Author: Kris
Pairing: Simon/Lucifer
Rating: PG
Summary: The war is escalating...and sides are chosen.
Feedback: Oh please, yes.
Thanks: To cruisedirector, for good conversation and general badgering, to viva_gloria, whose story "Playing the Devil" is still one of the hottest things out there, to karelian for summoning the damn bunny, and last but not least, to diluvian for a terrific (and speedy!) beta.
Disclaimer: They belong to Gregory Widen, unfortunately, not me.

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Simon considers himself a rational sort. He isn't usually apt to do anything without a good reason and a fair amount of thought beforehand.

Which goes exactly nowhere in explaining why, rational sort that he is, he's standing at the Devil's front door.

Oh right... Gabriel asked him to. Simon, one of these days you'll have to say "no" to him. Not that it will be anytime soon, mind. Gabriel is about as easy to say "no" to as... nope, not going there, Simon, bad idea. Especially bad idea right now.

Squaring his shoulders, he reaches up to knock. It echoes oddly behind the door, sounding empty and forlorn. Oh good, perhaps no-one's home and I can... leave, he's just about to think, when the door swings open.

"Simon!" the Devil says, surprise evident in his voice. "Fancy seeing you here. What can I do for Gabriel today?"

Simon winces. "That transparent, is it?"

"Well, Gabriel's not that fond of me... but he knows you are. And you are, aren't you, Simon? So who better to handle Gabriel's business? I take it the message isn't that important?" Silky purr, blunting the edges of rough, hard truth.

Simon blushes at the implication. "It's important, Lucifer. And I'd rather not do this out here." No matter how much the damn (or was it damned?) Devil annoyed him, Simon had a job to do.

With an imperious smirk the Devil gestures for Simon to come in. "Welcome to my home. Now, that message."

Simon enters, trying not to brush against Lucifer as he passes; it's not easy, but he manages somehow. He can't, though, turn around to face the Devil; he can imagine only too well the amusement in those eyes. He contents himself with looking around quickly. The house seems... well, oddly normal. No tortured souls, no burned edges, just the usual comfortable furniture. It looks...lived in.

"Like what you see?" Simon barely controls a yelp...the Devil's voice comes from directly behind him. Can't get distracted, Simon. Just give him the message and get out. No more delays.

"Gabriel thinks that the war will be ended soon; he's found the soul of the prophecy." Simon breathes a sigh of relief. Good, that's done, I can go now...

"Has he? And what has that to do with me?" Silky voice, and the Devil hasn't moved from his place at Simon's back.

"He wants you to join us. You'd be a valuable ally, you know."

Warm arms snake around Simon and that voice purrs into his ear. "I would. But what about you, Simon? Hmm? What do you want?"

"I...what do you mean?"

"Why'd you come here, Simon? Surely you could have sent someone else?"

Simon swallows heavily. The heat and pressure of Lucifer's body against his own intensifies, and he can feel every inch. "Gabriel... he..." Simon breaks off in a gasp as a warm tongue glides across the bare skin of his neck, above the collar of his shirt.

"Yes? Gabriel what? Trusts you?" Slight nip of teeth on that sensitized patch. "Simon...you're not that naive. He knew what he was doing. Do you?"

Suddenly, painfully, Simon knows. Gabriel didn't send him down here because he's important-he's been sent as bait. He stiffens in the Devil's arms, suddenly cold all over despite the heat at his back.

"Yessss... you see it now, don't you? Little Simon, sent to tease me into accepting Gabriel's proposal... because he's beautiful, and I want him. And Gabriel knows that."

Hot hands on his shoulders as the devil turns him around. Simon shuts his eyes, not wanting to see the mockery in the blue-grey eyes of his Adversary.

"Simon. Look at me."

He helplessly follows the command in that voice. And finds, surprisingly, not mockery at all, but... sadness?... in the gaze that meets his.

"Gabriel has known about the war for ages, Simon. This has nothing to do with that." Something flares in the depths of those eyes, a sudden flame, and Lucifer's hands tighten on his shoulders, preventing Simon's instinctive retreat. "This is about you. You've been Gabriel's bitch long enough... time to choose sides. Stay with me, and live. Stay with Gabriel and he'll sacrifice you for his own ends."

"Why should I stay with you? What can you give me?"

"Immunity, Simon. I can't involve myself in your war. If it's nothing to do with Him, it's nothing to do with me. The balance has to be kept." Unspoken, but clear to both of them: and Gabriel knows this. Large, long-fingered hands curl around Simon's face, holding his head steady. "You're his pawn... and his first sacrifice. And if I didn't know Gabriel's mind, I'd accept... and take you as mine, here and now."

Simon stiffens again, but he can't stop the images, the thoughts of what it might be like. Taken by all this intensity and leashed power, the terrible beauty... so different from Gabriel's cold touch. He relaxes, wanting, leaning into the heat of Lucifer's body, aching....

"But I know how he thinks... and even a willing sacrifice isn't worth it. I'm not Gabriel, Simon. I don't believe in sacrifice." Warm lips touch his, and Simon tastes sulfur and heat, and as his mouth is gently coaxed open and equally gently explored, sorrow. His hands slide to Lucifer's shoulders, feeling the hard muscles under his palms, proof that all this is real.

Lucifer kisses... not like the Devil, he thinks, but like a lover. He realizes that all he has to do is give in, and that's what he'd be... a lover. And as the thought crystallizes, Simon breaks the kiss, pulling himself free of the Devil's arms.

"I'm not Gabriel's pawn, and I'm not yours. I won't be seduced into taking sides." He meets Lucifer's eyes, seeing pain and regret and anger mixed. "I'll take your answer back to Gabriel. With you or without you, the war will end."

He turns to leave, but just as he crosses the threshold, says, "And Lucifer? As for staying with you... better the devil I know." Then he's gone, door closing firmly behind him, back to Gabriel, though with his eyes open to his fate.

Lucifer leans against the wood of the door and sighs. "Ah, it was worth a try. Don't worry, Simon, you'll get to know me eventually. Everyone does."

And the sorrow in his eyes burns like brimstone.