my_own_advocate | Samsara, Sunday Evening

Lucifer cleared his throat. "But now," he said, glancing down at his plate, "Enjoy your meal."

"Always," Octavia replied.

And dug in.

Lucifer settled into his food as well - it was as good as he knew how to make it, which was quite.

But he snuck looks at Octavia from time to time, enjoying... her enjoyment.

Octavia seemed to be going about it carefully, like she was looking to preserve as much of the prettiness of how everything was assembled for as long as she could, while still tasting different things with each bite.

It was a quiet but happy sort of enjoyment.

There was something warm in Lucifer's chest, something that seemed to radiate into the rest of him.

He was still smiling as he ate his way through the rest of his dinner.

Octavia wasn't, really, but that was just because she was so focused on enjoying every last little bit of it.

And then there was just one bite left.

Lucifer was already done. He hadn't been as careful, after all.

He looked at the bite on her plate.

He looked at her.

And Octavia looked at her plate. And then picked up that last bite, and popped it in her mouth.

And leaned back with a content little hum.

"Good?" Lucifer asked her, because he couldn't help himself.

"Delicious," Octavia told him with a sigh.

Only playing it up a little.

Lucifer beamed. "Thank you," he said. "I felt Samsara deserved something elegant but simple. I did bring some homemade ice cream for later..."

Octavia's lips curved further. "You went all out."

He always did, and yet it still felt worth mentioning.

"Hardly," Lucifer said. "You deserve the best. But since opulence isn't where you feel comfortable, I take whatever initial plan I have and pare it down until I think it suits you too."

Octavia snorted, but her smile didn't waver. "Oh, you need to downscale things for me?"

That was not surprising.

"It's part of my gift to you," Lucifer said, his mouth curving further. "Making sure our dates aren't just about my vanity."

"Well, I'm grateful," Octavia said, maybe a touch wryly. Because of this next thing: "Though we really need to get back to what we talked about maybe doing your things sometimes."

"Oh, right," Lucifer said, tilting his head. "Sorry, that was about a dozen disasters ago."

"I know," Octavia said. (Because boy, did she ever.) "But I haven't forgotten."

"It would still be nice to have a night on the town or something," Lucifer admitted. He threw her an amused look. "Expose you to opera."

Octavia's head tilted, just a little. "That's the really loud singing, right?"

Lucifer laughed. "Yes," he said. "They're loud, dramatic stories told through song. They also require you to dress up a bit. Having both you and Duke there would certainly be an experience."

"I'm sure we can make that happen."

Well, she was already on board, and it probably wouldn't take a lot to convince Duke, right?

"We could go dress-shopping as a date," Lucifer said, grinning as he perked up. "See if we can find you something formal you actually like."

Was there such a thing as a formal leather dress? Now he wanted to find out.

You know, if Octavia hadn't already been willing to go all-in on this, the way he'd perked up just now would have forced her hand.

"Might be a challenge," she rasped, "but I'm up for it."

"I know, but that part is fun," Lucifer said, grinning. "We'll go to New York, try out all those weird little dress shops tucked away in the corners that have all the interesting pieces. I think you can actually get fine dining as a takeaway option there, too, so we could have dinner in Central Park... hm, do you think you'd enjoy the Museum of Natural History?"

He could suddenly picture it all.

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