Lucifer, my friend (4)

"You should try it," Aaron said gesturing at his pudding. "It's the only good thing they serve."

"Then why would you offer it to me?"

"Because you've never tried any food and that's the only good thing I've at the moment that would probably change your mind," Aaron answered before taking a sip of his drink.

"Want to change my mind, Aaron?" Lucifer asked clearly amused. Aaron felt his cheeks warming as he smiled, but he kept moving the little package in his direction with his left hand.

"It won't kill you." Aaron stopped pushing the pudding and raised an eyebrow. "Or will it?"

"Yes, Aaron. You found my true weakness," he said sardonically, grabbing the spoon from his bowl with mashed potatoes and pointing it at him. "Pudding."

Aaron laughed and accidentally pushed the pudding with too much force, making it fall from the table. Douche.

"I just felt that you insulted me." Aaron sat upright and looked directly at Lucifer, pudding forgotten.

"Were you reading my mind?"

"So you were!" Lucifer exclaimed, a satisfied grin on his lips. "And no, I told you before that I wouldn't do it."

"But why?" Aaron frowned and this time he asked with more conviction than the first time. The last time he didn't feel too comfortable and was scared of what Lucifer would do to him, but now that they had some sort of friendship he was more confident.

"We're friends, aren't we?"

"I don't like how you stretch the word that way, and you have to admit that we weren't before." Lucifer slowly leaned on his chair a big toothy grin on his face, waving around the little spoon. Aaron could hear his heartbeat pounding on his ears as he tried to not return the smile.

"So we are now friends?" he asked slowly, almost seductively.

Oh, god.

Aaron returned his gaze to his food. "I'm serious."

Lucifer chuckled but he sat correctly again. "I respect consent, you know," he finally said.

Aaron was surprised at the tone Lucifer had used. It had the kind of superiority his words sometimes held, but there was something different this time too. "You do?" he asked.

"Of course, it's part of my nature." Well, now that he thought about it ─And he didn't want to─, he was pretty sure that if that demon on the crossroads could grab his soul and get away with it, she'd have done it. Instead, she needed him to accept the deal. Perhaps it was part of their nature after all.

He scratched the back of his neck, feeling that he was forgetting something. "I've got to admit that I never thought that consent was something important to demons."

"Demons don't need consent, Aaron." Lucifer's tone was a little hard and Aaron couldn't avoid not looking up at him.

"But that demon, Steph, needed my consent to─"

"Deals are different. It is your soul that they're bargaining, after all." Aaron noticed how annoyed Lucifer was getting and couldn't ignore how his mind clouded in guilt as he looked down.

"Then why did you tell me that─"

"Hello. I'm sorry but I think this is yours?" Aaron jumped in surprise and looked at his left, noticing for the first time the woman in nurse uniform he had never seen before that stood there, a sealed pudding on her palm. He frowned and grabbed the package. "Um, thanks…?"

"Magdolna. I'm an intern here."

"Oh. Well, thanks then, Magdolna." He repeated the strange name and was glad when she nodded, signaling that he had gotten it right. She glanced at his table with a tight smile, eyes lingering towards his table. He was going to ask her what was wrong but she talked first.

"You don't have a spoon," she said. "Do you wish me to bring you one? It's not a problem."

Aaron blinked at her and frowned, finally looking at his table. He was surprised when he found Lucifer's pissed eyes in front of him, his spoon still in his hold.

"I have it," Lucifer said. Aaron looked between the nurse and Lucifer. It was obvious that she hadn't heard him.

"I, um. Don't worry, thanks." He took a deep breath and glanced away. "I need to stand up and go for my pills anyway."

"Okay. See you later." Aaron waited until she was a few feet away before he leaned on the table and grabbed his head between his hands, scratching his scalp with his short nails. He hated that they had to always cut his nails. He hated that in that precise moment so much.

'You need to stay here until I see that it's working.' The words echoed in his head.

"Aaron?" Lucifer asked, but he couldn't look at him. Not at that moment. He stood up and went to his room, not glancing back. His muscles felt too tense and he needed to do something, anything, to calm himself. He scratched his arm with all the force he could gather as he walked, entering quickly into his room, closing the door, and leaning into it, not forgetting to put his weight against it. He didn't want anyone to open it.

He breathed heavily and too fast for his liking. His lungs burnt, his throat closed: It felt like drowning. He blinked the tears away and searched for his notebook. His hands were trembling too hard that he threw the pencil to the floor accidentally when he found it. He didn't give it too much attention as he sat there and grabbed the pencil from the floor and held it in the air as he pushed his shirt off; he slammed the tip on his skin the same time he heard the flutter he since long ago associated it with Lucifer. He breathed in relief, just concentrating on the pain. In what he could control.

"Aaron!" Lucifer knelt in front of him and grabbed his right arm, stopping him from moving the pencil. "What's wrong with─"

Aaron didn't let him finish, he used his left hand to punch him in the face. He moved away but Aaron's knuckles still brushed his chin, breaking his bones. He groaned and pressed his injured hand against his chest. Lucifer touched gently his hand and healed him, ignoring the sob Aaron that bubbled up in his throat at the loss of pain. He held both of his hands and pressed them against his chest, squeezing Aaron into a hug that was difficult to move away. It felt like there was a metal rope around him, making it impossible for him to move.

He finally stopped struggling when he felt how something, not entirely liquid, washed over him; like the sun rays in those warm days, soft and gentle. The contrast between Lucifer's skin and the light that seemed to engulf him slowly was amazing and calming. He relaxed in Lucifer's arms, feeling how he moved his left hand to his side and healed his first injury too, throwing the pencil away. Aaron let a watery laugh against the white suit where he was pressing his face; that little display of power was proof enough for him to know that Lucifer was real. He moved his head until it rested on the crook of Lucifer's neck, wanting to feel something cold against his forehead.

"Aaron?" he asked, his tone uncharacteristically soft and gentle. Probably worried, too.

"They think I'm having hallucinations," he said between sobs. "They must have seen me talking with you and thinking that I- I… I haven't talked with Karen or Will about it, but I know that they know that I need to stay more time here."

Lucifer didn't say anything, but he felt how he tensed. It was the first time Aaron realized that this wasn't his body; no one could be this still, it felt like a statue was hugging him and it didn't help that he didn't say anything. Aaron's uneasiness grew in the silence.

He started pressing his nails against his thumb, more of a nervous habit than with the intention of hurting himself. The urge he felt of causing himself pain had faded, it felt numb inside him and he thought that it might be Lucifer's influence because this calm felt too unnatural.

Lucifer sat upright and backed off a little, grabbing his fingers to stop him from scratching his palms. He looked at him in the eye and seemed slightly nervous as he opened his mouth.

"I want to make another deal," Aaron blurted, stopping him from talking, blinking the tears away from his eyes. "Erase the memory of me from others and you can take my soul down to Hell. Immediately. Will, Karen, So-"

Lucifer covered his mouth with his right hand.

"I said that if I wanted to be around moping people I'd have stayed in Hell, Aaron," he said calmly. "Could you let me finish what I want to say?" Lucifer waited for him to do something and when he did nothing, he nodded. "First of all, I'm an angel. A fallen one, but still an angel. I'm surprised that you didn't know that, actually." He talked while he settled Aaron's shirt on its place, always looking directly at him. "And second, I apologize for the problems I've caused you."

Aaron's eyes widened at the words. He blinked several times and thought for a moment that this was a dream. "Don't act so surprised…" He trailed off, tilting his head with a strange shade of mirth dancing in his eyes. "We aren't that close that I would want to flatter you much. Your healing psyche might not be able to take it."

Aaron snorted and Lucifer finally took his hand away frowning at his palm covered in…

"Oh, sorry!" He tried to stand up and search for something to clean, preferably some napkins, but Lucifer grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked at him and saw how he waved his hand and all the fluids that were once there simply disappeared, the wet spots on his suit that Aaron had also stained with tears were gone too.

"Whoa." Aaron blinked and touched his face, feeling his skin dry and clean; he couldn't even feel the stubble he had since two days ago. He moved his hands cautiously to his eyebrows and─

"I still left your eyebrows." Lucifer sounded a little offended. "And your hair too," he added.

Aaron smiled at him and mouthed a 'thanks'. Lucifer smirked and gestured the spot with his hand in front of him, waiting for Aaron to sit there.

"The deal still stands," Aaron said once he sat, even if he was clean and felt calmer, his voice came weakly.

"I don't want it." Was his simple answer. "You already made a deal with me, Aaron. And I'll make sure that no other demon tries to make a deal with you, so don't even try it." Lucifer leaned too close for Aaron's comfort. "Your soul already belongs to me."

Aaron cleared his throat and tried to not make eye contact with him, looking everywhere instead, but he could feel clearly Lucifer's stare on him. Incapable of ignoring him anymore, he glanced at him from the corner of his eye and saw how his smile widened with every movement Aaron made, leaning involuntarily towards him. Lucifer held a hand up, moving it towards his jaw.

"So…" Aaron licked his lips, feeling the soft caress of breath against his skin.

"Ten years, that was the deal." He shivered at the contact of Lucifer's cool breath on his skin, his half-lidded eyes on him. Aaron smiled slightly when he felt their noses brush. He clenched his fist, a decision made and he was ready to close the distance between them, but then Lucifer suddenly moved his head to the right, frowning as he glanced down. The light touch on his jaw was still gentle when he turned to look at him again. "Would you promise me to be good for a while?"

"... What?"

"Demons." He scrunched his nose at the word, his eyes wandering down. It was as if he was seeing something on the floor, something that had personally offended him.

"Lucif-?"

He disappeared. Aaron looked around and sighed when he noticed that he wasn't going to return anytime soon. He pressed his head against his legs when the realization of what had happened crushed on him. He was going to kiss Lucifer.

Oh god.

"He's still an asshole," he spoke in the empty room.

He rubbed his face and was ready to stand, finish his food, and maybe have a panic attack later. But he noticed that there was a crayon in the place where his pencil had fallen.

"Very funny," he said as he grabbed the white crayon.