They really, really did surprise him. Lenore most of all, who he had only met once in passing and then wasn't even trying to be kind when she talked to him, and she came back. More than once. He keeps assuming she'll realize it's better to be done with him, and yet.

And Natasha, who was literally stuck in a small space with him the starving lion, not faltering and matching him point for point.

It mattered.

He plucks the folded black pocket square from Istredd's outfit and unfolds it and then refolds it into a flat, stretched out rectangle.

Istredd busies his hands with touch. Lucifer just fidgets anytime he can get his hand on something not nailed, or sewn, down.

You're still special, don't fret. No one is ever going to get to the level of 'knowing me' that you have.