"…What didn't you tell me?"
The question sits there. Heavy. Unavoidable. Lucifer doesn't answer right away. And that....
That's enough to make my chest tighten. Because if it was nothing… He would've said it already.
"Arlo," he starts. I shake my head slightly. "No. Don't—don't say my name like that and then avoid it."
A flicker of something crosses his face. Guilt? Frustration? I can't tell. "…It's complicated," he says.
I let out a quiet, humorless laugh. "Yeah," I mutter. "You keep saying that."
Silence. The tension between us stretches thin. Like it could snap any second.
"Then explain it," I press, my voice steadier than I feel. "Because your ex just called me, told me you're not what I think, and then hung up like that's normal."
Lucifer exhales slowly, running a hand through his hair. For the first time since I've known him. He looks… unsure.
Not calm. Not in control. Just… human.
"We didn't just break up," he says finally.
I don't interrupt. I just wait. Because this matters. A lot.
"He wanted more than I could give," Lucifer continues. "Faster than I could give it."
My brows furrow slightly. "…What does that mean?"
His jaw tightens. "It means," he says carefully, "he expected things I wasn't ready for."
My stomach drops. Oh. Oh.
I think I understand. "…Physical?" I ask quietly.
Lucifer nods once. The tension in my chest shifts.
Not gone. But different. "He knew," Lucifer adds. "About me. About the fact that I hadn't… done anything."
I swallow. "And?"
"At first, he said he didn't mind," Lucifer says. "Said he was willing to wait." A pause. "He wasn't."
Something about the way he says that.... Flat. Controlled. Makes my chest tighten again.
"What happened?" I ask, softer now.
Lucifer looks away. Toward nothing. Like he's replaying it.
"He got impatient," he says. "Started pushing. Small things at first. Comments. Jokes."
My grip tightens slightly around my own sleeve. "That's not okay," I mutter. Lucifer lets out a quiet breath.
"No," he agrees. "It wasn't." Another pause. Then. "It turned into arguments."
My stomach sinks. "About what?" I ask. "About why I wasn't 'normal,'" he says, voice quieter now. "Why I couldn't just… move faster. Why everything had to be so slow."
Something sharp twists in my chest.
Because- I get that. I feel that. "He made it sound like I was the problem," Lucifer continues. "Like I was holding him back."
"You weren't," I say immediately. The words come out stronger than I expected.
Lucifer looks at me. Really looks at me. And for a second. Something soft breaks through.
"…I know that now," he says quietly. A pause. Then.
"I didn't back then." That hits harder than anything else. Because I can hear it. That doubt. That hesitation.
That part of him that still questions it.
"…So you ended it?" I ask. He nods. "Yes."
Another pause.
"He didn't take it well."
Of course he didn't. "That's why he said what he said tonight," Lucifer adds. "About me not keeping things simple."
My jaw tightens slightly. "Yeah, well, he sounds like an asshole."
A small, almost surprised breath escapes Lucifer. Like he wasn't expecting me to say that.
"…He's not a bad person," Lucifer says after a moment. I stare at him. "…Are you serious?"
"He just—" Lucifer pauses. "Wanted something I couldn't give."
"That doesn't give him the right to treat you like that," I snap. Silence.
"…I know." And something about the way he says it—
Soft. Quiet. Like he's still convincing himself. Makes my chest ache.
The tension in the room shifts again. Less sharp. More… fragile. But still there. Still unresolved. Because there's one thing still sitting between us. One thing I can't ignore.
"…Then why didn't you tell me earlier?" I ask. Lucifer hesitates. Just for a second. But it's enough.
"I didn't want you to see me like that," he admits. My brows pull together slightly. "Like what?"
"Weak," he says. The word lands wrong. Hard. Immediate.
"That's not weak," I say. "It felt like it."
"No," I shake my head. "It wasn't."
Our eyes meet. And for a second. Everything else fades. Because this— This matters more than the past.
More than Daniel. More than everything. "You didn't do anything wrong," I say quietly. Lucifer doesn't respond. But I can see it. In his expression. In the way his shoulders loosen just slightly.
He hears me. Even if he doesn't fully believe it yet.