ahahahahahah i forgot today was tuesday!!!!!!!!! happy holidays!!! enjoy y'all's breaks!!!
On Friday night, I decided that maybe some time back at the mansion would be nice. Yes, I basically spent every night there, but I meant a full on vacation–even if it was back there. Cause at least there I wasn't being judged for something I couldn't help.
"Hey, where are you going?" Dom asked as I made my way down the stairs, my duffel bag stuffed with some clothes for the weekend slung over one shoulder and my usual backpack hiked over the other, stuffed with my notebooks, laptop, and supplies.
I looked up as I descended the staircase, meeting his gaze. "Hey. I'm gonna stay back at home for the weekend."
Dom frowned, placing his chopsticks on the side of his bowl. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I just–I was feeling homesick." Which wasn't a complete lie. I did miss being around the brothers twenty-four seven, having them right next door and being dumb and lazy together. Even with Lucifer's unnecessarily helicopter-parent rules, it felt like having a parent back.
I mean, my mom wasn't a helicopter parent. By no means did she ever hover. Couldn't physically do it and she refused to do that to me because... because why? She'd told me why. I knew she did.
"You okay?" Dom asked again, brows furrowing in concern.
I blinked back into focus, shaking my head. "Sorry, yeah, just got distracted thinking about my... thinking about my mom."
"Ah, good thing you'll be seeing her soon, right?" He smiled.
I frowned. "No... actually."
This time he frowned, tilting his head to the side. "You're not? Oh, you don't live with her?"
"I..."
Slowly, his brown eyes widened, hand going up to his blond hair. "Oh my God. I didn't–I didn't even realize." Both his hands covered his mouth. "I'm so sorry."
"What?"
"I–when did you–oh, God. Actually, wait, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask that," he muttered to himself.
"Dom, what are you talking about?" I walked closer, dropping my duffel on the seat closest to me. After a second, it hit me what he was going on about. My own eyes widening, I held up both my hands, my backpack falling as I did so, shaking them in front of me as I corrected him with a small laugh, "Sorry, wait–no, Dom. My mom's alive."
"She is?"
I nodded, laughing. "Yeah, she's alive. She's okay. Don't worry."
"Oh," he sighed in relief, shoulders dropping. "Oh, thank God. I didn't wanna do that again." He grimaced, cracking his head. "I did that with Dawn," he explained.
"Oh. Right." I licked my lips, the laughter dying as I remembered why I was actually leaving for the weekend. I cleared my throat. "Anyway, yeah. Um, I'll be back Monday, though."
"Cool, cool." He picked his chopsticks back up as I rounded the table to grab my shoes. As I did, Luke popped his head out of his room, calling out, "I'll be ready to leave soon!"
I nodded, throwing up a thumbs up as I picked up my sneakers, moved the duffel off the chair, and sat down to pull them on.
"So, you're not going home to where she lives? Or, did I miss something?"
"Hmm?"
"You said you're going home, right?" I nodded. "Well, if home isn't where your mom is, who're you going home to?"
"Um, with–"
"Hey, I'm ready to head home." Luke nodded at Dom in acknowledgement, before finally noticing the duffel and frowning. "What's with the duffel?"
I smiled, slinging my backpack over my bag. "I'm staying over for the weekend."
Dom interrupted. "Wait–you're staying with Luke?"
Wide eyed, Luke snapped his head in Dom's direction. "What?"
"No!" I said at the same time, sputtering, "I'm staying with his–his family."
"Wha?"
I licked my lips, scratching my nape as I explained, "I'm sort of Luke's adopted family member."
"So adopted sister?"
I winced. "Kind of, but no–no offense, Luke."
Luke waved it off.
"More like really close family friend."
"Ah." Dom nodded in understanding. Luke held up a finger as he turned back to grab his shoes. "So, your mom's just chill with you staying with the devil and his sons?"
I furrowed my brows. "Um... I guess so?"
"You guess?" He tilted his head. "She doesn't know?"
"I–"
"Your mom's alive?" Luke's brows furrowed. "You've never mentioned that. I thought she was dead."
"Wait," Dom interrupted. "You didn't know that, either? Haven't you guys known each other for a while now?"
Luke and I shook our heads.
"Really?" Dom's gaze darted from me to Luke, like he was waiting for us to say, "sike!" "Really, really?"
We nodded.
"Huh. Then you two must have really close chemistry, huh." Dom paired that statement with a sly smirk our way that had both of us taking a step away from each other, faces blushing and heads shaking vehemently. "Oh, don't hide it. You two are like always together. Practically attached at the hip!"
"No, we're not. We barely see each other all week," I said defensively, ears burning.
"Are you sure about that? Both of you are gone for nearly the entire day all day every day, and when you both come home, it's usually at the same time."
"That's not every day. Luke has like a thing he goes to after he drops me off–"
"Ah, but drops you off from where?" Dom grinned.
"From dinner! See, you two go on daily dates! That's cute."
"No!" I shouted, feeling my cheeks burning even heavier. "I mean–we do go to dinner, but–but it's a family dinner, with his family and stuff. It's mandatory."
"Uh-huh. Okay," Dom said, grinning down into his food. "Don't worry I'll keep your little secret."
"It's–"
Luke, cheeks still a bit red, cupped my elbow lightly and pulled me back and lightly shaking his head. "He's not gonna believe us, Summer."
"I believe you just fine."
I opened my mouth to try again, but glanced at Luke's exasperatedly amused gaze. His lips quirked up and he gave me a one-shouldered shrug. Sighing, I shut my mouth, tugging my duffel off the chair.
"I'll see you Monday."
"See you, lovebirds!"
One more sigh.
"Come on," Luke said, nodding his head towards the door. "See ya, Dom."
"See you, Dom," I echoed, following Luke out.
But just as he reached for the knob, the door jiggled and the sound of keys turning in the lock sounded. We both took a step back as Dawn and Sammy entered the apartment, each holding four cups of milk tea in a holder and laughing mid-conversation.
When they noticed us, their laughter died down, brows drawing in unison. They glanced between us, at the keys hanging from Luke's finger, and my bags. The two stepped forward to slide off their shoes and make room in the narrow hallway, placing their keys on the counter with everyone else's. Dawn headed straight for the table, placing the holder down, sliding her backpack off, and taking a seat as she spun the cups around and handed one to Dom. Meanwhile, Sammy turned around, raised the holders up, and as she handed us each a cup with our names and straws, she asked, "Where you two headed?"
"Thanks," I told her, sliding my duffel bag down my arm so I could safely grab the cup. I nudged my head in Luke's direction, explaining, "I'm gonna be staying back home for the weekend."
"Aw, why?" Sammy cried with a frown. She twisted a bit to Dawn as she added, "We were planning on having a karaoke night this weekend–to celebrate the end of part one of midterms!"
That wasn't too much of a bummer to me. In the few weeks I'd been here, they hadn't thrown a party since we were all overwhelmed with studying for midterms. It was a saving grace especially since it had kept Dawn out.
"Really?" I said, infusing a sort of bummed tone into my voice so I wouldn't hurt her over that.
But then Dawn snorted. "Don't worry about it, Sammy. Summer isn't much of a party person."
I pursed my lips at her, even though she didn't bother to acknowledge me. Sammy didn't notice, though, but Luke sent a confused frown my way.
But Sammy either didn't notice the tone in Dawn's voice or ignored it because it was like she glossed right over it. Sammy placed the rest of the drinks down on the counter and took my hands in hers.
"Are you sure you don't wanna stay the weekend? Go home another weekend?" she pleaded, jutting her bottom lip out and widening her eyes.
I laughed, shaking my head. Once I slid my hands out of hers, I stepped forward to give her a hug. "I'm sure. I can join another karaoke party, okay? I promise." Stepping back, I placed my hands on her shoulders. "Thanks for inviting me, though. I appreciate it. I'll see you Monday."
"I'll still be here, though! And I'm down for karaoke!"
"You're not staying at home with her?" Dom interrupted, spinning around his chair. "That's not what a good boyfriend would do."
"You're dating?" Sammy exclaimed with wide eyes.
I sighed in exasperation. "We're not," I said, softly, shaking my head. "Dom is deluded." I said the last part a bit louder for Dom's benefit, who glossed over that, too. "I'll see you Monday."
"Oh, all right. I'll see you." She pouted. To Luke, she informed, "Karaoke's tomorrow night! Bring your singing game on!"
"Sweet, I'll be here."
Before we left, I snuck another look at Dawn, who was now scrolling on her phone, chin propped on her other hand as she studiously ignored the both of us. Luke said our goodbyes one more time and then we headed down to the car.
"Yes!" Lucifer shouted as we entered the mansion, arms raised up and hands curled in fists. "I knew you'd come home to us!"
I rolled my eyes, sliding off my shoes and gently placing my duffel down on the ground. "Hi, Lucifer."
Closing the distance with his arms still open wide, he furrowed his brows, lips curling down as he narrowed his eyes at the bag. "Why is there only one duffel? Where's the rest of your stuff?"
I returned his hug, informing him, "I'm not moving back in. I'm just staying for the weekend."
"Oh, damn it." He crossed my arms. "Well, that's no fun."
"Okay, I can go if–"
"NO! No–I was kidding, damn." He pulled my back into his arms, placing a kiss on the top of my head. In a lower and more serious voice, he whispered, "How are you doing?"
I patted his back, quirking a smile before pushing away from him. "I'm doing good." I knew he was talking about my question from Monday, but I didn't really want to answer that. "You should know. I've been here every day this week."
He narrowed his eyes, doubtful, but noticing Luke still standing beside us, thankfully let it go.
"You can't blame a dad for asking."
"Yeah, well, you haven't asked your actual son that," I emphasized, nodding at Luke. Both Lucifer and Luke both rolled their eyes at that. "And I bet you haven't asked any of your other sons that either–without my prodding."
He sighed. "Being a father is so hard," he sighed overdramatically.
I shook my head. "Whatever, man." I bent my knees a bit to pick up my duffel. "I'm gonna head upstairs and drop off my stuff for dinner. Is Cook back?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "They're cooking a whole spread to make up for not being here for family dinner."
"Oh, okay. I'll be back down quickly to see if they need help."
Lucifer waved me off. "Don't worry about it. The boys have already tried that–to their surprise–and they were booted out after a minute."
I laughed. "Ah, okay. Never mind then. I'll go check on what the others are doing."
"Matthew said not to be disturbed until dinner and Mark's got a girl over with the door bolted shut," he quickly informed me, making Luke chuckle.
I shouldn't have been surprised. "John, it is."
"I'll head over to the kitchen–not to help, just to catch up with Cook. I haven't seen them in a while."
"Okay, see you!" We both waved at Lucifer, who frowned as we moved away from him and headed out separate ways.
"Neither of you are gonna stay with me?" he called out to our backs. Neither of us responded. "You are ungrateful children!"
"See you at dinner!"
And then I ran up the stairs.
Dinner came and went as it usually did. We talked, we laughed, Mark had to kick his latest girl out, Matthew was grading papers again, and Luke had to mark dinner's end because he had his daily visit to go to. But, unlike the last few dinners, I didn't exit with him, which surprised Mark, Matthew, and John.
Cook came back around us, entering the kitchen from the center wall with an array of six-armed others, who had cloths draped over their limbs. When I'd come down to visit Cook, they had taken me into their arms, mouth running off in its mother tongue too fast for me to completely understand what with the five other tongues they had. But I got the gist of what they were saying.
When I'd offered to help them cook, though, they kicked me out as Lucifer said they would, but they let me stay and serve everyone. Apparently, they had been most excited to hear that Luke was back. I had come in just as they were gathering some ingredients to make mango lassi–which was Luke's favorite.
They refilled all of our glasses, except Matthew who was still nursing his.
Cook asked me if I'd liked the food and after reassuring them that it was as fantastic as usual, they bowed and exited the room, taking the dirty dishes and leftovers with them. Before they completely disappeared, Lucifer informed them that I would be staying for the weekend and so they had to prepare my meals, too–which made them shake all their limbs in delight and flash their eyes brightly at me.
"Okay, I'll be back in the office if anyone needs me," Lucifer announced as he pushed his chair out and stood. He slid his hands down his chest, smoothing out any wrinkles that formed on his bright blue button up. "Try not to need me."
When Lucifer exited, the boys turned to me.
"You didn't tell us you were staying for the weekend." John frowned, tilting his head at me.
I furrowed my brows, bringing a sip of my lassi up to my lips before answering, "I didn't realize I had to inform you. Besides, I thought it would be a good surprise."
"It is a good surprise!" Mark chirped, before frowning. "But I have plans."
"Another date?"
He shrugged, hands up. "What can I do? I'm a stud."
"You mean 'dud'," snorted John as he downed the rest of his dessert. He picked up my empty glass and nudged his head to the exit. I nodded.
"Rude," Mark cried as we exited, leaving the two older brothers to themselves. While we moved down the hall, we listened as Mark started talking about his new date, before the sound of a chair scraping back screeched our way.
John and I shared an amused glance, knowing that was Matthew just standing up to leave.
The two of us retired to his room because, aside from my duffel and backpack, my room was empty. John pulled up Netflix and played The Office as background noise before turning to me, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, lips pressed tightly against each other, and reddish brows drawn together.
I sighed, slowly turning my head to him.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. Nothing's going on."
He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Summer, we're--" he grimaced, "best friends. I know all your quirks and your hidden meanings."
I smiled briefly at the label; he hated calling us that cause it was "too childish" for us, but I think it was the perfect way to describe our friendship since we weren't exactly brother and sister. Then I dropped it as he quirked one brow up.
"Tell me what's going on."
Another sigh as I leaned back against the headboard and grabbed one of the pillows that were stacked in between us. Hugging it to my chest and leaning my chin on top, I debated where to start from and decided that what better place than the beginning.
"You know how I said Dawn seemed really eager to be roommates?"
John nodded.
"Well, it's the complete opposite now. And it's because of something I can't help."
"What do you mean?"
I inhaled, thinking back over the conversation, and then shut my eyes, trying to push back the memory of the vision. He didn't know about that yet and I wasn't really sure if I wanted to tell him yet.
Opening my eyes and glancing at him in my peripheral, I continued, "Our roommates know everything."
"What?" he cried, alarmed.
I shrugged, eyes wide as I moved my hands about trying to explain. "Mona--she's part witch and she just--she just has like a sense of these things. She found out I'm not like them. And then I guess she recognized you guys? Cause she told everyone about you all. And they were fine with that. At least, I thought they were but apparently it wasn't everyone."
"Wait, what do you mean? Slow down, Summer."
I paused, inhaling and trying to slow down.
"Basically, everyone in our apartment knows that I'm not like them. That I'm different." Before we could elaborate on that, I jumped. "They know you guys are different and they know exactly how different you are."
John's eyes narrowed, head tilting and his mouth opened, but nothing came out. "What?"
I slapped both my hands over my face, aggravated that this wasn't coming out right or even coherently. With a groan, I shoved my face into the pillow.
Then pulling my head back up, I cried, "None of what I'm saying it coming out right!"
With pressed lips, John took my shoulders in his hands and turned my torso to him. "Breathe, Summer. Breathe."
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Honestly, I felt like I was being melodramatic. This wasn't--this isn't supposed to be something that made me nervous. So I'm not human. So what. I knew that this entire time, right?
But... I also had hope that there was still some of my humanity left in me. That I still had a chance to go up there as long as I lived my life and ignored the fact. I shut my eyes and inhaled, counted to three, and then exhaled.
After licking my lips, I opened my eyes.
"Now, let's try this again from the start, Summer," John calmly told me, earnest eyes staring into mine. "What happened? How do they know? What do they know? Why doesn't Dawn wanna room with you anymore?"
I nodded. "Okay. From the start."
One more inhale. And then, as I exhaled, I began again, "A few weeks ago, Mona told everyone at the apartment that Luke and I--that you guys and I aren't human. And she knows this because she's a witch--which I should have told Lucifer about, but I didn't know. And what harm was it if they knew?" I shook my head as John's hands fell from my shoulders so I can lean back against the headboard.
"Anyways," I said, waving my hands around my face before curling them back around the pillow. "They know everything."
"Everything? What do you mean everything?"
"Everything as in they know you and Luke and Mark and Matthew are the sons of the ruler of Hell." John's eyes began to darken.
"Did they hurt you?"
I held my hands up again, preventing him from going full-on Devil's son mode, before adding, "They're fine with that. They've been acting as if we were anyone else. But... I thought that they were all okay with that."
John didn't say anything, but his brows drew back down, nostrils flaring, and lips pressed tightly against each other, going as pale as his skin.
Looking back at the TV, I slowly continued, "Turns out, Dawn isn't okay with that. I mean, she's not being violent to me, but it's just--something happened and--" I licked my lips, pushing back the vision of being pulled into her memories. "--something happened to her when she was a kid and that it'd been done to her and her family by an Other."
"Okay. What does that have to do with you? You have some Other in you, but that doesn't mean you did. You were a kid around the same time, too, right? What's that gotta do with you?"
I sucked my lips in, fiddling with my fingers before I looked back at him. "When Dawn talked to me, she said that I don't just have 'some Other' in me." I swallowed, listening to my breaths leave me as John waited patiently. "Apparently, Mona told her that I'm a completely different being. That there isn't any human in me."
"Oh. Okay?" His expression began to relax, whatever dark emotion disappearing as the color returned to his face. "So you're not human at all. What about it?"
I swallowed. I know I had been handling the changes well. No one was any wiser that I wasn't used to having abilities, wasn't used to the fact that it was much harder to kill me. But that was because I'd learned to ignore it. Live my life as if I were still human, but I should have known that I couldn't always ignore it. That would be like ignoring that I was breathing. It was a part of me now--one I couldn't so easily get rid of.
"John, I'm not human."
"You've said," he stated. "And even before that, the powers were a dead give away of that. So what?"
I licked my lips and my next exhale came out shuddered, before I fully turned my head to meet John's gaze. "You don't understand, John. I'm..." I pressed my lips together, Lucifer's rules ringing in my head. But I swallowed and continued, "John, I'm supposed to have some human in me. All the odd parts of me--" I lifted my hair to show the elf ears, rubbed the parts of my fingers that felt like bark, "--they were only meant to be replacements for the things I lost. The things that deteriorated before..."
John's gaze began to darken and narrow again, trying to connect the dots before I could finish what I had to say.
"... before Lucifer resurrected me."
was that... cliffhangery enough? idk. we've known she was resurrected from the beginning but like... idk?????? it was sUPPOSED to be a surprise but i really wanted lucifer's intro to start this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well! let me know what y'all think!
thanks yous for reading and i hope you all have a good day! and, as always, stay happy, stay safe, stay you!