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“Captain. Do you have a moment?”
“Hm?” Djeeta pauses to raise an eyebrow curiously at Lucifer when he stops her in front of her room one day. While she has talked with the former Supreme Primarch quite a bit since he joined the crew a month or so ago, most of that has been over coffee while Sandalphon lurks just on the periphery of her vision. In fact, most of Lucifer's time so far has been spent with Sandalphon — they do have over two millennia of catching up to do, she supposes.
“I was recently made aware of a tradition known as 'Christmas’ to you skyfarers. It is a holiday a week from now where you gift each other with presents, I hear…?”
“Ah, you don't need to worry about doing all that!” Djeeta reassures him with a grin. “It’s one of our crew rules; no one's obligated to give anyone else holiday presents. It'd be a mess otherwise, with the sheer number of people onboard. We have a crew feast at night you're welcome to partake of, though.”
“Is that so?” An faint smile of relief makes its way onto Lucifer's lips. “Thank you for the invitation, Captain. But if I were, to say, intent on giving someone a present…?”
“You mean Sandalphon?” Djeeta giggles slightly at Lucifer's all too transparent attempts at being vague. Lucifer, for his part, acknowledges her obviously correct guess with a wry smile. “There’s no rules about not giving presents, you're fine.”
“I see.” A pause, while Lucifer seems to struggle with saying something. “In truth, I… I was hoping to ask for advice as to what kind of gift would be appropriate,” he finally admits. “This… gift giving… is not a custom I am familiar with at all.”
“Mm…” Djeeta scratches her head, thinking. “People usually give small items the other people will make use of or enjoy, I think. I usually make Lyria sweets, or give Io some new jewelry. Stuff like that that shows you're thinking about what the other person wants, you know?”
“I see… so I have to think for myself as to what would make Sandalphon happy?” Lucifer muses. Encouraged by Djeeta's thumbs up reply, he nods thoughtfully. “What Sandalphon would want… I understand. Thank you, Captain.”
“Glad to help!” Leaving him with a wave, Djeeta continues on her way towards the dining room, already looking forward to her daily cup of coffee.
Several days later, Lucifer is still no closer to deciding what kind of present to get Sandalphon. His attempts to ask directly have all been shot down (“Just being able to enjoy this coffee with you again is all I ever wanted, really!”) while seeking advice from the crew has either been fruitless (“What the Captain said, just get him something he'll like.”) or actively unhelpful (“Uh, there's this ramen place that does a special dessert ramen…”).
It's with a scant day left before Christmas that Lucifer finally considers asking Lucio.
It isn't that he minds having a lookalike or anything, really. He's spent enough time around Lucilius in the past, after all. He's just worried about how Lucio seems to be the sole person on the crew who Sandalphon actively dislikes, a feeling he's been unable to persuade Sandalphon to elaborate on so far. He hasn't talked to Lucio enough to ask for Lucio's opinion on the matter yet, but Djeeta has assured him it's nothing major and he trusts her enough to leave it at that.
“I see how it is…” They're on the deck of the Grandcypher, Lucio sitting carelessly on the railing and stretching while Lucifer stands a short distance away. “So you're looking for present ideas that Sandalphon would like, hm.”
“I don't know much about what he enjoys,” Lucifer admits. For all their history, he's only begun to truly understand Sandalphon recently, and it's a slow journey. “There doesn't seem to be anything coffee-related I could procure that he does not already possess, and I… know far too little about his other hobbies.”
“Mm…” Lucio looks out over the horizon, deep in thought. “Well, you do know one other thing he likes, do you not?”
“I do?”
“Yourself, of course.” There's a playful twinkle in Lucio's eyes as he says this.
“I… fail to see how that helps, my friend.”
“There is a custom, you see,” Lucio begins suspiciously merrily. “When two people are particularly special to each other, sometimes their very presence is what makes the other happiest. In that case, it makes perfect sense that giving their very self as a present to the other would be the greatest gift of all, no?”
Lucifer nods slowly, taking Lucio's words in. Indeed, that does make sense. “How would you go about such a thing?” he questions.
“Hm, well, normal gifts are usually gift-wrapped to hide the surprise, but you can't exactly gift wrap yourself. So people sometimes do this instead…” Leaning forward, he whispers a set of instructions into Lucifer's ear.
“I understand.” Lucifer nods gravely. “I hope Sandalphon will enjoy my gift to him, then. Thank you for your advice, my friend.”
“Oh, he will,” Lucio assures him with a smile that's just slightly too cheery.
Sandalphon tries to stifle a yawn as he returns to his room after a evening of feasting and partying.
He's not usually the type to take part in these festivities, but Lyria and Djeeta had clung to his arms and insisted that he join them for the singing at least. Lucifer had left sometime in the middle of that, but Sandalphon had been too busy to notice until the festivities were over.
He wonders, slightly guiltily, if Lucifer had wanted Sandalphon to himself a little more. Well, that's fixable, at least. The hour is still not too old, Djeeta having insisted on ending the party at a reasonable time so the children on board could sleep, which leaves him with a whole night he can spend with Lucifer. Lost in thought, he opens the door—
—and Lucifer smiles back at him from his bed, entirely nude save for a red ribbon wrapped around him that strategically covers everything important.
Sandalphon closes the door.
It takes several long moments for his brain to start working again. Okay, so he's tired and it's been a while since he's taken care of his own needs. It's no excuse for having such base visions of Lucifer, but a shower and some sleep tonight will fix both. Maybe he can go and talk to Lucifer a little before he passes out. Having made up his mind, Sandalphon opens the door again.
Lucifer is still there, red ribbon and all.
Sandalphon has just enough presence of mind to step into the room before he closes the door this time. “L-Lucifer,” he finally manages to stammer out, acutely aware of the heat rising very quickly to his cheeks, “w-what is this supposed to be?”
Lucifer tilts his head, fixing Sandalphon with a slightly worried look. “Your Christmas present,” he says. It answers approximately none of Sandalphon's many questions. “Do you not like it?”
“I, uh—” Sandalphon casts his gaze desperately around the room, searching for something that is not Lucifer in a dangerously small ribbon for him to focus on so he can retain some measure of logical thought. “M-may I ask the meaning of this?”
“Lucio suggested that the most appropriate present I could give you would be myself,” Lucifer explains, as though it were a complete reasonable thing to do. “Christmas is about giving people things they like, and you… ah… you do like me, I hope?”
“Of course I do!” Sandalphon hastens to reassure him. Right, he's going to kill that faker tomorrow. If he can get through this without dying of embarrassment first, at least. “I-I just don't understand what the, um… the r-ribbon is about.”
“Ah. It's a substitute for proper gift wrappings, I'm told.” Lucifer is still being unreasonably levelheaded about this. “As I can hardly fit myself into a gift box, this ribbon will have to do instead.”
“No, that— that doesn't explain the, the,” Sandalphon waves a hand vaguely in Lucifer's direction, his gaze darting around the room to fix on everything except Lucifer. “You're not… wearing anything…”
There's a pregnant silence, during which Sandalphon considers just throwing himself overboard.
“I have also heard,” Lucifer eventually says slowly, “that it is a skyfarer tradition to spend Christmas night with a lover.”
There's another long silence.
“...Oh,” Sandalphon finally replies feebly. He's aware of Lucifer watching him expectantly, but his brain seems to have stalled again. “Um.”
A third, even longer, silence.
“...I'm sorry,” Lucifer murmurs eventually, looking visibly deflated. “I seem to have made a grave error in my judgement here. I'll leave now. I'm truly sorry for causing you distress, Sandalphon—”
“N-No!” A tiny spark of panic finally manages to force its way through the fog that is Sandalphon's thoughts and kickstart his brain back into working order. “I'm not upset at all, Lucifer! It's just, this was so much of a surprise I don't know what to say…”
“That's fine.” Lucifer's smile is warm, relieved. It's completely at odds with his utter lack of clothing. “Take your time.”
“Could you, um,” Sandalphon grits his teeth. Taking a deep breath, he finally forces the words out. “Could you… put something on? I, I can't look at you properly like that.”
“Ah. Do you… perhaps not see me in that way?” Lucifer frowns, more thoughtful than sad. “I had assumed you would desire the same thing as I do, but perhaps…”
Sandalphon wishes, not for the first time, for the floor to just open up and swallow him whole about now. “I… I do,” he whispers, so softly he can barely hear himself say it.
He's blushing. He knows he's blushing, can feel the color deepening in his cheeks. Oh, what the heck. Exhaling, he throws the last of his hesitance aside and plunges on.
“I do,” he says again, louder this time. “I want to be with you, Lucifer.”
His heart is pounding, whether out of suspense or excitement he can't tell, as he sneaks a glance at Lucifer and waits for the response.
“What a coincidence.” Lucifer's smile is the loveliest he's ever seen it, the sheer warmth and happiness radiating out from it enveloping Sandalphon in a soft embrace. “I feel the same way, Sandalphon.”
Sandalphon's heart is beating so fast he thinks it might burst. His mind has gone blank, any lingering thoughts he might have driven out by the fireworks that Lucifer's words have lit, so instead of replying he does the only thing he can and drops into a crouch on the bed, leaning forward to capture Lucifer's lips with his.
Lucifer, for his part, doesn't seem to have expected this. Sandalphon feels him exhale softly, a gentle gasp of surprise, before Lucifer leans into the kiss, one hand coming up to cup the back of Sandalphon's head.
When they break apart again, Lucifer's smiling happily at him, and Sandalphon notes faintly the tinge of pink on his cheeks.
He also notices, much more acutely, that Lucifer is both extremely close and still not wearing any clothes. Or at least his body notices, while his brain tries very hard not to notice and fails.
Sandalphon swallows. “I,” he says before his brain can catch up and yell at him for this stupid idea, “have a gift for you too, actually.”
“You do?” Lucifer blinks at him in surprise.
“It’s—” he nearly trips over the words, “it's myself. If you're giving yourself to me, then, um, I should at least give you this back.”
“Ah. Is this what skyfarers call a gift exchange?” Lucifer hums lightly, his hand slowly moving down to rest on the clasp of Sandalphon's shirt. “May I begin to unwrap my gift, then?”
Not trusting himself with words, Sandalphon nods. As Lucifer's fingers make swift work of his clothes, he reaches for the ribbon to finally claim his own gift, and the rest of the night fades into a pleasant tangle of exposed skin and feather touches.
It's post-Christmas morning, with most of the crew still sleeping off the festivities of last night. Lucio, however, gets up to watch the dawn, as is his custom. As has been his custom since the beginning of creation.
The cup of coffee he fixes himself is a much more recent custom, one that he's only picked up since Lucifer's arrival on the Grandcypher. Seeing his clone enjoy the beverage had piqued his interest, until eventually he gave in and accepted a small cup to sample.
It has been… an acquired taste, but he's coming to enjoy the bitter tang of hot coffee in the mornings. Steaming brew in hand, he takes up his favorite spot on the Grandcypher's deck, letting the faint breeze tug at his hair while he sips at his drink.
It's like this that he hears the footsteps stomping towards him. The Supreme Primarch, if that aura is any indication.
“You…!” Well, Sandalphon seeking him out is a rare occurrence indeed. He knows the other usually avoids him for his resemblance to Lucifer, and he can't really begrudge him that.
“Good morning, Sandy,” he greets cheerfully. While he'll never openly admit it to anyone, he gets a lot more fun out of teasing Sandalphon than he really should. Once he would have considered it a failing on his part, but these days he's willing to simply enjoy life as it comes.
Sandalphon's cheeks are flushed red, and Lucio guesses with no small amount of amusement that his suggestions to Lucifer had a lot to do with it. “You— how dare you corrupt Lucifer like that!”
“Hm? I have no idea what you could possibly mean.”
“Y-You know what you did! Do you have any idea how awkward it was to have to deal with your shitty idea of what skyfarer gifts—”
“I simply gave Lucifer the advice he asked for.” Lucio smiles radiantly, perfectly aware that doing so will only work Sandalphon up further. “It worked to deepen your bond with Lucifer in the end, did it not?”
Sandalphon somehow manages to flush even deeper. “That— that's none of your business! Go to hell, you piece of…!”
Sandalphon aims a half-hearted kick at him, and Lucio lets it connect; that's only fair. As Sandalphon shoots him a final scowl before stalking back indoors, Lucio can't stop himself — he begins to laugh, the bright sound carrying off into the morning sky as the rest of the world slowly comes awake.