[ He’s a lot of wide-eyed staring, is Lucifer, after that. He’s always had the kind of face that blew up every emotion to double its original size, so Elio can follow the shifts in reaction very clearly. Disbelief. Wonder. Something... else that Elio doesn’t dare to name, because like the grief, this is Lucifer’s to carry, too. And Elio’s to receive, apparently.
The other man slips his arm around Elio’s naked waist and pulls him in, gently, carefully, in a manner that says you matter and possibly more than you will ever know, and in response Elio rests his head sideways on Lucifer’s shoulder, lets himself be held and appreciated and... that unnameable thing, Lucifer’s own.
Then, Lucifer says that, those words, you are the most remarkable thing I’ve ever known, and maybe he’d compliment-scoff it away normally, but Elio knows the weight of that statement, because Lucifer has known everything there is to know from the beginning of time until now and long into the future, he’ll know it as well. If Elio surpasses all of it, that’s not just a compliment, that’s a...
Oh.
The angel’s wing is wrapped lightly around him, feathers cascading down his front, back, protecting him from all sides as they, each and every one of them, say the same thing. Elio feels something warmer than the sunshine and stronger than Hell’s rocky ground form in his chest. He’s felt this way about Lucifer for a long time, really, but the metaphors were never quite right, never quite here. He turns a little and gets up on his naked toes to kiss the other man’s cheek, stubble scratching him beautifully. ]
I love you, too.
[ Lucifer hasn’t said it yet, the words, and Elio realizes, maybe for the first time, that he has absolutely no stakes in whether the other man ever will. If he can say things like this and give himself in all his forms to him, how loudly would he have to shout to be heard over that?
It’s not that Elio doesn’t expect better of him, it’s that Lucifer has already outdone himself. He thinks about what God said, about making yourself better and he thinks, this very second? They’re both the results of their own hard work. The work that brought them together to begin with.
Nuzzling Lucifer’s cheekbone with his nose, Elio eases down on flat feet again, just standing there, leaning against him. ]
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The other man slips his arm around Elio’s naked waist and pulls him in, gently, carefully, in a manner that says you matter and possibly more than you will ever know, and in response Elio rests his head sideways on Lucifer’s shoulder, lets himself be held and appreciated and... that unnameable thing, Lucifer’s own.
Then, Lucifer says that, those words, you are the most remarkable thing I’ve ever known, and maybe he’d compliment-scoff it away normally, but Elio knows the weight of that statement, because Lucifer has known everything there is to know from the beginning of time until now and long into the future, he’ll know it as well. If Elio surpasses all of it, that’s not just a compliment, that’s a...
Oh.
The angel’s wing is wrapped lightly around him, feathers cascading down his front, back, protecting him from all sides as they, each and every one of them, say the same thing. Elio feels something warmer than the sunshine and stronger than Hell’s rocky ground form in his chest. He’s felt this way about Lucifer for a long time, really, but the metaphors were never quite right, never quite here. He turns a little and gets up on his naked toes to kiss the other man’s cheek, stubble scratching him beautifully. ]
I love you, too.
[ Lucifer hasn’t said it yet, the words, and Elio realizes, maybe for the first time, that he has absolutely no stakes in whether the other man ever will. If he can say things like this and give himself in all his forms to him, how loudly would he have to shout to be heard over that?
It’s not that Elio doesn’t expect better of him, it’s that Lucifer has already outdone himself. He thinks about what God said, about making yourself better and he thinks, this very second? They’re both the results of their own hard work. The work that brought them together to begin with.
Nuzzling Lucifer’s cheekbone with his nose, Elio eases down on flat feet again, just standing there, leaning against him. ]