It brought the smile back onto Lucifer's face, though he ducked his head to hide it.

And tugged her upwards, onto the deck.

"Please sit," Lucifer said, half-turning to look at her.

Taking her other hand as he did. "I'll go get the ice cream."

"I love you very much," Lucifer said softly.

Only then did he drop her hands, and slip past her back into the cabin.

It was beginning to get darker, and the fairy lights were becoming more pronounced-- just the way Lucifer had wanted it.

He just hoped they could clear the air enough to enjoy it.

But for now, he took the two ornate bowls - all pretty colors, like a blurred rainbow - and filled each with three scoops: mango, cherry, lemon sorbet. (They tasted good. He'd made them, after all. Nothing store-bought for his people.)

And so he returned to the deck not long after. "Here we are," he said, holding one bowl out for her.

"I just... wanted to make sure everything coordinated," Lucifer said, sliding into a seat.

"I just wanted it to be nice," Lucifer said.

Her tone made him sound subdued in turn.

"Ah, you've got your lemon sorbet, you've got your mango, and black cherry," Lucifer said, reaching out to point out each scoop completely unnecessarily. "All made from fresh fruit."

He'd had a feeling she would. Lucifer told himself to stop being so self-conscious just because she was being a bit subdued, and dug into his own cherry ice cream. "Bon appetit."

That was the beauty of homemade ice cream: the vivid flavors. It was why Lucifer had opted not to just buy a pint of Haagen-Dazs.

He made a soft noise when he took the first bite of cherry. Nothing like an explosion of flavor to save you from your woes.

"Learning how to make ice cream was a revelation," Lucifer said, mouth curving into a small smile. "You can't reproduce those flavors on an industrial scale."

Lucifer chuckled softly. "I prefer 'passionate about the things I enjoy'," he said. "I think the first time I had an ice cream worth the reputation was when I had kulfi a few centuries ago."

"It's a frozen dessert, a bit like ice cream. They invented it in the...15th? 16th century, in India?" Lucifer mused, looking thoughtful. "Unlike our ice cream, it doesn't have eggs in it. It's just milk, cooked very slowly, and then they flavor it with spices and nuts once it's cooled."

He smiled.

"You'd walk the streets of India and there would be a kulfiwallah on every other corner," he said. "I liked the pistachio one the best. It had the most vivid flavor. I must have eaten several dozen before I was herded back to Hell."

"Perhaps one day we'll visit," Lucifer said, smiling a bit. "It's quite colorful, India. Quite literally. Especially during Holi, which I think you'd enjoy. It's this festival where they throw colored powder around as they celebrate the coming of spring."