Under A Stack of Blankets, A Castle on the Coast of Norway, Tuesday Evening

[my_own_advocate]

It wouldn't technically be their anniversary for a few more days - or had already been weeks and/or days ago depending on whether you counted Duke's nearly-bungled proposition and which stage of it - but Fandom had Fandomed, so why wait? Lucifer had bustled everyone into the portal in the morning, and they'd driven up to his castle (which, at least, he'd gotten cleaned prior to the whole repeating Friday debacle), ooh'ed and aah'd at it for about five minutes, and then rushed indoors to get warm.

The old-fashioned way.

... both in terms of nudity and in terms of blankets.

And that was where they remained, under several layers of warm blankets in a room that exuded both modern luxury and medieval castle in equal measure. Lucifer hadn't been here in decades, but he'd made damned sure the place had been ready for their arrival well in advance. The wardrobe was old but cleaned and refurbished, as was the bed, there were mood candles aplenty, a full wine cellar, and... loads of other things he couldn't think about right now, actually.

"I'm never leaving this bed again," he informed Duke's shoulder. "Ever."

[[ for those who are there, and la la, I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't just linkdrop all that so I don't have to keep searching for those threads. ]]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia pressed her forehead to Duke's.

"And you're perfect to me," she murmured. "Both of you. Together."

It had been a strange thing to learn over the course of the year.

[betterthanaplan]

"Only with you with us, too," Duke told her, cupping his hand against the back of her neck. "All three of us together."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes."

Lucifer let out a soft huff.

"It's funny," he said thoughtfully. "I used to think I was just... a bit of a guest here."

[okteiviakom]

"Why is that?" Octavia asked, soft and quiet, but she had a few guesses. It wasn't entirely an alien thought to her, after all.

She just didn't want to say that.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had his own theories -- he'd been convinced that he was just getting between the two of them for a bit there, himself -- but held his tongue, waiting for Lucifer's answer.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, you two were together, and clearly very much in love, in spite of your difficulties at the time," Lucifer said, with a little sigh. "So when you propositioned me, I... assumed I just got to borrow a little bit of your light. And... then eventually I'd either move on myself, or you'd have had your fun, and... that would be it."

[okteiviakom]

As she listened, Octavia's hand found its way over Duke to Lucifer's shoulder again. Or whichever part that was, it was hard to tell.

Freckled skin all the same, she was sure.

She made a little noise. Sounded weirdly like hesitation.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shifted, rolling carefully onto his back so he could better look at both of them.

"I had no idea what I wanted when I asked that," he admitted. "I just -- I thought you two were meant to be. And I wanted to be included, at least for awhile."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer blinked. "You thought Octavia and I were going to sail off into the sunset together?" he said. "She was your snogon."

[okteiviakom]

Yeah, Octavia had also given Duke an inquisitive, confused look as soon she heard the words 'meant to be'.

She was still kind of giving him one now that she shifted a little, to prop her head up on one arm.

[betterthanaplan]

"You're the Children of Aurora," Duke said softly. "Luce, you know Trig without even trying. You're both . . . magic. I'm just cursed."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer snorted. "I'm not magic, I'm the Devil," he said. "And you are an incredible human being she is lucky to have, and vice-versa."

[okteiviakom]

"You were my snogon," Octavia said, almost like a helpless sigh. "You are my snogon. And I -- I was willing to let you trade me in for Lucifer."

Oh, yeah, that worry about not being enough had morphed into something else before it had finally faded.

"Because he was the better thing I thought you deserved."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a little helpless laugh.

"So basically . . . we're all really lucky that 'three way' was a legitimate option, so we didn't have to 'Gift of the Magi' each other."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a hopeless chuckle of his own against Duke's back. "All of us thinking we'd be rightfully left behind by something all three of us wanted," he said. "So much time wasted."

He leaned up, stretching across Duke to press a kiss to Octavia's mouth.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia used the kiss for quieting down her need to wonder out loud how much of that was down to the way they'd stumbled into this in the first place. Didn't really matter that much now, did it?

Her hand strayed briefly into Lucifer's hair.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke kept still between them, more than content to watch. To feel both of them press against him as they kissed each other.

Yeah, they were damned lucky this had been an option. He couldn't imagine it any other way, now.

[my_own_advocate]

It felt safe, didn't it? And right. And Lucifer had no interest in relitigating Duke's initial strategies here when, at the end of the day, Duke had gotten them here.

He let out a soft sigh, lingering.

"I'll save the actual speeches for the actual anniversary," he said. "But I feel incredibly lucky to be here. With both of you."

[okteiviakom]

"We have an actual anniversary?" Octavia asked, but distracted, her head already turning.

Because she needed to duck down and kiss Duke, too.

[betterthanaplan]

"Several, I'm guessing," Duke said -- and then was kissing back. When they were done he looked at Lucifer. "Which thing are we actually counting from?"

[my_own_advocate]

"We should probably decide," Lucifer said, having leaned back to watch both of them in turn. "The fifteenth was when I kissed Octavia, but we've since passed that."

He patted Duke's arm. "I kissed you four days later," he said. "We got on the Rouge together on the 24th, and had sex for the first time - in this configuration, at least - on the 27th, so... pick a date."

Shut up. He hadn't memorized all that. Shut up.

[okteiviakom]

Sorry, Octavia's face said plenty. Though mostly it was an elated sort of surprised.

"You... remember all of that?"

With dates?

[betterthanaplan]

“Told you,” Duke said. “He’s magic.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm not magic, I'm just celestial," Lucifer sighed. He looked up at Octavia. "And... those days mattered to me. Especially considering what came just before."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia reached up again, to brush her fingertips against Lucifer's cheek.

"I knew they mattered," she said. "Just hadn't realized it was that much." That he could list them, name them, a year later.