Ups and down (4)

Lucifer went to visit Aaron eight days after the last time they saw each other. It was morning and Aaron was outside, making strange movements and positions with other patients. Aaron had said that it was part of his routine to start the day with some exercise; they didn't let him run so he chose to do yoga instead.

He sat on a bench, cloaking his form from others, deciding to see if they did something interesting. He knew that Aaron had already perceived him if the way he had tensed and had thrown glances in Lucifer's direction when he appeared was anything to go by. Nevertheless, he didn't walk towards him, just continued doing yoga.

Lucifer felt offended at first, but he stopped when he saw an unusual light in Aaron's soul, pulsing with excitement.

With a huff, Lucifer decided to watch the humans as they all moved around, talking, and some even laughing when a person fell, still, his attention was mostly on Aaron. In the way his body followed the instructions with the rest strangely without any problems; there was certain grace in his movements, something that would have been usually impossible to picture in someone with his height, but he certainly knew how to use his body to his advantage.

Lucifer smiled as he considered making them all fall, just to see Aaron's knowing glare.

Though, seeing how he seemed to be truly enjoying himself, he decided to search other ways of entertainment. He tried to observe the other patients next to Aaron then; it was odd to see them acting so normal, considering that in the opposite wing of the hospital there were people that Lucifer thought wouldn't feel anything if he decided to carve them into pieces. No fun at all.

Aaron then went to the bathroom to shower; a nurse walked outside, writing in some papers as she stood and knocked absently the door, waiting for him. Lucifer smirked when Aaron answered with an "I'm still alive" and stepped out fully clothed.

Lucifer followed him when he went to eat his breakfast, always earlier than others did, giving a hand to the person with low dopamine in their system to carry their trays to their tables. It was amusing seeing the woman holding the fork with trembling hands when she didn't take her medicine, though today wasn't the day. Lucifer then moved closer to Aaron, looking over his shoulder in an attempt to see what had made him flinch while he helped one nurse. And he saw it - there was a small cut in his hand. Lucifer wondered if Aaron was the one who made it, he couldn't avoid wondering if he'd have been able to stop it had he been there.

He loved to make patterns with different kinds of weapons in other's bodies, using them as a blank canvas as he saw their blood slowly pour from the traces he made. It was… relaxing, in some way. Pleasant. However, for some reason, he didn't want to see Aaron covered in his own blood─ or perhaps he wanted to see him like that, covered in all types of wounds as the life slowly drained from him. He was sure that Aaron would look amazing in red.

But Lucifer realized that he was far more interesting alive. It captivated him the way Aaron held himself around Lucifer and others. He knew how to act to obtain what he wanted, whom he needed to control, but his soul never lost its caring side; it lit with goodness, strong within all the darkness that it clouded it. If others could be able to see his soul in the same way Lucifer was able to, then they would have realized about the truth. Or perhaps not, Aaron was a clever man, after all, and Lucifer found out that he liked that of him.

- -

Lucifer got distracted with creating things from thin air in front of schizophrenic people and didn't notice when Aaron left. He sensed him close, though. Making sure first that he was in his room alone, not wanting to create any more rumors between patients and nurses about Aaron's mental sanity, Lucifer showed himself.

Aaron tensed at first but then tore his gaze from the book he was reading to Lucifer's face, looking as if he were waiting for something to happen, holding his breath between pursed lips.

"What are you reading now?" Lucifer asked as he walked towards the chair close to Aaron's and sat. Aaron smiled, eyes softening as he breathed in a surprising relief.

It was slightly amusing how his soul calmed at his presence, looking as if he had missed him. Lucifer couldn't remember the last time that someone was so relaxed just by being next to him, not even the brothers that had followed him when he fell felt like that, too scared or intimidated to do so.

He didn't ask him where he was or why it took him so long to visit him, though Lucifer knew that he wanted but wouldn't, not because he was afraid of him but other was the reason and he didn't know it. The distress in Aaron's soul was his only clue. He only spoke a soft, "I knew you were here."

"You don't want to ask where I've been?" Lucifer wouldn't blame him if he did; after all, it had become a habit of him to visit Aaron almost once a day.

Aaron huffed, placing his book next to the others on the pile he had on the floor. "Will you tell me?"

"Sure, why not." Lucifer stood up and stepped towards the bed, accommodating next to Aaron as he closed his eyes and threw his head back. After seconds had passed without Aaron talking, Lucifer decided to glance at his side and arch an eyebrow at the human. Aaron looked confused at first, but when understanding came to him, he turned his body, pressing his back against the wall's corner, careful of not touching him.

"So what were you doing these days?"

"Working," was Lucifer's simple answer. He smiled when Aaron made that weird expression he now did more often than before.

"What's the name of that look?" Lucifer asked after Aaron rolled his eyes.

"What?"

"The expression you wore before. Is it exasperation?" Aaron frowned, looking confused. "You did something like this," Lucifer said and tried to imitate the same face.

Aaron snorted at first but it quickly turned into a laugh he needed to cover with a hand so he wouldn't make much noise. It looked almost painful. Lucifer would have been offended that a human was laughing at him, but he hadn't seen Aaron's laugh a lot, and the way his soul sparkled when he did it was enough reason to forgive him.

"Sorry, sorry," Aaron said between chuckles. "Okay, I don't know if it has a real name, but Marcus used to call that my 'buttface'"

"Buttface?"

"Yes," he answered quietly, the laugh dying in his throat. He looked as he did before he started to space out and he knew that usually, that meant Aaron's soul would become cloudy and too dense for Lucifer's liking. He had spent most too much time with his brother and he needed a break. Aaron was the perfect candidate to pass time with, he wouldn't let him space out.

"Aaron." Lucifer touched Aaron's hand, startling him at first. And Lucifer saw how nervous he looked as he pulled his hand away.

"Sorry."

He rolled his eyes at Aaron's continued use of the word 'sorry'.

"Did you just roll your eyes?" Aaron asked with a smile. It always managed to confuse him with Aaron's sudden changes of mood, which might be why he didn't consider his words at first. But he couldn't ignore that when he didn't talk, Aaron's smile grew, a glint of mischief clear in his eyes. "Oh god, I'm being a bad influence on you."

Aaron's smile quickly disappeared as panic started to settle in his soul. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say it. I know you're an angel, but you, um. Is that a blasphemy or something?"

"Aaron, perhaps you haven't noticed but you've mentioned my Father's name many times before." Aaron flinched. "And is not as if I care, we don't have the best relationship as many humans know."

"So it's not a blasphemy?"

"I'm probably not the best to answer," Lucifer started, stretching his legs on top of Aaron's, "but I think Dad used to like it when others mentioned Him."

"Used?" Aaron tensed at first but he then decided to frown at his limbs.

"Yes. Now Michael's is the one receiving Dad's prayers." Lucifer answered at the same time Aaron said, "Take off your shoes if you're going to do that."

He waved a hand and made his shoes vanish, eyes darting to the side when he saw Aaron covering his face with both hands. "Aaron?"

"Sorry, is just weird that I'm having this conversation." The sound came muffled, but then Aaron let a breath out and sat upright again. "Okay, so why is Michael hearing God's prayers?"

"Because Michael is the one that rules Heaven now; Father left Heaven on a vacation a few years after I fell."

Aaron looked directly at his eyes, placing his hand on top of Lucifer's. "I'm sorry," he said. The action was so sudden that it surprised him for a second because Aaron did it without hesitation, his tone even. The conviction was clear in that one gesture.

"Now why are you saying sorry this time?" Lucifer grinned and played with their hands, interlacing slightly their fingers. This time Aaron did look self-conscious and glanced down. A small sad smile adorning his lips.

"Well," he started. "Your Father is gone and I know that even when you try to hate them… This kind of thing will always affect you."

Lucifer didn't know what expression he wore when Aaron decided to glance at his face after he finished speaking, but it shouldn't have been a good one considering how Aaron recoiled. However, that didn't stop him from moving closer until they were side by side. He still looked determined, but the nervous vibes that his soul emanated were starting to bother him.

"Did I ever tell you why God cast me down? How I fell from grace?" Aaron raised his eyebrows. "Though, it's now a piece of common knowledge."

"… But usually, history is written by the ones who win, right?"

Lucifer hummed, closing his eyes as he felt Aaron settle on his spot more comfortably.

"Are you waiting for me to ask you to tell your story?" he asked when Lucifer didn't say anything. "Because if I ask you and you only answer me with 'God did it because he wanted' or somethin─"

"I fell because I loved God too much." Lucifer threw a glance at his right. "More than anything, actually. Though I had some time to think while I was imprisoned, and I guess you could say that it was perhaps because I was a little too prideful too."

Aaron huffed. "Perhaps, you say?"

"Yes, after all, I was always adored, so don't get cocky. And everything was fine until God created… well, you: humans. Then He asked all of us to bow down before you, to love you more than Him. I couldn't. You were flawed, murderous, abortions, and I wouldn't bow down before any less than God." Aaron tensed beside him at his tone, so Lucifer tried to relax, leaning more on his shoulder as he blew out a breath. "I had an older brother like you, Michael, whom I loved. Idolized, in fact. But when I looked at him for support, begging him to stand with me, he called me a monster."

Aaron swallowed and turned his head. They were close enough that his nose brushed Lucifer's hair. "And what did God do?"

"How I didn't do what Father wanted, my Father had him cast me into Hell. Michael was the first to bow down like the good little soldier he was. Even now that Father is gone, he still is one." Lucifer felt Aaron's eyes on him as he sighed. Then huffed a breath because he sighed. "Just because I had a mind of my own."

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked quietly.

"Well, we angels are instruments of Creation; as the tools we are, it's not our job to have Free Will. Or emotions for that matter. That's your job."

"You've emotions." Lucifer glanced up and they both locked eyes, Aaron looking a little uncomfortable at their closeness.

"And you're stating obvious facts again." Now that he had a name for Aaron's expression, he smiled. "I've Free Will, too. But I wasn't supposed to have that. Father created you, unlike angels, with Free Will alongside gifting you with the Earth.

Lucifer looked at Aaron from the corner of his eyes when he felt a pleasant spark of anger flutter inside his soul. He saw the disbelief in his eyes. "Aaron?"

"I can't believe that angels don't have free will. Aren't you supposed to, um, protect humans, and be happy in Heaven playing with harps?"

"We're warriors of God, Aaron. Most angels don't know how to feel happiness, not even if it smacked them in the face."

Aaron scoffed. "But then it's God's fault, not ours, humans. You don't have to hate─"

"But Aaron, you've to admit it, I was right." Lucifer waved a hand. "Look what humans have done to the gift my Father gave you. And how many of you blame me for it."

Aaron didn't try to convince him otherwise, didn't make any arguments against it and Lucifer thought that he had done something wrong. Perhaps it wasn't right to talk about how petty humans were to someone who didn't think much of life itself, to begin with. Lucifer frowned at himself because he knew the name of this feeling: it was guilt.

"Not all of us," Aaron finally said in a quiet voice. "There ones that even when they know exactly what you mean still try to do better, to be better."

Lucifer was going to tell him how he thought that, too, but then someone knocked on the door and Aaron sat upright immediately, looking at him. "No one but you can't see me; nor hear me," he said.

When Aaron said, "Come in," an older woman opened the door and walked towards Aaron with a book in her hand, her step faltering when she approached too close. She gave a quick look around and frowned, her eyes lingering on Lucifer's spot for a moment too long. He concentrated the energy of his tainted grace and added another layer at his cloak; it seemed to confuse her. As he stretched more of his power to test her perception, Lucifer felt something odd in the ambient.

"Hi, Missouri," Aaron said ignoring her weird behavior. Lucifer tilted his head a bit to Aaron's side when he sensed his honest trust towards him.

"Hello, boy."

Aaron smiled at hearing her tender tone. "Is that mine?" He signaled the book she had in her hold.

"Bella's therapist gave it to me. It was between all the stuff she returned." She gave it to him, writing something down in the paper that was under her arm. "I've to go now, boy, but keep in mind that lunch starts in twenty minutes."

She waved a hand, but the feeling in the ambient didn't leave with her. It turned into an insisting murmur instead, so Lucifer unfocused his vessel eyes. It was easier that way to sense.

"Are you okay?" Aaron's voice sounded distant at his vessel's ears, making Lucifer turn slightly his head, realizing then that the feeling came from Aaron. He touched the side of Aaron's head and leaned close, trying to make a connection between them so he'd be able to hear better the soft whisper.

Aaron swallowed. "Lucifer?"

"Hush." Lucifer closed his eyes and finally could be aware of something unusual occurring in Aaron's timeline, leaving an echo he was surprised he couldn't perceive before. There was someone in Aaron's past who was not supposed to be there.

Anger curled within his grace when he recognized the presence.

He brushed Aaron with his grace, trying to search for the exact moment where this drift had occurred. It would have been easier if he touched directly Aaron's soul, but that would be too painful for a human. He decided instead to form tendrils of his grace and guide them towards Aaron's timeline.

When he found the date, Lucifer opened his eyes and was ready to beat his wings once and fly. But the sight of Aaron breathing heavily, a blush adorning his cheeks as he shut his eyes tightly, stopped him. He tried to turn his head slightly away but Lucifer's grip on his scalp didn't let him. And Aaron didn't force it, either. He just stayed there.

Lucifer leaned more into his space, enchanted at the way his soul shone warmly close. He wondered how it would glow if he kissed him. Would it flare gradually or at once? Would it warm his grace? What he would be able to sense in it?

Aaron's jaw twitched at the feeling of his breath ghosting his skin, making Lucifer blink in surprise. His hold loosened and Lucifer was ready to let him go, but the way in which Aaron didn't look tense, just oddly nervous, made him think that it was safe to tease him.

Lucifer smirked and kissed Aaron's cheek; chuckling when he jumped.

"What the hell─ Why weren't you listening to me?" Aaron scowled, blood rushing at his cheeks and neck as his hand came to touch the side of his face.

"My apologies, Aaron, I was a little distracted. And now, if you don't mind, I need to go to check something," Lucifer said and started standing up, shoes materializing on his feet as his legs moved away from Aaron's.

Aaron didn't stop him, but one of his eyebrows rose. "Check something?"

"Yes, it seems that my dear brother Michael is looking into your life."

That seemed to throw him off for a moment. "Wha─ Why would an angel be interested in me?"

"Just Michael and he's an archangel. Heaven's commander." Lucifer ran a hand through Aaron's hair as he concentrated again in the exact place his brother was. Ignoring how soft it felt between his fingers. "We both can bend time so I need to go now before he leaves."

"But why me?" Aaron asked, distress clear in his eyes.

Lucifer's eyes drifted toward Aaron's. He moved a hand to caress his cheek but stopped. Michael had already noticed him, but why didn't he leave?

"Because I'm interested in you," was Lucifer's only answer as he ripped the walls of Creation; The trends of time opening, ready to bend at his command. Lucifer grabbed Aaron's familiar timeline and flew alongside it, following the path in front of him.