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The unfortunate thing about being the creator of demons is that Lucifer is forced to always listen when they call. There are few times he feels he understands his Father, but when he has voices pleading and praying for his attention from all sides, he knows he does.
On the other hand, now that he's been freed, now that he answers calls instead of them slipping through the bars of the Cage, the demons have learned very quickly to only invoke him if they know they have something valuable to give in return. Meg was the first to learn, and maybe, out of any of them, she's his favorite. (If he can have such a thing. Her competition is long dead, anyhow, Azazel and Lilith and Alistair and... Is he forgetting anyone? If he is, they probably weren't that important.)
The one who calls him is not Meg. He doesn't think he's met it before, but it knows him. They all know him. It gazes upon him with its ruined eyes.
"Lucifer," it whispers, the way someone might say Lord. He looks at it, expression neutral, withholding any praise or feigned affection until it gives him what it promised.
"You have Sam?" he asks, and it nods. It looks like it might weep to be acknowledged by him.
How tired he's growing of reverence.
Finally, Lucifer looks at him.
Sam looks confused and terrified. His eyes skate over Lucifer as though searching for something, and Lucifer mimics him. He hasn’t gotten much of a chance to admire the body they’ll share. He was… busy the last time they met. He has all the time in the world right now.
”That’s him?” Sam says, or… Lucifer tilts his head and frowns. It’s more of a squeak, really. Not much at all like the furious, beautiful being who’d stormed into his ritual and threatened to tear out his heart. (Lucifer’s vessel responds to just the memory of the encounter. Its heart beats faster while the blood vessels around its stomach paradoxically constrict themselves.)
“Sam,” he says, softly, “it’s been a while.” He has never wanted Sam to be scared of him.
“He’s ready to say yes to you,” the demon buzzes in Lucifer’s ear. He takes a moment, lets his expression soften, and turns to it.
“Thank you for bringing him to me,” he says. Its true form cracks and puffs itself up. He bows to kiss its forehead and anoint it with his grace. He knows it burns them when he touches them. None of them seem to care, welcome it, even. Meg wears the scars his grace leaves on her with pride, flaunting how numerous they are in comparison to any other demon.
He wonders if she’ll be jealous that another demon got to Sam before she did. She’s been working so hard to find and catch him for Lucifer.
The dogs can eat each other over the scraps of his attention later, for all he cares. He has Sam.
Lucifer turns back to him. Something is bothering him, but he can’t place it. Sam feels… off. He looks right, the body perfect and unharmed, the soul right there and shining through, but last time they met, Lucifer felt pulled to him. It was hard to resist going to Sam’s side, but he’d had a job to do and knew Sam would understand the importance of that. Besides, his vessel had still needed space. He wasn’t ready in Carthage. He’s ready now.
So it makes no sense why Lucifer feels nothing towards him. He searches for the gravity of fate that guides them together and comes up empty.
For the first time, a sprig of doubt grows in his mind. Why doesn’t it feel right? Sam is going to say yes. What if this continues? What if Lucifer has him, body and soul, and still feels incomplete? His Father would be that cruel, dangling the only thing Lucifer has left right in front of him and then taking it away.
”Is that true? Will you say yes to me, Sam?” It’s so early, too. The stage isn’t set yet. Killing Dean will easily send him to Michael, and with Sam finally where he belongs, it might push him to say yes, too. But now? Lucifer has barely had time to enjoy his freedom. Sam is his only way to keep it, but at the same time, waiting for him to say yes feels like the walls are closing in.
”Um…” Sam hesitates. He looks behind Lucifer at the demon. “I do that, and… you give me anything I want?”
Lucifer stares at him.
Oh, it’s a joke. He smiles. There’s something so comforting in knowing Sam remembers their interactions, wants to banter back with Lucifer about them. He steps forward into Sam’s space, curious if he’ll be allowed. He’s not sure why he wouldn’t, when they’re about to be tangled together as waves radiating through the atoms of his body, intimacy so deep it will forever change them both. Sam swallows nervously.
“Of course,” Lucifer says. “Anything. Everything.” Sam is right here, and Lucifer can touch him all he wants. He should feel greedy for it, but… He placed the blame elsewhere, not on Sam, never on Sam. He’s overly aware of the demon watching them with its intrusive eyes. He reins in his irritation enough to gently advise it, “You should leave now. Let others know what’s to come.”
“Wait!” Sam says, panic in his voice. Lucifer and the demon both look at him curiously. “No, she’s- She’s got to let go of her. My- She has to leave her body.”
”Are you sure that’s kind?” Lucifer says. Demons are not careful with their hosts. Not like he will be with Sam. There’s no telling what damage has been done to the girl it’s wearing. Sam nods quickly. Lucifer considers that for a moment, then leans in towards Sam, whispering to him. “Let me in, and we can do more than send it away.” Sam’s ear is millimeters from his lips, his pulse only an inch further, and Lucifer…
He’s wondering why his vessel isn’t reacting as strongly to Sam now. Where’s the giddy, fluttery feeling from his stomach? Where’s the desire to press his mouth against Sam’s skin, to kiss him or eat him alive or both?
”Okay,” Sam says, his voice shaking again. “Okay. Uh. I- Yes?”
His body is open for Lucifer to take it. Lucifer feels nothing.
Sam coughs.
Lucifer reels. How can it not be right? He turns the roiling fear into anger and searches around for someone to direct it on. Michael’s vessel is a prime target, but Lucifer can recognize he had nothing to do with this.
There’s the demon. It still hasn’t left. It should have.
He turns on it. It shrinks back. It is learning what it is to be a disappointment to a wrathful god.
"What did you do?"
"It is his body," the demon begs. "I thought without Sam to resist-" Lucifer quiets it with a gesture.
Demons. All they understand is meat. Sam is his mirror in every way, not just the flesh they'll wear. The person behind Lucifer, the one in stolen skin, the one who has dared to take what belongs to Lucifer, to Sam, and try to sell it as his own, chokes in fear. "Oh my god," he says, "please don't kill her, please, she's in my friend."
"Be quiet," Lucifer orders, "and be thankful. The body you took is too precious to me to rip you out of it."
"Oh, god," he babbles, and somehow he makes Sam's voice sound grating, "this wasn't supposed to happen, I just wanted my life to not suck for five minutes, you aren't even supposed to be real-"
"Liar," the demon hisses, "you were going to kill Dean to get what you wanted, does that sound like someone who didn't believe-"
There are not words for how little Lucifer cares about this argument.
"Where is Sam?" he interrupts. He doesn't need to raise his voice for them both to fall completely silent. He waits.
"I think he's tied up in my friend's basement," says the person who is not Sam.
"Why do you need him?" the demon questions. "That idiot said yes. The body is yours." There's desperation clinging to its words, an unspoken and I brought it to you. Lucifer feels no need to explain himself to it. It welcomed being burned by him once. Why should it fear being killed for its failure, when it will get to feel his grace burn through it a second, final, time? Have faith, he thinks but doesn't say.
"Take me to him," Lucifer says, "and I'll let Sam decide who gets to survive this encounter." Sam will like that. Either way, he'll feel like he's saved someone or like he's gotten his revenge.
Lucifer's heart beats fast in his chest. He's going to see his soulmate again.
They leave Dean at the motel. He only ever makes things more complicated, especially when it comes to Sam. He'll muddy Sam's sense of justice with his own.
Lucifer can see the demon panicking and plotting to escape. It knows that out of the two of them, it has the lowest chance of surviving. Lucifer isn't going to let it leave. It wanted him to come. It prayed for attention from its god. Its getting what it wished for. The person in Sam's body — Lucifer hasn't learned his name and isn't going to ask — comes quietly, frozen and wide-eyed like a deer in headlights. Every time he looks at Lucifer, he shakes and forces his eyes away. Lucifer sees him unconsciously rubbing the back of his hand, the same place where the skin of Lucifer's vessel has blistered. As though Sam's body would ever fall apart that way.
The spell has done a good job of disguising the souls it swapped, for now. Lucifer can see through the illusion more clearly when its trying to cover up Sam's soul. Sam's head snaps up at them when they arrive. His eyes go to Lucifer first.
He doesn't look scared of Lucifer. He looks angry, and calmed by his anger, focused.
"Did you say yes to him?" Sam snarls. The person in his body flinches.
"He tried to," Lucifer answers for him so that Sam's eyes will remain on him. Sam looks like he wants to wrap his hands around Lucifer's throat. Lucifer smiles at him. Fury makes his soul shine in such a pretty way.
"So why are you here?" Sam snaps. "To gloat?"
Lucifer tips his head. The ropes holding Sam disintegrate. He's on his feet in an instant.
"I'm a little insulted," Lucifer says, letting a little of his genuine hurt leak through. He can't understand why Sam doesn't trust him. He's never lied to Sam, never done anything to force his hand, never even pursued him beyond introducing himself. He's waited for Sam to come to him every step of the way. (Maybe, he's let his demons know that he'd like for Sam to be put in situations where he has to see Lucifer, but if they act on that, it isn't his fault. They're demons.) "Don't you remember what I told you?"
"That you'll get a yes eventually."
"That I'll get you to say yes," Lucifer corrects. "That's a promise, Sam. I will take no one's consent but your own, fully informed, fully willing." There's only a few feet between them, but when Lucifer steps forward to cross the distance, Sam takes a step back. Lucifer sighs. "Let me put you back where you belong. You don't look comfortable."
Both bodies drop. Lucifer shoves the interloper soul back where he came from. He kneels next to Sam and smooths his soul down into his body.
Sam's body remains open to him, the yes given not able to be revoked, not even with his rightful soul back in place. It doesn't matter. Lucifer won't take what Sam hasn't given him. (Mostly. He does allow himself to cup Sam's face just once before Sam's soul wakes his body again. Sam will never know. It's just for Lucifer.)
Sam kicks Lucifer when he sees him hovering over him. It doesn't hurt, but Lucifer lets it create the distance Sam wants. They get to their feet.
"There's one more thing we have to settle," Lucifer tells him. Sam glares.
"I don't want to die," whimpers the teenager on the other side of the room. The demon makes a face like its barely holding back from begging for its life, too.
"No one is going to kill you, Gary," Sam mutters.
"That's your choice," Lucifer shrugs. "What about that?" he points at the demon. Sam looks at it. Lucifer sees a flash of regret across his face.
"I-" Sam works his jaw. "I don't know if you can hear me in there, but I'm sorry, I can't- I can't." Lucifer watches with interest.
"Can't what?"
"You know what," Sam says. Lucifer doesn't enjoy his anger half as much when its directed inwards. Doesn't Sam know that he is perfect? Doesn't he understand that there is nothing he could do that would make him unworthy? He is so cruel to himself. When Lucifer has him, he's going to shower Sam in love until he forgets how to be.
Lucifer could hold the demon here for an exorcism. Sam will remember that's another option soon.
"You don't need demon blood to draw it out. I can help."
"You'll kill her."
"I'm not like my brothers, Sam. I know how to be delicate." Sam's nostrils flare. He wants so badly to save this girl, despite the damage she helped do to him. Lucifer wishes Sam would let himself break things when they hurt him. Lucifer would happily be his weapon, but this way, he still gets to be close to Sam. This is why he left Dean behind. It's not a choice Sam could make with his brother watching.
"You aren't possessing me."
"I don't need to."
"We pull it out. We don't hurt the person its possessing."
When Lucifer comes close, Sam flinches. Lucifer hooks his chin over Sam's shoulder, presses his chest to his back, and slides his hand down to cover Sam's. He can hear Sam's heartbeat, rapid. Scared or excited? Sam goes to lift his hand, but Lucifer stills it. "You don't need to," he murmurs. "Don't ever give away that you're about to attack." Sam draws in a breath. Lucifer listens to it, leaning in further. His other arm wraps around Sam's waist. He lets his grace seep into Sam's skin, not possession but sharing. He is as much Sam's to use as Sam is his. Sam reaches out with Lucifer's power to buttress his own weakened abilities. The demon panics, but Sam holds it fast.
"Don't hurt her!" Lucifer jerks his head slightly, and the teenager passes out again. He settles back into the crook of Sam's neck. Sam is breathing harder now, flexing psychic muscles he's been avoiding using for months. It comes back to him easily. Lucifer eases the strain that should be there with his grace, letting Sam get a little taste of what they'll be like together. This is just one demon. Lucifer will burn the world for him. With him.
Sam's intention was to exorcise the demon. Lucifer can feel when he switches to wanting to kill it, when he feels that he can with Lucifer supporting him. Lucifer can feel what Sam feels. The power is intoxicating. He has the ability to play savior and executioner with a single thought, and he loves it. Lucifer turns his head and brushes his lips against Sam's pulse to feel his blood pumping under them. Every offer he's made Sam so far has been theoretical. Now, Sam understands.
Lucifer loves him, and Lucifer will give him everything.
Sam burns the demon alive.
When it's over and Sam is catching his breath, Lucifer retreats before he can be pushed away.
There's a small part of him that hopes Sam will turn around and say yes, yes, yes, let's do that, let's be that forever. A much larger part of him that knows Sam won't. The girl is unconscious too, now. Two passed out teenagers, and, Lucifer passes his eyes over the basement, one dead one. It could have gone so much worse for them.
"Can you erase memories?" Sam asks. Lucifer is surprised, but he nods. Sam won't meet his eyes.
"It's like it never happened," he promises. Even the corpse disappears, from dust it came and to dust Lucifer returns it, floating haphazardly through the air of the basement. "Do you want me to take you back to Dean?"
"I can find my own way," Sam says.
"You don't have a car," Lucifer says, "and if your brother wakes up, he'll go looking for you, end up here with questions these two can no longer answer..." Sam flinches. Lucifer's only trying to help.
"Fine," he says, "take me back."
Dean is awake, it turns out. He shoots Lucifer. Lucifer knocks him out cold again before he can pull the trigger twice. He can feel Sam starting to panic. The way Dean's eyes had flicked between his brother and Lucifer had been both scared and accusatory.
Sam forces out, haltingly, "Can you-"
"Done." Lucifer says, with only a tendril of grace through Dean's mind, permission given to take away whatever he wished that could hurt Sam.
Sam doesn't thank him. Lucifer doesn't need him to. He knows Sam is grateful.
So, when he leaves, he allows himself to be greedy again. He caresses Sam's face and kisses his cheek. Sam freezes under his touch.
It's alright. He should know he's safe with Lucifer. After all, Lucifer has the yes he needs to take Sam's body, but he won't use it. He'll wait for Sam. He's going to come to Lucifer eventually.