Boundaries - 1. Chapter 1

So close.

Gabriel could feel the telltale signs. He was just about at the point of no return when his hookup turned his head back over his shoulder and whined.

“Is it hot in here?”

Aaaannnnnnddddd….. Just like that, moment gone.

Poof.

Gabriel shook his head as he pulled away from the guy he had swiped right for. In the guy’s defense, his back was covered in sweat, a small pool gathered in the dip right above his ass crack and a bright pink flush covered, well, pretty much his entire body.

Heat hadn’t bothered Gabriel for a while now.

“I’ll go check the thermostat.”

Shuffling on his knees down the end of the bed, Gabriel padded to the bathroom to get rid of the condom before it slid off his rapidly deflating dick.

Dropping the slicked up latex in the trash, he used the toilet and flushed. As he washed his hands, the dark, elaborately scrolled ‘L’ on his hip flared.

“Seriously? Not a peep out of you for two years and you choose the moment I’m balls deep in a nice tight ass to make yourself known? he growled. “Gimme a goddamn break.”

There was no answer, of course. Why would there be?

Gabriel headed back to his bedroom. Drake or Blake, whatever his name was, had just finished taking care of himself and had conveniently wiped the residue on Gabriel’s blanket. Great, just great.

“Hey man,sorry, but I gotta go. My brother just texted me.He’s stuck across town and needs a ride. I’d love to finish this sometime, huh?” he said as he slid off the bed and grabbed his clothes that had been hastily discarded earlier.

“Sure,” Gabriel replied, a completely fake smile plastered on his face. Throwing on a pair of shorts he walked the guy to the door, more so to make sure he didn’t steal anything, rather than to be polite. He all but slammed the door shut once Drakey-Blakey was gone.

Two years. Two freaking years since he had woken up from the most vivid, explicit dream he had ever had. Only dreams don’t leave an obsidian brand on your hip. His fingers unconsciously dipped beneath the waistband of his shorts and stroked the raised scar, something he often did without realizing it.

Turning back to his bedroom he stripped the sheets and blanket off, tossing them in the corner to be dealt with later. He put clean sheets on and grabbed his extra comforter from the closet before going back into the bathroom to shower off the memory of this night.

Dried off, teeth brushed, bladder emptied, Gabriel slid beneath the cool sheets and pulled the covers up to his waist. He scrolled through his phone for a while, watching a few funny, but meaningless videos before a huge yawn threatened to crack his face. He plugged in the phone to charge and closed his eyes.

Heat. All encompassing heat. Gabriel tried to kick off the covers as he woke, his brain quickly realizing there was nothing to kick off. This time around he knew right away that he was buck naked.

A heated chuckle vibrated from behind him.

“Do I dare hope that this is a welcome return?”

Lucifer’s voice was exactly like he remembered. Lava, hot and slow-flowing with a deep timbre that vibrated straight through his chest. The role of God in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty was wasted on Morgan Freeman. He should have played Satan.

“Depends. You gonna scare away any more of my hook ups?”

“Why would I do something like that?” Lucifer smirked.

“Asshole. He was one of the few guys in two years that didn’t nope out on me after seeing the little present you left me on my hip. Why?” Gabriel demanded. As much as he had initially loved the fact that Lucifer had branded him, as the months went by and he figured out he was being ghosted, it became more of a liability. Guys saw it and automatically assumed he was, or had been, involved with a very possessive lover.

“Why brand you? Because you’re mine.”

Lucifer’s teeth gleamed, a more than slight feral look glimmering in the endless depths of darkness he called eyes.

“You have a damn funny way of showing it.”

“Ahhhh, Amica Mea, don’t be mad. Two years in your life is but a mere blink in mine. That little tidbit you were grinding into? He wasn’t worthy of you.”

“Yeah, well maybe you should try going with hardly any sex for two thousand years and then we can compare blue balls. I’m sure you haven’t been celibate the past two years,” Gabriel commented sarcastically.

“My, my. Are you jealous?”

Gabriel glared at the rippling mass of dark muscles that shimmered with a mesmerizing iridescence.

Lucifer stepped right into Gabriel’s personal space, and before the next heartbeat had finished, the anger that he felt disappeared. In its place was a sense of comfort and warmth. Lucifer’s scent washed over him, a sharp, somewhat acrid smell, tinged with a more pleasant, woodsy, smoky aroma. A summer campfire, but close to oil fields.

He leaned into the demon, feeling the vise-like arms wrap around him.

“I missed you,” he murmured.

“Do you think I didn’t miss you too?’

Gabriel chuckled. “Is that a speech impediment, or are you even capable of answering a question without asking another question?”

“Do I dare say I’d never lose on Jeopardy!?”

Gabriel outright guffawed, nearly choking on the weird snort-laugh that shot past his vocal cords.

Lucifer did that odd, skin-rippling-over-his-non-existent-eyebrow thing and that just sent Gabriel off into more gales of laughter.

When it finally stopped, Lucifer kissed him.

Holy Hell, what a kiss it was too. Never had Gabriel felt so thoroughly claimed with any other lover. Lucifer had to be the inventor of kissing.

One thing of course led to another and when it was over, Gabriel did not possess one single muscle that hadn’t been reduced to noodle-like consistency.

“You know, I haven’t bottomed for anyone else in two years,” he admitted.

“You do realize I already know that?”

“Do you spy on me when I’m having sex with other guys?” Gabriel asked, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

“Do you really think I have time for that? No, mi amour. I know you’re having sex because you tell me.”

“Say what?”

This time it was Lucifer’s turn to chuckle.

“Did you know that whenever you think of me, I feel it. And every time you have sex with someone else, you think of me.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to retort, but closed it quickly when he realized Lucifer was right.

Another rumbling laugh rolled through him as he tucked his face into Lucifer’s chest, a soft flush of embarrassment creeping along his skin.

“So exactly what is this that we have between us?” Gabriel asked.

“What exactly do you want it to be?”

Eye roll.

“What I meant is, what do you expect from me and what should I expect from you? I mean, obviously you’re the Devil. It’s not like we’re going to move in together, get a dog, plan our next vacation and live happily ever after. I can’t imagine you being exclusive with anyone, but do you think I should be? Are there rules or some shit that I’m supposed to follow? A little guidance here would help,” Gabriel said, not really sure if he wanted to know the answers.

“Why should I expect anything from you? You have your own mind and can make your own decisions. Are there rules? For you, not so much. For me, yes. As much as I would love to keep you by my side, I can’t. It’s just not allowed. So moving in together, not possible. Besides, we’d have to get a cat anyway. Dear old Dad let me design them. The most important thing for you to remember is that I desire you, and in the end, you will be mine. Forever.”

A shiver of something went through Gabriel. Longing, mixed with pride and a smidge of apprehension thrown in for good measure.

“It makes sense now. You’re the reason cats are assholes. How long did it take you to come up with the whole ‘knock shit off the counter randomly’ trait?”

Lucifer grinned like the Cheshire cat. “You like that one, huh?”

Gabriel shook his head.

So where do we go from here?” he asked. Quickly adding, “And don’t say ‘Where do you want to go from here?’.

“What do you want?” Lucifer replied, the Cheshire cat grin replaced by one that could only be described as shit eating splitting his handsome, dark face, the bared teeth just adding to the overall demonic effect.

“Boundaries. I want boundaries. What I can do. Can I see other people? Fuck them? Can you? Can I tell anyone about you? How long can I expect it to be before seeing you? Do you summon me, or can I summon you?” The questions tumbled out of Gabriel, one after the other.

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed as he pinned Gabriel inside the inky depths.

“Hmmmmm. Yes. Yes. Yes. No. However long it needs to be. No and no.”

“Could you be a little more specific?” Gabriel said more than a little flippantly.

Lucifer’s thick, spiral horns shimmered with an eerie glow from within. Which was quite a feat considering they were darker than ebony. Now that Gabriel focused on it, he realized that Hell had no discernible source of light. There was no sun, no moon, no other glowing orb above to illuminate their surroundings. Very curious.

Getting back on track, he elaborated. “Please speak in something other than caveman grunts.”

Gabriel nearly got lost in the endless depth of Lucifer’s gaze. He was surprised when the demon didn’t posture his response with another question.

“Yes, you may see other people. Yes, you may fuck them. I do prefer though, that you save your ass for me. I’ve become rather fond of it, but I won’t strike you down if you do give it up for someone else. Yes, I can fuck others. No, you can not tell others about me. They wouldn’t believe you. There’s no specific timeframe regarding how often we see each other. Neither of us actually summons the other. When you need me, you’ll end up here. When I need you, I’ll end up there.”

That last part was surprising.

“How does that work? Won’t all the devout religious do-gooders start a commotion, spouting shit about the end of the world and all that?”

“Do you really think I’d show up looking like this?”

As Gabriel watched, the dark features shifted and in a fraction of a second a tall, blond, Norse god-like human stood before him. Fuuuuuuccckkkk. This version of Lucifer made Chris Hemsworth look like Chunk from The Goonies. Another blink and dark and snarky Lucifer was back.

Chuckling, Lucifer stepped in front of Gabriel, placed one finger under his chin to lift it back into place.

“You like that version?”

“Not bad.” Despite being thoroughly wrung out not very long ago, Gabriel’s dick gave a gallant effort and managed a twitch.

“So what rules apply to you? You said that there aren’t many rules that I have to follow, but you do.”

Gabriel thought he saw a flash of sadness flash across Lucifer’s jet black eyes.

“Would you really want to understand, even if you could?”

“What do you mean?”

Lucifer inhaled through his nose. “The world to which I belong can not be understood by humans. My realm is vast and many creatures call it home. Most of them are shunned and feared by your world. I am labelled as evil. But that is a concept that man invented. There really is no such thing. Humans are such presumptuous beings. There’s a verse in the bible that states that man was created in God’s image. That much is true. Pops is full of himself, with a major superiority complex, alway thinks he’s right. But the truth is more than your mind can process. The mystery of the universe isn't mysterious to me. I know how time works; I can grasp the infinite vastness that exists. I know how your universe was created, exactly how life starts.”

“I guess it really is complicated.”

“For you, yes. For me, no. Because of that I have to play by the rules that have been in place since before the beginning of time as you know it. I can’t take a human as a husband or wife. My life is eternal. Your energy is too, but it will change over time. The time I spend with you can extend well beyond your human life span, but eventually this version of you would have to cease to exist in this form. The best I can offer you is bits and pieces of me.”

Gabriel really didn’t understand, but he didn’t hesitate. “Okay, I’ll take the bits and pieces. I’ll be yours for however long we get. All I ask is that you don’t treat me like a pet or a plaything. I’m not a toy you pull out from under the bed when you remember it’s there.”

“Really? I like playing with toys.”

Gabriel smiled. “Then you’ll just have to need me more often.”

Apparently Gabriel had recharged sufficiently and this time the sex seemed to hold deeper meaning. Lucifer might not be able to love him the way he wanted, but the feeling of something more was present in each and every thrust.

Gabriel couldn’t stop the wave of sated exhaustion that washed over him. Darkness closed in the moment his eyelids drifted downward, consciousness fleeing into boundless tenebrosity.

When Gabriel woke, he was in his bed, the covers pulled up to his chin. This time he knew it wasn’t a dream. His brand buzzed with an awareness that he hadn’t felt before. Lucifer was thinking of him.

He smiled. He had some answers. He knew he wouldn’t be ghosted. He had his boundaries.