Lucifer could hear his heart beat loudly in his chest. It felt like it was pounding in his throat, making speaking that much harder.

As he felt his forehead throb, he pulled his hat down further.

 

“Lucifer?”

 

His head snapping up at the sound of his name, he met Lilith’s eye. Opening his mouth to speak, not a word crossed his lips. He closed it again, pulling his knees to his chest. He pulled at the brim of his hat in an attempt to hide.

Lilith sank down next to him, hidden from Heaven’s eye by the wide crown of the blooming tree.

“What’s wrong?”

Unconsciously, Lucifer raised his hand to his forehead, up beneath his hat. He could feel the base of the protrusions, high up above the corner of each eye. As the hat was lifted off his head, he cowered, hands covering the ugly proof of his disobedience. Of his questioning of God’s plan.

His wide eyes darted around the Garden, before turning back towards Lilith. His hat was resting on her lap. If he wanted to grab it, the secret he’d been trying so hard to hide would be in full view.

 

Lilith’s fingers were gentle as they ran up his wrists.

“Will you show me?”

He hesitated. He was so ashamed. He’d never thought that questioning everything would have this effect on his body.

Finally, he lowered his hands. Small horns had slowly burst through his forehead, growing right out of his skull, now measuring nearly fifteen centimetres in size. He was worried about how long it would take them to grow so large that they could no longer be hidden.

His fingers gripped tightly onto his robe, threatening to tear the fabric like his fraying nerves.

 

“You…”

He tensed, waiting for Lilith’s judgement. Would she leave? Tell Heaven? He knew they were unsightly, the way they had torn his skin. At least there was no more blood, now.

“They’re beautiful.”

Lucifer’s eyes widened. Raising his head, he met Lilith’s eyes. They were just as gentle as her hands. Her fingers traced the curve that had steadily been growing the larger his horns became. The touch tickled slightly, far less harsh than his own touches, when he had attempted to no avail to tear them out of his skull, again and again.

He tried to find his words. Tried to speak again. But as he failed, he looked up at her with pleading eyes, his frustration with his own inability to speak making the lump in his throat grow, tightening its grip around him.

Do you mean it, he wanted to ask. As he stared into her eyes, he hoped his question reached her.

 

She cradled his face, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his lips. “They are,” she said. “They suit you.”

Lucifer felt his cheeks flush, his eyes turning down, feeling bashful now. As a tiny smile spread on his lips, Lilith’s own smile widened.

She held out his hat, Lucifer accepting it, pulling it back down on his head to cover his horns.

 

“Your secret is safe with me,” Lilith whispered, raising his hand to her lips. The kiss made his cheeks burn brighter, a little bit of his fears pushed to the side, at least for now.

He still had Heaven to worry about, and he knew when the day they found out came, he would be in no small amount of trouble.

But at least for now, he had Lilith by his side.

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