Only Your Bed"So... Lucifer," I said, staring at the current situation that would be my "accommodations" for tonight. I'd been surprised enough that he'd taken me straight to the room I'd be sleeping in for the time being.

  "I don't like it any more than you do," Lucifer grunted as he rubbed his fingers into one temple, his eyes suddenly looking much more tired.

  "No, but..." I gestured helplessly. I'm really going to die here; he'll suffocate me in the middle of the night and I'll be none the wiser. "Why?"

  "It's just for tonight," he sighs. "I'm sure it didn't escape your notice that the rest of the house is frozen over. One of my brothers did something stupid, as usual, and as a result, there's a freezing hex running rampant throughout the house. For someone as weak as you are, your limbs will atrophy, among other things, if you enter a radius that isn't protected by me. The room you would normally be using is downstairs." I let myself absorb Lucifer's expansive bed for a long moment, and I find myself appreciating the sight of it. Spacious, soft, and at first gnce, possibly a little unforgiving. But when my fingers touched it, it was squishy to the touch. It was also modestly colored, just like the rest of his room. I hated the bastard, but at least he had some taste. Even the skeleton - which was a little too white to be real - in the corner added a faint charm to the pce.

  "What about your brothers?" I asked eventually, and Lucifer kept his irritated grunt in his mouth this time.

  "At this particurly moment, I really don't care. The hex can turn them to icicles for the time being. It won't kill them, unlike someone else in this room." Just from the way Lucifer rubbed his face, I had the feeling that he dealt with this kind of thing a lot, and right now, he was kind of fed-up. I felt some of my resentment ease a little bit; he wasn't a hardass just because he enjoyed it, I guess.

  "Okay, but why is it just your room that wasn't hexed?" I asked, although in hindsight, he did say something along the lines of him protecting me. That was at least how I got through the hallway, I think. But rather than that, Lucifer wordlessly pointed to his roaring firepce. "For... For a hex? Surely if it's a curse or something, it would be unaffected by something that normally undoes the damage?" Lucifer shrugged a little in response.

  "It's an ancient hex," he replied. "They often have rather strange loopholes. I seem to recall one in particur that caused the sufferer to cease being able to taste until they had consumed a rather unusual variety of chocote that appears pink in color." Is he talking about Ruby Chocote? The one that got patented by Cal***aut?

  "The more you know," I mumbled, mentally taking note that he didn't refuse my point that the fire normally wouldn't have done anything. "So, do you have any more pillows?" Lucifer gnced at me out of the corner of his eye.

  "Why would I need more pillows?" he asked, half-annoyed and half-curious.

  "So that I don't have to break my back on the sofa?" I asked back, drawling my words a little bit, hoping I wasn't somehow offending him by sleeping on the couch. Hopefully, he wouldn't make me sleep on the floor.

  "What are you talking about?" Lucifer turned his head towards me this time. "You're sleeping on the bed."

  "What?" I must admit I was too shocked to say much else. He was really being generous enough to let me sleep in the same bed as himself?

  "Are you hard of hearing?" he asked, irritated, and I quickly shook my head.

  "No, but... I get to sleep... on that?" I urgently pointed at it, letting myself admire the thing again. I'd never seen a bed so big, even when I was living by myself in the human world. I didn't think I moved around that much in my sleep, but it just seemed like it was nice to roll around on.

  "You sound... awfully excited about a bed," Lucifer remarked, most of his hostility gone in exchange for bewilderment. "It's nothing special."

  "What are you talking about?" I asked, my eyes probably sparkling with my rapidly rising enthusiasm. I was going to get a decent rest for the first time since I came here, and I knew it would be excellent. "That's a dream castle! The dim lighting, the gentle crackling of the fire! Those plush charcoal sheets and that mattress will send me straight to dreamnd! You have noooo idea where I've been sleeping these past few weeks." Lucifer blinked at me a few times.

  "...exactly where have you been sleeping?" he wondered aloud, and I gave a little shrug.

  "Oh, you know... crammed inside closets a few times... under a desk, on the street once... most pces chosen so that I wouldn't be found by demons that want to eat me. But even in the human world, I've never owned a bed like this. Therefore, I will savor this night, and I will sleep like a damn rock!" Lucifer turned away from my craziness, unaffected, and I came to the faint realization that I would still be sharing it with him.

  "Suit yourself," he said, cracking his neck, and I felt a little bad about being so enthusiastic when he had to give up part of a bed he'd probably never given up in his life.

  "Sorry for getting too excited; I guess you're not the most comfortable sharing. I promise I won't hit you in my sleep." Lucifer gave a little snort at that remark.

  "You don't have to worry about that; I'm not sleeping in it," he replied, walking towards the door, and I couldn't help but feel a little offended.

  "Well why not? I don't bite. Not much, anyway. Not as much as you, probably." He gnced backward at me again with his tired eyes, and I think it was at that point that I realized today was genuinely not a good day for him. My next words unintentionally came out softer. "It's a big bed. It's easy to share."

  "Let me rephrase," he said, a touch more sternly. "I'm not sleeping tonight." He paused for a sluggish moment as if debating whether or not he wanted to say the next few words. "I have too much work to do. Does that satisfy you?" I think I'm starting to think I have, at least in part, misjudged him.

  "No, actually," I protested. "I thought you had a long day. Don't you want to rest?" Lucifer's expression turned to one of hesitation, and although he didn't give me a verbal response, it wasn't hard to tell that he did want to sleep, but he couldn't afford himself the luxury to. Is he a damn college student? "Okay, I'll take the floor after all," I said flippantly, and Lucifer turned fully towards me again his brows furrowed.

  "Absolutely not," he replied, firmly as he made his way towards me again, stepping straight into my personal space as he loomed over me. He was tall, or at least taller than me. Probably above average. It was enough that I had to look up a little to actually meet his eyes. A faint shudder rippled through me at the thought as I remembered an enemies-to-lovers I'd listened to some time ago, where the two love interests had been forced to share a bed, and... things got very heated very quickly.

  "Floor," I said defiantly, and I saw the muscles in his jaw ripple under his skin as he clenched his teeth.

  "Annelie," he said, and my name out of his sexy mouth nearly sent me to the floor. What is wrong with you, Anne?! "I don't care for disobedience. You will sleep in that bed. End of story." But he's making it so much worse... why does he have to say it in that tone of voice and make me all... God, FUCK! Why do I have to have a voice kink!?

  "And what are you going to do if I don't listen to you?" I asked, still not giving up the fight. I admit at this point, it was partially out of the desire to see what he'd do in his frustration with me. "I'll sleep in the bed if and only if you also sleep in it. I think you should prove to me that it's not trapped." So there, you stubborn ass. Lucifer raised an eyebrow, not swayed in the least.

  "Why should I have to prove anything to you?" A reasonable question, given that I was a freeloader.

  "Because I'm your guest." Lucifer sighed again at that, running his hand through his hair, and I tried my hardest not to stare, but he was driving me crazy. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have noticed.

  "Why are you so insistent?" How many times are you going to go back and forth with this?!

  "Because you look tired," I blurted, "and it makes you more unapproachable." Though, admittedly in my case, the fact that you're tired is probably a good thing, because you don't want to go through the trouble of hunting me down... What are you even doing? Let him deprive himself of sleep... even if he'd look hotter if he wasn't exhausted.

  Lucifer didn't seem to know how to respond to my thoughtless outburst, but it seemed like he didn't have to, because my stomach chose that particur moment to rumble like some kind of beast, aching for a decent meal. The st time I ate was... two days ago? Maybe?

  And for once, I felt a pang of embarrassment for my own hunger as Lucifer snorted, his face breaking into a smile for the first time since I'd met him as he softly chuckled. I didn't know he could smile. That's so cute. His ugh is cute too. Fuck me, you don't deserve to be this attractive.

  "What? Haven't you ever heard a stomach grumble and compin before?" I muttered, and Lucifer shook his head.

  "Plenty of times. I just find it funny that you're arguing with me about how tired I must be when you're clearly hungry. How many meals has it been, hm?" Lucifer's eyes sparked with a faint mischief. "Couldn't you find another octopus?" This little bastard...

  "Just so you know, if you're pnning on withholding food from me as a bargaining chip for you not sleeping in the bed, it's not going to work."

  "Are you sure about that?" Pyful, taunting and irritating. It was a step up from him being grumpy with me, but it was a small one.

  "You can get rid of the smug, smartass. I've gone days without food already." He smiled at me with that comment, and I had the distinct feeling that I'd just given him an excuse to starve me. I hate my stubborn personality a lot sometimes.

  "Understood." I then decided to just go after his pride at that point.

  "All of this just because you don't want to share a bed with a human," I taunted. "I don't know whether you're a chicken shit or just immature." I dropped down onto the floor and curled into a ball. "Sleeping right here." It was a very uncomfortable location, though the closet had been worse.

  But without skipping a beat, Lucifer picked me up off the ground, lifting me up with ease and plopping me down onto the wonderful surface that was his bed. I was loathe to ever move from that spot; just being there made me feel sleepy, and I imagine the only reason I hadn't started drifting off was because I was still wary of the man standing over me.

  "Stay," he ordered, like he was ordering around a dog, and I bristled a little, getting just enough energy to try to get off the bed again.

  "No!" I managed to get out of my mouth before my words were cut short as I felt two warm hands firmly circled around my wrists, pinning my hands into the bed. His body hovered halfway over mine, one of his knees almost conveniently between my thighs, as if he were threatening to expose the faint wetness that had gathered between my legs. I wondered if my face was pink or red or some shade in between as his breath lightly brushed my face. My brain was barely functioning, still processing the fact that it had even happened.

  "Where did all that defiance go?" he asked with a smirk, tightening his grip on my wrists, almost enough that it hurt.

  "...you're freaking strong," I grunted. "Also heavy." And sexy.

  "Well," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "You were dying to get in bed with me, so aren't you happy that you got what you wanted?" He's pying with me because he knows he's turning me on, doesn't he? This isn't fair. Bastard.

  "God, I wish I could just grab you and sm you onto your back," I groused, and Lucifer snickered at the mere thought. I probably would have too, if I were honest; even if I had taken self defense csses, I could barely a) remember enough to actually shove someone off me, and b) knock the practice dummy, which was retively light, off of me.

  "Ha. Keep wishing," he replied, rolling his eyes.

  "Ohhh, I'm wishing..." And, with that said, I started struggling against him with everything I had, jerking my knee up to his navel as I hoped to unbance him. OW! Why is his stomach so hard?! I might have thought I'd had no effect on him if it hadn't been for the fact that his eyes had widened, and he'd accidentally rexed his grip on my wrists to instinctively pull away. My heart was pounding in my ears as I freed my hands, grabbing his right arm and pulling him even closer to me for a moment. Folding it into his chest, hooking my leg against his, and in one effortful movement, I swung his body over, rolling on top of him. I snapped my hands against his, pressing his arms down with every ounce of my weight, panting with the exertion while Lucifer looked up at me in shock.

  "That was fucking hard," I gasped before I realized his arms were rexed, making no effort to fight against me. This motherfucker. "You let me do that," I accused, and he seemed a little embarrassed.

  "...I was curious," he replied, and I started easing my weight off his hands. The knee that hit his navel still hurt, and I groaned, annoyed. Well, what were you expecting with a guy who's probably at the top of the damn food chain when you're a rabbit he could catch with his eyes and ears closed? "I am still impressed nonetheless," he added as if awarding me a consotion prize. I wasn't sure whether to be more fttered or insulted.

  "I still can't protect myself from you though," I muttered, sitting up and shaking my hands. "Your hands are huge." I hadn't meant to say that, even if it was true. "Fine. You win. I'll sleep on the bed. You don't sleep at all. You can suffer if it really suits you." Lucifer looked up at me for a long moment, and it seemed as if he had to stop himself from smiling.

  "Do you pn on getting off of me, or will I have to do it myself?" he asked, a hint of roguishness sinking into his voice, and I actually had to stop myself from impulsively saying, "What, baby, don't like being a bottom?" I didn't particurly want to piss him off now that he was in a decent mood.

  "Oh... right," I said eventually before I shuffled myself off his waist - Shit, I was right on top of that - and cracked my knuckles out of habit. Crackcrack craaacracrack. The bubbles in the lubrication between my joints popped a lot louder than usual, echoing throughout the room. It was quite satisfying.

  "Is that supposed to intimidate me?" Lucifer asked, and I gnced back at him, confused. Intimidate you? "...nevermind." Lucifer shook his head before he stood up. "In any case, you are to stay inside this room unless you're accompanied by me for the time being. Unless, of course, you'd like to freeze to death." Oh... maybe it was because I crack my knuckles the way bad guys in movies do. Maybe he thought I was trying to threaten him?

  "To be honest," I said, processing what he'd just said, "I think you should be more concerned about me stealing your bed from you." I plopped back down onto my back and sighed with contentment. "Ahhh... that really is paradise." Lucifer gave me a bemused expression before he let out a soft chuckle and left the room, closing the door behind him. And before I was really aware of it, my eyelids were drooping closed, waves of drowsiness finally hitting my exhausted body. I soon drifted off, faintly scheming to genuinely steal Lucifer's room since he wasn't using it. He wouldn't kill me anyway, right?