Lucifer stared into the room, fingers tightening around the apple-top of his cane. He was definitely overthinking things, but that didn’t mean he knew how to stop doing it.

 

“Ya good?”

His eyes snapped toward his new roommate.

 

Angel walked past him, dropping down onto one of the beds. He was thankful that he’d offered to trade rooms with Alastor when they’d drawn lots to see who got to room with who during Charlie’s new bonding exercise, but he didn’t really know how to share a living space with others anymore, so he was only a little less nervous than he would have been otherwise.

“Oh, perf-perfect, peachy-perfect!”

This was going to go fine. It was just for a week, anyway. He’d be fine. He’d be okay.

 

He walked over to the balcony doors, throwing them open to step outside. Maybe some fresh(ish) air would help him calm down.

The sky was already growing dark after having travelled for so long, the place some house Charlie had found for rent when she went hunting for a good place to stay. It’d had decent reviews, which was as good a rating as most things could get in Hell.

(He’d offered to just teleport them there, but Charlie had said the trip too was an important part of bonding.)

 

At least the view was lovely, overlooking a small forest lake.

 

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye made him jump. Oh fuck, he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone for a moment.

“Ariel!”

“Angel.” Raising an eyebrow, Angel leaned back against the railing, pulling out a cigarette. “You’re bein’ extra tense today. I can help ya with that, if ya want.”

“Sorry, uh, I, forgot you were there.”

“Can’t say I hear that one a lot. I’m usually pretty hard to forget.” He held out his cigarette, Lucifer watching the smoke raise from its tip. “Want one?”

“Oh, uh, thank you.”

 

Accepting the cigarette, he raised it to his lips. Absently, he started to chew on the butt as he stared out into the bottom of the lake. It tasted terribly, but chewing on it released something that had made his jaw feel tense.

An incredulous laugh drew his eyes back to his side.

 

“Are ya eatin’ it?”

Lucifer raised his hand again, finding his mouth empty aside from the horrible taste on his tongue. He felt his cheeks grow hot. “Oops?”

As he met Angel’s eyes, amusement made them sparkle.

“You’re a real weird lil’ guy, ya know that?”

“Just because I’m short doesn’t mean you can call me little. I’m still the devil.”

Angel smiled around his brand new cigarette. “Doesn’t have to be an insult, does it?”

“No, but the ‘weird’ part certainly felt like one.”

“Nah, I like weird. Weird’s fun. Fun and cute.”

 

Lucifer didn’t know what to say to that.

It felt odd. Odd, being flirted with in this way. Because even though a lot of things went right over his head (pun not intended), he had figured out by now that Angel was flirting with him. Had been since they first met. Maybe that’s why Charlie had been a little nervous about them sharing a room. Not that anything would happen, he’d only been divorced from Lilith for a month. He wasn’t really feeling like hookups yet.

He threw a glance toward the remaining light peeking through the trees. “I… I think I’ll get ready for bed.”

And just like that, he ran from the interaction. Like a coward.

 

-

 

As he wiped away the fog on the mirror he met his own eyes. He looked tired. It was the middle of the night and he’d just finished his second shower of the evening.

He’d just gotten so damn cold. He hadn’t expected the room to get so chilly during the night, making it even harder to sleep than usual.

Stepping out of the bedroom, he pulled his bathrobe tighter around himself. Fuck, he hated how cold his body ran since his Fall.

 

“I didn’t know ya could shower longer than I do, but I’m pretty sure ya just used up all the hot water.”

 

Lucifer jumped. In his exhaustion he’d forgotten all about Angel again.

He scratched his neck in embarrassment. “I, uh, hopefully not.”

Not when he might need to get in there again once his body lost the heat it’d soaked up through the shower.

 

He watched Angel prop himself up on his elbows.

“I know I asked before, but uh… are ya good?”

Lucifer fiddled with the fluff of his bathrobe, eyes travelling toward the door windows. The forest lay dark beyond them, the lake pitch black.

“Yes, I’m fine, there’s nothing major.”

“Look, if ya didn’t wanna share a room with me-”

“That’s not- that’s not it.” Well, partially. Though that had nothing to do with Angel personally so much as he hadn’t exactly wanted to share a room with anyone. “I’m just cold.”

“Cold? It’s like 80 degrees in here.”

“I usually sleep in at least a hundred.”

Angel whistled. “Damn. I can’t even stay in bed when it’s that hot, that’s when I go for the floor.”

“I, uh. Run cold.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

He watched Angel’s eyes shift, seemingly considering something. Finally, he met Lucifer’s eyes again.

 

“Wanna join me?”

 

Lucifer blinked in surprise.

“Excuse me?”

“It’d heat ya up, right? I run pretty warm.”

Lucifer’s eyes moved between his bed and Angel’s. At the foot of the bed, his pet pig was sleeping soundly. “I… He fiddled with his finger, all too aware of the absence of his ring. “If it’s just sleeping.”

“Just sleepin’, scout’s honour.”

“You were a scout?”

“Nah, not really my kinda thing.” Angel raised up his blanket in invitation. “So, ya comin’?”

 

For another moment, Lucifer hesitated. He hadn’t shared a bed with anyone in a really long time, he didn’t really know how to feel about it. But his body was already losing the heat his shower had absorbed, so really, it was an easier choice than he’d like to admit.

Placing his bathrobe on his bed, he slipped in underneath Angel’s blanket. He could feel the heat of Angel’s body envelop him as Angel lowered his arm again, draping his arms around him.

Oh. Yeah, this was, this was nice.

He nuzzled his face into Angel’s chest.

 

Angel let out an amused snort. “Wasted no time gettin’ comfortable, huh?”

“You offered.”

“I did.”

 

Angel’s arms wrapped tighter around him, nose pressed into his hair.

“I shoulda known ya were a cuddler.”

Lucifer’s cheeks burned. “Keep this between us, will you?”

“Mm, if it means I get to cuddle ya every night for a whole week, sure.”

 

Lucifer supposed that even if this hadn’t exactly been how Charlie had intended for it to happen, they were definitely bonding.

Maybe having a roommate wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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