The New And Probably Temporary Pillow Room, The Cape Rouge, Wednesday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer could get a lot of work done very quickly if he put his mind to it. By noon the newly-assigned pillow room had a small massage table, shelves for oils and whatnot, a floor made of memory foam and-- well.

A lot of pillows.

There were some finishing touches he'd have liked to have done, but Duke had checked in to see things were going, and. Well.

He was easily distracted by Duke.

"Well," Lucifer said, rolling onto his back with a happy sigh and a stretch, "At least we know the foam is sturdy enough."

[[ for that guy. ]]

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[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed loudly. "Even Big Ben is going to need a minute," he said, wrapping an arm around Duke.

[betterthanaplan]

“Well, you did call it a snuggle room, didn’t you?” Duke pointed out, rubbing tiny circles against Lucifer’s scalp. “Big Ben can take his time while we make sure it lives up to its name.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I was redubbing it the pillow room," Lucifer sighed, but he was already relaxing into Duke's bloody fingers. "...This is nice, isn't it?"

He wasn't just talking about the room.

[betterthanaplan]

“This is amazing,” Duke said. “No emergencies, no fresh traumas, just us at home. Together.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I really thought I'd be more bored by now," Lucifer admitted.

[betterthanaplan]

“What, with us?” Duke asked, frowning.

[my_own_advocate]

"Being here. On an island, on a boat, no work, not even... celestial wonkiness, spending my days roaming around this ship, watching telly and making dinner," Lucifer said slowly. "And-- everything that's waiting for me back home being... well. Bigger."

[betterthanaplan]

“I’ve been trying not to think about that,” Duke admitted. “What’s, uh. Waiting for you back home.”

It was too big to contemplate, really.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, there's no... real rush, is there?" Lucifer said slowly. "Dad was on Earth for months and the sun kept coming up in the morning."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded, pretending he didn’t see a number of flaws in that logic.

“Heaven works on, like, a galactic scale, doesn’t it?”

[my_own_advocate]

"And multiversal in a more limited way than I originally assumed," Lucifer said.

[betterthanaplan]

“The god of your universe isn’t necessarily the god of all of them,” Duke said. “Which is good, ‘cause, like. It’s breaking my brain enough to be dating a lowercase G god.”

Wait. He hadn’t planned on telling Lucifer that.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a sigh. "Does it help thinking of me as 'almost' god?" he tried. "Because I'm not actually any of the big o's, yet." Beat. "Well, beyond the one I just had."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke snorted at the pun, tugging Lucifer a little closer. "It does, actually. I've never really been a big fan of big o's. Other than the ones we both just enjoyed."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed, snuggling further into him. "Particularly not fond of the 'omniscient' o," he admitted quietly.

[betterthanaplan]

"And 'omnipresent' is clearly a flat out lie."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer huffed. "Yes," he said. "Present, my Father rarely was."

He pressed a kiss against Duke's neck.

Feeling thoughtful.

Feeling safe to be, too.

[betterthanaplan]

“Makes you wonder, a little,” Duke mused. “I mean, I’m not going to pretend to be a religious scholar or anything, but if Hell doesn’t need a king these days. . . .”

[my_own_advocate]

"Makes you wonder what?" Lucifer asked, not quite sure he knew where Duke was going, but interested.

His fingers slid idly along Duke's arm.

[betterthanaplan]

“What if. . . No one was God?”

Duke stared up at the ceiling, concerned he’d just managed to ruin the mood. Still, God had never actually said someone had to take over, did he?

[my_own_advocate]

Why would it ruin the mood? "Huh," Lucifer said. "I mean, that rather seems impossible... but then I'm not actually entirely clear on what Father was doing up there all that time."

[betterthanaplan]

Maybe Duke was overly braced for disaster these days. Things just seemed to be going so well. It was clearly not to be trusted.

"There you go," he said. "I mean, sure, maybe he created everything, but he did then set it up for us to keep doing the creating ourselves."

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't know if that's how it works," Lucifer mused, settling into Duke a bit more. "At the very least, the system He left behind is... imperfect."

[betterthanaplan]

"What would you change?" Duke asked. "Or . . . I guess what are you going to change?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer was silent for a long moment.

He hadn't spoken about this since his breakdown with Linda. Hadn't even thought about it, because it was so attached to the whole... God... thing.

"It just doesn't seem right," he said slowly, "that there's so much cause for pain in this world."