was, and I didn't," Duke agreed. "But I liked making you happy anyway."

Well, then.

Lucifer leaned in, stretching across Duke a touch, and kissed him. Firmly.

Duke enjoyed when Lucifer was firm. More than he’d realized for a while there.

He rested his hand against Lucifer’s side as he kissed back. Open and pliant, ready to let Lucifer have his way with him.

"It was so strange, having you try back then," Lucifer murmured. "But very welcome."

He set his wine glass on the table. He tugged Duke closer.

Perhaps into his lap.

Most definitely into his lap.

“I’m glad. I seem to remember waffles were involved?”

"Were they?" Lucifer mused. "I've forgotten."

Kiss.

“Maybe that was another time.” Duke draped his arms over Lucifer’s shoulders. “My waffles are unforgettable.”

"Perhaps you should make me some again," Lucifer teased. "Next time."

And a playful nip at Duke's jaw.

“Next time,” Duke agreed with a laugh. “Right now we have better things to do.”

"Oh, really?" Lucifer inquired. Innocently.

While he traced Duke's throat with his mouth.

Duke tipped his head back to give him more room.

“Do we want to do them here, or do you want to carry me upstairs?”

"Well, upstairs is where the ropes are," Lucifer teased.

And then he nipped at the skin, just to make a point.

Duke let out something between a squawk and a groan. “Then I guess you’d better get carrying,” he teased. “Might be nice for it to happen before I’m a total wreck.”

Lucifer chuckled. He leaned in. "So very easy, Crocker," he murmured in Duke's ear.

And then he got up, hoisting Duke into his arms with little effort at all.

"Would you have me any other way?" Duke asked, giving a delighted laugh as he was lifted up.

Oh, he could get used to feeling this . . . cozily small.

"Well, I suppose less clothes would be preferable," Lucifer teased.

It remained fun, the way his partners reacted to being carried. He took extraordinary care bringing Duke to the stairs.

Duke wrapped easily around Lucifer, resting his head on his shoulder.

He'd never even really had this as a kid. What with the whole being basically an orphan by age eight thing and all.

"We'll get to the less clothes bit in a minute."

"Oh, do take your time," Lucifer teased. His smile had slid into something small, intimate and fond, as he took care with Duke up the stairs. "No one is in any rush."

There was the difference between Duke and Octavia in this, after all; how Duke wanted to feel kept and held, while Octavia so often searched out punishment and domination.

They were seeking what they'd been denied as kids. Octavia had never been anything but kept and held before the Ground. And Duke had never been anything but punished, back in Haven.

"We have all the time in the world," he said softly. And kissed Lucifer's neck.

"We do," Lucifer said softly. He carried Duke through the open door of the bedroom. "Now that you have the energy again, I also don't intend to waste it."

"Here-fucking-here," Duke agreed. "We've got a lot of lost time to make up for."

"And I am going to spend quite some of it taking you apart tonight," Lucifer said, smiling.

He took great care lowering Duke down onto the mattress - more than he would have with Octavia, cradling his head as he settled Duke onto the pillows like a precious thing.

Duke felt a little ridiculous about how nice that care felt. But he shoved it ruthlessly aside.

Lucifer liked doing it, and he liked having it done. All his macho self-reliance crap was getting deliberately and firmly shoved into a back corner of his mind.

Right now, he wanted to be entirely Lucifer's. He caught Lucifer's hand as he finished laying his head on the pillow and pressed a kiss to his palm.

Duke had no judgment to fear here. Another small smile touched on Lucifer's face as Duke's lips touched his skin.

"Just lay comfortably, darling," he said softly. "I'm going to take care of your clothes."

"Yes, please," Duke said. He let go of Lucifer's hand and stretched his arms out, ready to shift as needed to assist in the clothing removal process. His eyes on Lucifer's face the whole time.

Learning to let himself feel loved without pushing it away or questioning.

And Lucifer, for his part, made an effort: to let his hands be firm but loving as he undid the buttons of Duke's shirt, to touch his chest and let those touches linger, to take care with the fabric as he pushed the shirt over Duke's shoulders.

"There we are," he murmured, brushing a kiss to the center of Duke's chest.

"Here I am," Duke agreed, arching into the touch. "Do you want me to return the favor?"

His instinct was to do so. But his instincts on this front were notoriously terrible, so.

"No," Lucifer said, his hands stroking down Duke's chest. Slow. With great care. "Let me worry about everything."

He found the fly of Duke's trousers.

"Okay," Duke said, still watching Lucifer work.

Letting himself just lie back and breathe.

(Lucifer would have no trouble telling how much, physically, Duke was enjoying this.)

Certainly not after Lucifer slid the trousers down his legs. He was careful about that, too: both to remove them intact, and to... avoid touching Duke anywhere he might have been interested.

He folded the trousers and set them aside.

Then he sat down on the edge of the bed, and looked Duke over from head to toe. "Beautiful."

Ohhh, that was quite mean.

Duke liked it.

He stretched again, smiling up at Lucifer. "Yours."

The continuing theme of these past few weeks.

Lucifer reached up and touched Duke's cheek. "Yes," he said, and ran his fingertips down, along Duke's throat, down his chest, and then-- however briefly-- over his length. "You are."

His smile widened.

"Ropes," he said. And got up.

Duke let out a noise equal parts moan and laugh. “Ropes,” he agreed.

Lucifer winked. "I think I'll see how you feel about pressure, this time," he said, going to the cabinet with the ropes inside. "Less restraint, more... well, you'll see."

“Sounds like fun. I love trying new things.”

Duke watched Lucifer move with no small amount of curiosity. He loved the ways Lucifer found to experiment with him.

"And you have a penchant for understatement," Lucifer teased. He held the length of rope in his hands as he returned. He slid onto the bed, stradling Duke's hips.

"Give me your wrists."

Lucifer straddling him, while fully clothed and Duke naked, demanding his wrists. . . .

Well, it was patently obvious to everyone present just how much Duke liked that.

He held up his hands, wrists together.

"Thank you," Lucifer said, just a touch arch.

He wound the rope around Duke's wrists, snug but tight. His fingers curled around Duke's arm and kept it there.

Once Duke's wrists were secure, he drew more loops, letting the rope pull Duke's lower arms together. He tied each loop securely in place.

Oh.

Duke let out a soft breath, eyes on the ropes now, with Lucifer's face just past them. He felt himself start to sink a little, relaxing more fully into the bed.

The voice that fussed he should be self-sufficient was fully quiet now.

He wouldn't be able to be, soon enough, would he?

Lucifer stopped at the elbow. He reached behind Duke, nudging his back up just so, and looped once around his chest. A second time, much lower. Then drew the rope back up, up over his shoulder, tying it back under that original band, and so again and again, putting painstaking focus to the whole process.

Drawing diamonds across his chest in rope, making sure each loop sat snug against his skin.

Duke moved as directed, his breath hitching up a little with each loop that Lucifer secured. He was back to watching Lucifer's face, rather than trying to stare down at his own chest.

Pressure.

Yeah. Yeah, Duke was definitely into this. And he absolutely wanted photos when Lucifer had his properly trussed.

"Sometimes I think Octavia likes her leathers for reasons like this," Lucifer murmured. He secured one knot over Duke's hip. Pulling it tight, making sure the pressure was right. "So she can truly feel it when she moves."

Duke gasped, thinking about Octavia in her leathers. About feeling snug and contained, even when things were falling apart around you.

"Yeah," he said, a bit distant. "That makes sense."

(He was processing it in his own way; he'd work his way around to the 'truly feel it when she moves' bit eventually.)

The distant tone drew a smile out of Lucifer, albeit one more contemplative.

"Comfortable?"

He'd move on to something further under the belt some other day. This was about... finding out what Duke liked.

Duke blinked, then wriggled a little. Feeling the ropes against the sensitive skin along his trunk.

"Yeah," he said. "This is good."

Lucifer let out a soft huff, something pleased in the noise. "And you look gorgeous," he said, his fingers almost reverent against Duke's skin as he traced some pointless pattern on his chest.

Duke closed his eyes, tipping his head back and focusing on everything he was feeling.

He felt . . . prized.

It was a very new, very pleasant feeling.

Lucifer's fingers drew a light path up along Duke's exposed throat.

Then he pulled his hand away. He slipped his phone out of his pocket.

Took a few pictures.

Duke whined a little at the loss of that contact. It took him a few moments to work out what Lucifer was doing, but when he did, he couldn't hold back a smile.

They were going to be beautiful.

Lucifer flipped to one of the pictures he'd taken. He pressed a gentle hand against Duke's chest, and then held the phone up in front of him.

"Look," he murmured.

Duke looked. His smile grew, and he looked at Lucifer again.

"You're an artist."

"When given the right canvas," Lucifer said, mouth curving. He set the phone aside, and slid both of his hands up and down Duke's chest. "How do you feel?"

Duke arched his back a little, stretching his neck.

"Good," he said thoughtfully. "Like . . . contained. If that makes sense?"

"It does."

Octavia said the same about her leathers - though Lucifer wasn't about to go into further detail about it.

His mouth curved further. "Now I'm going to put my mouth on you," he murmured, "And when I'm satisfied with you, I'm going to screw you into the mattress."

He gave the rope a firm tug.

Duke gave a delighted laugh. "Yes," he said. "Please."

And that was exactly what they did, until Duke was gasping and quivering in his bonds, far, far beyond any self-consciousness.

And when that was done, and Duke was a puddle held in place by ropes, Lucifer stretched out beside him on the bed. Not unlike a big cat.

"Mm, well, that worked out."

Duke hummed his agreement. Words would be something he could do again later. He turned his head to press his cheek affectionately against Lucifer's.

"Good?" Lucifer teased.

He didn't expect an answer. He just slid his hand up to caress Duke's cheek,

Duke's second hum had a bit more confirmation in it. As did the firmer nuzzle that came with it.

Lucifer kissed his cheek. Gently.

"I'm going to go clean you up," he murmured. "Give me a moment."

He tried to disturb Duke as little as possible, as he slid out of the bed.

Duke sighed as Lucifer pulled away, but otherwise lay where he'd ended up. Patiently waiting to be taken care of.

(By choice. That was key, wasn't it. He wasn't being useless here, he was giving himself over on purpose.

And it was amazing.)

Lucifer did what he had promised, and he was swift; returning, just a minute later, with a small bowl of warm water, some soap and a washcloth.

He sat down on the bed. Took a moment to look at Duke again, to-- all right-- take another picture. (For Duke's sake, almost more than his own.)

Then he dipped the cloth in the water and brushed it gently against Duke's belly, wiping away the sweat and the rest of the mess left by their time here. He had gotten Duke into this space; he would take advantage of it while he could.

Duke blinked lazily, watching Lucifer move and eventually finding an actual word.

"Beautiful."

The seriousness on Lucifer's face. The care and efficiency with which he moved.

It was absolutely stunning.

Lucifer made a soft, fond noise. "You are," he said, letting the washcloth slip between Duke's thighs.

He took great care there, too. "So gorgeous."

Duke arched a little into that touch. He was too sensitive to want to go much farther than cleaning up at this point, but he was too tactile not to enjoy every touch he could get.

"You," he said. "You're in your element."

"I do love giving people what they desire," Lucifer murmured.

He took the washcloth away. Dipped it in the bowl, gently cleaning it off.

"It's like your love language," Duke said. "You know, if love languages weren't a load of bull."

Lucifer chuckled. "Oh, I've done it for a great deal of people I didn't love," he said, "But did enjoy spending time with, however briefly."

He squeezed the last of the mess out of the washcloth. Made sure to pick a corner that hadn't been touched by it regardless, and used that to brush some of the sweat from Duke's brow.

Duke hummed again, rather than keep talking. Talking dragged him up too fast from the dreamy space they’d found.

He just kept watching Lucifer instead. He could watch him like this forever, he thought, and be a happy man.

"But I much prefer doing it for you." Lucifer's voice softened.

He set the cloth aside.

He brushed his fingers along Duke's temple, traced along his ceekbone.

Duke leaned into the touch.

“You do it beautifully.”

"And you take it so well," Lucifer said softly. (Better, he reflected, than Duke ever had before.)

His fingers slid further down, until it found the top of the rope and tugged it.

"Don't think I would have, before," Duke noted absently. He tipped his head to give Lucifer more room to move. "It's . . . I wasn't as able to . . . let go, I think."

Exploding had scared the shit out of him. Lucifer and him imploding right after had scared him even more. What started as letting go to please Lucifer was turning into understanding why letting go pleased him.

And, well. Maybe . . . he was actually getting better.

Edited 2024-11-07 21:30 (UTC)

Lucifer slid his hand underneath the rope. It was a high-quality thing, but it likely still chafed; he tried to soothe the skin under it.

"You've always seemed to want to," he mused.

That felt good. Chaffing or no, it always felt good to have Lucifer's hands on him.

"I guess? It was never really an option. So . . . I guess I never learned how."

Maybe that was what the ropes did. Kept him contained, so that he didn't have to.

"Well," Lucifer said, voice low, "We can work on that."

He leaned in to press a kiss to Duke's mouth.

Duke kissed back, slow and easy.

"We are working on that," he said fondly. "Which is hopefully helping with other things?"

Oh no. Insecurities were trying to worm back in. Too bad he couldn't just live in subspace.

Lucifer brushed Duke's hair away with the back of his knuckles and smiled. "It is," he said, "Though I would call that a happy accident more than anything."

Duke actually needed something from him, something with meaning, and trusted him to provide it.

It helped a great deal.

Duke frowned a little.

"I want to work on that on purpose," he said. "You know, along with doing this."

"And that's also more than fair, but we were talking about the bondage sex just now," Lucifer felt obliged to point out.

Duke huffed out a laugh. "Right. Yeah, sorry."

"So what did you want to work on?" Lucifer asked, his fingers running idly down Duke's biceps.

"On the topic of bondage? Or the other thing?"

"What you meant when you said you wanted to work on something on purpose," Lucifer clarified. "It clearly wasn't just the bondage."

"Your trust," Duke said softly. "Earning it back. That's what I want to work on."

"Ah."

Lucifer's hand slid back up, swiping some of Duke's hair back. Then, after a moment's thought, he leaned in to press a gentle kiss against Duke's mouth.

"This helps," he affirmed. "Because... you trust me with something truly important. If... that makes any sense."

“It does,” Duke confirmed. “And I do. All this, really just confirms that, you know? For myself.”

Lucifer had kept him from troubling all of Fandom. Duke trusted him more than just about anyone. Including himself.

"I feel that may have been part of my problem," Lucifer admitted. "Feeling as if-- you didn't need to trust me that way. That I was just here to be someone you could do things for, rather than a partner who could do things for you, as well."

Duke couldn’t help a small laugh. “I think we both have trouble with that. With wanting to give as well as — not take, but. Well, you know.”

"I know," Lucifer said.

He toyed, idly, with the final knot on Duke's hip. Wondering if it was perhaps time to undo it.

"And I see the irony in saying that I worry about whether you'll let me in."

“I mean. I’m not historically great at that,” Duke said. He shrugged as best he could while still tied. “This is — I think this stuff will help.”

Lucifer let out a soft huff, watching him move. "Shall I untie you before we continue?"

"Yeah," Duke said with his own little huff. He loved this feeling, but "I wouldn't mind being able to stretch a bit."

Lucifer chuckled softly.

He undid the big knot, and began to... unwind Duke.

"Do feel free to keep talking as I work," he murmured. "Tell me about what's on your mind."

"Right now?" Duke said, amusement in his voice. "I kind of wish I could have it both ways. Stay tied up but still able to move."

"Depends on how you'd like to move," Lucifer mused, freeing Duke from the first loop around his chest.

Duke laughed at that, shifting to give Lucifer the room he needed to unwrap him.

Like a present!

"You know how much I like to stretch."

"Stretching may be difficult," Lucifer said, grinning at him. He undid the first loop, and then began the... unwrapping.

It took care and patience.

"But finding the right knots might be an interesting project..."

Duke laughed. “We all know you like a sexy challenge.”

"And I haven't even tied you up below the belt yet," Lucifer said sunnily. "So many possibilities..."

This was his element. And he was very glad to be in it with Duke, for once.

He untangled the knots against Duke's chest, working his way up.

“Something to look forward to,” Duke said, watching the untying almost as close as he had the tying.

"I think date nights were an excellent idea," Lucifer agreed.

He paused to kiss Duke, once, then unwound the final loop from his chest.

His fingertips slid along Duke's biceps, before delicately disentangling the rope that held his arms together.

Duke used that new freedom to loop said arms around Lucifer’s waist. And sit up and grab a kiss for himself.

“Definitely.”

Lucifer chuckled, casting the rope aside, onto the pile his own clothes had wound up in along the way.

He did this while kissing Duke, somehow. "I should show you some of the pictures," he said. "You looked debauched. And happy."

“Oh shit,” Duke said, rolling his wrists gently. “Yes, please!”

"I could really get used to seeing you this happy," Lucifer laughed.

But obligingly, he took out his phone, opened up one of the last pictures he made - Duke, spread out on that bed, tied up and out of it - and held it for Duke to take.

Duke took the phone and just. Looked at it. For a long time. Not the ropes so much, though the pattern Lucifer had created was amazing. But the expression. The looseness of his lower limbs, the bliss on his face.

There were entirely too many emotions bubbling up to be quantified. Or even spoken out loud. This was the person he’d gone to sea to find, originally. The one he’d always tried to be. Carefree, trouble-free Duke. Unburdened. At peace.

Because he was tied up and helpless, yes, but entirely safe. And even better, the part he’d never even dreamed to hope for, he was loved.

Oh fuck, was he tearing up?

And Lucifer--

Wasn't actually sure what to make of that. It hadn't been the reaction he'd expected, that was for sure.

"Duke?" he said, careful. "Are you all right?"

Duke nodded hurriedly, swiping at his face.

“It’s good, babe.” He set the phone aside to pull Lucifer into a deep kiss. “It’s so good.”

It took Lucifer a moment before he could relax into the kiss, before the notion that he hadn't messed something up penetrated his skull.

Then his hands slid up, and cupped Duke's face. Kissing him back.

Duke only broke away when he needed to breathe, which he did with a somewhat wet little laugh.

“Lie down with me,” he said. “I want to spend the rest of the night holding you.”

"Romantic," Lucifer teased. Sort of teased. Something like that, anyway.

But he moved to stretch out next to Duke on the bed, legs brushing against his.

“I have my moments,” Duke teased back, shifting to better wrap his arm around Lucifer’s waist.

"You do," Lucifer said, softer.

He tucked his face into Duke's neck.

"I do need you, you know," he murmured.

“Yeah?” Duke said. Asked. Said. “I guess we all need each other.”

Lucifer let out a soft huff. "Darling," he said, "Let's keep this personal."

“Right.” Duke gave Lucifer a squeeze. “Good note. You need me, huh?”

"Mm," Lucifer said, drawing an idle pattern on Duke's chest. "I need your stubborn desire not to leave my side," he agreed. "Among many other things. But I had forgotten how much I needed you to need me, too."

“I’m not good at that.” Shocking, Duke. “But I do need you. I didn’t understand how much.”

Lucifer leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"I can't do this if it is merely my wishes being catered to, while you run about pretending like you're fine on your own," he said, quieter.

“I’ll do my best,” Duke said honestly. “But you know I want to take care of you, too. In addition to you taking care of me. No more demurring, okay?”

"That was about things I didn't feel you wanted to talk about," Lucifer pointed out, idly rubbing Duke's arm. "I didn't have any other needs to give you at the time."

“Yeah, and we ended up blowing up at each other because you assumed I didn’t want to talk about it ever, and I didn’t know it was weighing on you. So . . . saying something might’ve helped.”

"Well, it was also about Haven," Lucifer said. "You are always... protective. About certain aspects of it."

He sighed, tangling his legs with Duke's. "But I will try."

Duke kissed the spot on Lucifer closest to his lips.

“Thank you.”

Lucifer let out a soft breath. "I love you," he murmured. "And-- thank you for letting me do this."

Lucifer's mansion, Wednesday night

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