stranger to breaking the law, but what he was about to do, was rather extreme and it was encouraging him to fill the silent moments with his nervous habit of bouncing his foot up and down, all the while his teeth tugged on the skin around his nails. The jitters he was desperately trying to unload into his frantic movements didn't go unnoticed by Mazikeen, who simply smirked at the sight of the man's slight panic bubbling onto the surface. "We can call this off if you want", the demon had offered in the quiet car, with her sitting behind the wheel, "or I can take care of it", but Benjamin had shaken his head in response, confirming that he was up for it.

Although he was brave, and at times reckless, he wasn't stupid, and it didn't take much for someone to realize how unbelievably risky the plan he had cooked up with Maze, truly was. For that very reason, he didn't have much hope for Dan willingly taking part in their vengeance, but Benjamin didn't particularly like the sound of lying to his brother and risking their relationship yet again, so he had called him to the scene — perhaps that was the real reason why he was so nervous, the image of Dan's horrified face already imprinted onto his mind in a way that was impossible to shake out.

And when the oldest Espinoza finally knocked on the window of Mazikeen's Dodge Charger, Benjamin yelped and jumped up on the leather seat, earning giggles from the demon by his side. "Idiot!", Ben hissed as he shoved the door open, making sure to do it so it hit Dan in the thigh, but instead of allowing the argument to go any further, the younger brother shook his head and stepped out, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up. Busy night with Charlotte Richards?", a teasing grin on his lips, to which Dan responded by narrowing his eyes, devoid of amusement.

"Hilarious. What the hell are we doing here?", the detective questioned, glancing around before nodding towards the strip club on the other side of the street. Inhaling deeply, Benjamin rubbed his freezing hands together before shrugging casually, as if he wasn't about to suggest something completely irrational.

"What the hell, indeed. The Devil's work, bro", Benji smiled at the thought of walking a mile in Lucifer's unbelievably expensive shoes, before continuing. "Maze and I... we may have called the Russians, told them about Perry Smith, who happens to be in that very club", he pointed at the same building Dan had gestured towards, "and it's just a matter of time before they show up and take care of the human stain."

In an instant, Dan's eyes widened and from the lip bite he had a habit of doing occasionally, Benjamin concluded that he was struggling to process all that. But instead of smacking the back of his brother's head or telling him to leave while he still could, Daniel offered a mere nod. "Brave. Stupid, but brave. Getting John Decker the justice he deserves. That guy doesn't deserve to walk free — honestly, if you hadn't done this, I think I would have", he answered eventually, breaking the silence and earning a sigh of relief from Benjamin with the most unexpected words only possible. Frankly, Ben wasn't quite sure what he had hoped for, but hearing Dan agree with him on something so... not his style, was quite mind-blowing.

"Hey, there he is", his eyes darted over to Perry Smith, who was stumbling out of the shady club with his shirt untucked and his tie undone, a smirk plastered across his face. Dan turned over as well, and Mazikeen couldn't help but smile from the car as he watched the two brothers eye their target together. In that moment, they looked perhaps more alike than ever before.

Sneaking behind the man, Benjamin cleared his throat in the dark night, earning the douchebag's attention quickly. "Catching up with the family, I see", the man licked his lips swiftly as he eyed Perry, who was staring at him in amusement — not finding a threat in him, not until he had recognized Dan as one of the detectives he had met in the past couple of days.

"We know you had Boris killed. We also know you're responsible for the murder of Joe Fields and John Decker", Dan spat at his face, his hands resting on his hips as he stared at Perry in pure, utter hatred. And in Benjamin's eyes, resided a similar, cold look, which made the brothers resemble each other all the more.

"Aw, such a shame there's no evidence, right? The system kind of needs proof", the warden pouted, clearly satisfied with his situation — after all, he had gotten away with a handful of murders. But, he was wrong to undermine the Espinoza brothers, because they for sure desired justice for those who deserved it, even Benjamin despite his lack of badge and a fancy title. And when possible, they went after it.

Breaking into a smirk, Benji nodded. "True, but you know who doesn't need proof?", he wondered, and quickly, Perry's smug smile faded into nothingness. "The Russians don't really like when one of their own is taken out without permission, you see. But who knows?", Benjamin walked closer to him, smelling the booze and sex on him as he patted the tall man's shoulder casually, "maybe they won't hear about it."

With his eyebrow cocking to back his brother up, Dan tilted his head to the side just to admire the horror descending onto Perry's face. And with that, the two brothers started to walk back to Maze's car, leaving the murderer all alone with his poor luck.

Needless to say, when the squeak of tires echoed in the dark night and Perry's desperate shouts for help were muffled, Benjamin was counting on him getting what he deserved, and failed to feel bad about it. Sure, he had just thrown someone under the bus, but he had had it coming — and as Mazikeen started to drive away, as if they had never been there, Benji wondered if this was what Lucifer felt like whenever he punished those worthy of it.

—————

like a distant memory, almost like a dream when Benjamin finally woke up — perhaps because turning Perry in to the Russians had drowned in the all the booze and partying he had signed up for once he had reached Lux. Much to Dan's dismay, Benji had wandered over for Lucifer, and he had found him, alright, playing the piano and singing in the middle of the club with his signature drink resting atop the instrument. Naturally, Ben had joined the Devil and let him sing Stairway to Heaven for him, his accent finding a somehow even more perfect level as the lyrics smoothly escaped his pink lips. From there, the night had taken off with a lot more drinks and a lot less clothes, leading to the moment where the sun was already shining through the sheer curtains and Benjamin rolled to his other side with a groan.

He wasn't sure what time it was, but it didn't have much meaning to him — all that mattered, was that he was comfortable, warm, his bruises were already healing and there was a handsome man by his side. The most handsome of all, really, his hair slightly tousled, his body revealed and the corners of his lips twitching with a small smile. "There is a good chance spending the morning with you has become my favorite thing", Lucifer broke the silence between them, his eyes only opening as he sat up enough to roll over Benjamin's body and hold the man captive between his arms. "Right after spending the night with you, of course", he winked, and chuckling, Benjamin swatted the Lucifer's chest, earning a fake gasp from him.

"You will pay for that", Lucifer simply mumbled, before leaning down and capturing Benji's lips between his own. Sighing contently at the happy feeling fluttering in his heart instantly, the Espinoza let his hand travel through Lucifer's curly hair, before it settled on the back of his head and pushed him closer, just gently but enough to deepen the kiss whilst they both closed their eyes.

Yeah, he was pretty sure mornings with Lucifer were his favorite thing, too.

As the series of kisses came to a halt, and they decided to get on with the day that had already progressed beyond noon, Benjamin cleared his throat and started to search the room for his clothes — as expected, they were scattered all over the floor and finding the right socks and the belt for his jeans was rather hard. Not to mention the pain of stepping on all the buttons from the flannel Lucifer had torn in the heat of the moment. "What are you doing today?", the man questioned while zipping his jeans, and turning to the source of the sound, Lucifer let a grin creep to his lips while his hands worked on the cufflinks of his jacket.

"Murder, drama, all that entertaining stuff. I'm quite sure the Detective is already fretting over my absence at the latest crime scene", Lucifer smiled in amusement at the thought, "what about you?"

Thinking back to the text he had received earlier that morning, Benjamin shrugged. "Izzy said she wanted to talk to me about something, so I'm stopping by her house for the first time. We'll see later tonight, right?", he looked over to Lucifer while shrugging on his leather jacket, and after straightening his jacket, the Devil flashed a smile and leaned over to press one last, deep kiss onto Benjamin's lips.

"Most definitely."

They parted ways soon after, Benji's Camaro separating from Lucifer's Corvette, and only then the thought of meeting Izzy's family for the first time built excitement within his heart. He had never before been to the redhead's house, although he did remember a mention of a dog, which only added on the eagerness as he sped down the streets and towards the right house. It was in a lovely neighborhood, surrounded by similar houses, not too far from the precinct, which he assumed to be a big plus for the deputy.

Just as expected, he could hear barking from inside the house as he gently knocked on the wooden door, and merely seconds later, a radiant redhead had opened up — though it wasn't Izzy. "Oh, you must be Benjamin. So good to finally meet you!", the older woman gushed, stepping aside to allow the man inside, "I'm Diane Holt." Returning the smile, Benjamin mentioned that it was lovely to meet her as well, before crouching down to the excited Cocker Spaniel rolling at his feet, his tongue hanging out and paws kicking in the air. He was almost too cute to handle, warming Benji's heart as he scratched through the black curls.

A whistle eventually turned the dog's attention from Benjamin to Izzy, who showed up in the room with a wide smile across her soft lips. "That's Thor. Obviously he already likes you. He's a real softie, doesn't make for a very good watchdog, though", the deputy chuckled, and whilst standing up, Ben shot Izzy an amused look.

"Thor?"

Shrugging, Izzy grabbed the small dog from the floor. "So you've found my dark secret — I'm a superhero enthusiast", she nudged Benjamin slightly, earning a snort from the man as they walked further into the house. It seemed very cozy, and the smell of coffee already lingered in the air — Diane had rushed to get it going, which Benji appreciated deeply.

"So, you said you wanted to talk about something?", Benjamin looked around the house, before his curious settled on Izzy. "Sounds serious", he offered a chuckle to lighten the mood, but concluding from the gulp that Izzy responded with, it was serious. It made Ben knit his eyebrows together in concern, unsure what to even expect, what it could possibly have to do with him. He didn't even work for the LAPD, but concluding from the stack of files that Izzy led him to, it definitely had something to do with work.

"After you were in the accident, Dan gave me a little side job to work on between cases, whenever I could. And I think that, by now, I'm just so deep in this, I have to tell you and hopefully, you'll work with me. I—I don't want you to be upset, but...", she explained after putting down Thor, who quickly ran off to play with one of his toys, something that Benjamin would have loved to follow from aside if it wasn't for the serious mood that landed into the room.

Nodding to confirm that he was still following, Benjamin swallowed thickly before pointing at the files spread across the kitchen table. "What exactly have you been investigating?", he questioned quietly, worried what the answer was going to be, but luckily, Izzy didn't keep him waiting for too long.

"Your real father."

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