Lucifer hummed to himself where he stood with a frying-pan full of mushrooms in front of the stove, letting them absorb the cream he had poured onto them. The melody was one he had heard Angel practising last night. He could only remember a word here or there, but he had memorised the melody itself instantly. He might have been a bit too distracted to note the words, considering Angel’s hands in his hair.

 

He heard the door open and close, Angel’s hands soon running down his sides, resting on his hips as he stood behind him. He smelled like cigarettes and the remnants of a perfume he’d been liking recently; the scent warm and creamy, something in it that reminded him of wood. He wasn’t sure what it was, just that it was something smuggled from the living world.

“Whatcha cookin’?”

Turning to look up at him, Lucifer smiled.

“Mushroom pie. Bel suggested the recipe to me like… fifty years ago but I’ve never actually made it before. I… may have gotten distracted and burned the first pound of mushrooms but I think these ones look okay.” He didn’t cook new things that often anymore, and it definitely showed. He wasn’t going to admit just yet that he’d misread the amount of flour he needed at first and there might be a lot more dough in the fridge than had been needed for one single pie.

“I’m usually more of a meat kinda guy but I guess I’ll try it. Gotta get my veggies somehow.” Angel winked down at him, making Lucifer chuckle once he finally caught on to the innuendo (he should be better at getting them by now, considering how long he’d known Asmodeus, but a lot of them still flew right over his head with a regularity that seemed to amuse Angel).

“Mushrooms aren’t actually vegetables, they’re fungi. They’re not even plants, they’re their own thing! Very fascinating, really, I have a couple of books on them if you’re interested.”

“Not really, but I wouldn’t mind ya tellin’ me about them over dinner later.”

 

Angel moved around to stand next to him so Lucifer could get the shell he had been pre-baking out of the oven, tipping the frying-pan across it to pour the mixture inside. Angel watched him cut the lid into the right size right on top of the hot mixture of mushrooms, cream and spices, Lucifer starting to hum that same melody once more.

He heard Angel chuckle beside him, making him turn his way as he put the pie back in the oven to bake again.

 

“Ya comin’ for my job, sweetcheeks?”

“I was thinking you might like a duet partner sometime,” Lucifer said, a wide grin on his face. His grin only grew as Angel pulled him into his arms. “Hey, I haven’t put the timer on yet!”

One set of Angel’s hands cupped his cheeks, pulling him into a kiss, moving them around in a circle. He pulled back just enough to snatch the duck-shaped egg clock off the extractor hood shelf, twisting it to twenty minutes. The ticking could be heard throughout the room as he set it back down, pulling Lucifer back close.

“There. Now, how ‘bout that duet?”

Lucifer laughed. “I don’t know the words!”

“That’s fine, I’ll sing the words, ya can hum the melody. I know ya know it.”

Angel spun them around, around, as he started to sing. Soon, Lucifer followed, a quiet hum accompanying Angel’s sweet voice as they danced around the room.

 

This time he tried to pay closer attention to the words, but it was hard to do so when the look in Angel’s eyes was so loving that it made him melt inside. Angel’s embrace was warm, leading him into something that reminded him of a slow foxtrot, a dance he hadn’t danced in decades but still remembered regardless.

He smiled as he kept on humming, matching every breath Angel took as he sang the words he had been practising. As the song reached its end, Angel bent forward, dipping him so far he would have fallen over had it not been for the arms around him.

He smiled, pushing a lock of Angel’s hair out of his eyes.

“Again?” Lucifer asked, making Angel laugh.

“Yeah, sure, why not?”

 

By the time the egg clock rang, Lucifer didn’t feel much closer to memorising the lyrics than he had been before they started dancing.

As Lucifer pulled the pie out of the oven, he realised he’d completely forgotten about the vegetables he had planned to serve alongside it.

It was fine.

Mushrooms were technically not vegetables, but for tonight, he could treat them as such.

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