Chapter Text
He was back.
For the first time in almost a hundred years, he stood in his clearing holding Lucifer’s hand. The soft moss under his feet squelched with water, and the rain continued to patter against the umbrella, drowning out the sound of the rest of the world. A small breeze made the leaves rustle and a few raindrops sprinkle over his skin. It made him shiver.
He breathed deeper through his nose, feeling the scent of wet mud, briny swamp water, and a tinge of salt enter his lungs and surround his hammering heart. The dark trees surrounding them were mostly illuminated by the still-open portal behind them. However, with his enhanced, demonic vision, he could still see better than when he’d been there last.
Not that he needed to see. He knew his way around well enough to do it blind.
At least, he used to. A lot could’ve happened in a hundred years, and from the rapid, technological development after the wars, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried that the world he once knew was very different from how he remembered it. That didn’t stop the calm that washed over him by being in his spot, though. The real one.
No, their spot, he thought as he felt Lucifer adjust his grip on his hand.
“Not to ruin the moment,” Lucifer murmured from beside him, “but I think maybe you should be the one to carry the umbrella.”
Alastor glanced down at him, seeing him stretching his hand as far up as he could just to get the umbrella high enough to cover them both. He took it wordlessly, watching as his husband turned to the portal, waving at the people grinning at them from the other side.
“Have fun!” Charlie said, followed by a chorus of well-wishes from the rest of them.
“We will,” Lucifer replied gently, letting the portal close. The world around them became bathed in shadow. “At least, I hope we will,” Lucifer added with a slight grimace. His eyes were glowing, making it easy to see how he took in their surroundings. “You know, since it’s been a while since we were here last,” he said, voicing Alastor’s own concerns. “I’m sure it’s not that different, right? At least not out here. The city, though…”
“Are you still nervous?” Alastor asked, making Lucifer laugh nervously.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said, a tight grin stretching across his lips. “I just don’t want this to somehow backfire spectacularly.”
“Is there a reason it would?”
Lucifer pursed his lips. “Possibly,” he admitted. “Also, maybe not. How does it feel to be back?” he asked before Alastor could keep questioning him.
“Strange,” Alastor said, because yeah, it was strange. Another breeze made him tighten his grip on the umbrella to keep it from flying out of his hand. “Good,” he added when he felt it wasn’t enough. “Terrifying.”
Lucifer hummed quietly, squeezing his hand. “I agree,” he said. “It’s bringing back a lot of memories, too,” he muttered. “Like laying right over there with my guts spilling out of me.”
“It wasn’t that dramatic,” Alastor argued, looking at the spot Lucifer was talking about. The one close to the river where he’d held him and tried his best to keep from losing his mind (though, in hindsight he probably already had, by then). “There were no guts.”
“Mmm, I’m pretty sure there were,” Lucifer retorted playfully.
“How much did you drink?” Alastor questioned, making Lucifer bark out a laugh.
“Not enough to lose my memory,” he huffed. “Fine, there weren’t any guts, but I was actively bleeding out for about an hour before you left.”
“That I can mostly agree with,” Alastor said, not caring to mention Lucifer had been faking that, too. “Now, where are we going?”
Lucifer stayed quiet for a moment, looking like he was either not completely sure, or just contemplating how to reveal where they were staying. It made a tiny flicker of suspicion enter Alastor’s mind, making him narrow his eyes at his partner. The suspicion grew bigger when Lucifer looked up at him, eyes shimmering with a certain intensity that could only be from yet another surprise Lucifer had planned for him.
“Why don’t you find out?” Lucifer asked, confirming Alastor’s suspicion.
Alastor stared at him for a long moment, before he hesitantly turned to the forest around them. He tried to reorient himself, bringing back memories of how to traverse the bayou the best way to get to where he knew they were heading. The rain continued to tap against the fabric of the umbrella in his hand as he took a step forwards, feeling Lucifer follow him.
The moss sloshed under their shoes as they made their way towards the treeline. If they’d been at the hotel, it would’ve been in the direction of where his bed was. Not seeing it made him feel a slight desperation hit him at the same time as another round of hesitation. He wanted to go where he knew they were heading, yet he was afraid of what he would find.
He saw the path he’d walked a million times before. Well, barely. It was overgrown and difficult to make out in the dark, even with the enhanced vision. He stepped carefully, avoiding roots and tufts of grass that hadn’t been there before. It would take some time getting used to the differences in terrain, but not a lot.
He felt Lucifer stumble behind him and paused for long enough for his husband to regain his footing, before he kept walking. Lucifer mumbled something about being a little more drunk than he thought, but Alastor had a feeling it was more than that. The nerves made his hand tremble faintly in Alastor’s hold. He’d definitely done something. Alastor knew it would be special, but from how much Lucifer was freaking out, he couldn’t help but worry that he’d done something too over the top. Still, the more he thought about it, the more he felt confident that he’d done something perfect. He’d planned that entire day down into the smallest details, even getting damned forest spirits from the time they’d been on Earth last to help out with the wedding. He’d reunited him with his mother, for crying out loud. He’d brought him back to Earth! To Earth! And they walked closer to what had to be the last surprise for the night, which Alastor became more and more certain about what was the closer they got.
The umbrella scraped against the branches. It almost got stuck in some twigs or leaves for every new step he took. It started to get on his nerves if he was being honest.
“Do we need the umbrella, or was it just to spare the outfits?” Alastor asked, slowing to a stop when the fabric hooked itself on yet another branch.
Lucifer shrugged. “I didn’t know if you cared about the rain or not,” he answered simply. “I can get rid of it if you want.”
Alastor let go of Lucifer’s hand and closed the annoying thing, feeling the heavy drops of water drip into his hair as he handed it over to Lucifer. His husband grabbed it and let it vanish out of existence, before he turned his face up into the air, squinting against the rain. Alastor snorted at him. It made Lucifer giggle, too, before he sucked in a deep breath and let it out as a joyful sigh. Alastor reached over and cradled Lucifer’s face, feeling the wet skin under his fingers. Lucifer continued to grin at him as Alastor leaned down, capturing his lips with his own. He felt Lucifer’s hand brush against the side of his face. The faint taste of blood and rainwater made him hum.
“Are you stalling?” Lucifer muttered against his lips.
“A little bit,” Alastor replied.
Lucifer pulled back, that gentle smile back on his face as he combed his fingers through Alastor’s hair. Alastor leaned into the touch.
“You know what it is, don’t you?” Lucifer asked quietly.
“I have a hunch,” Alastor replied, feeling Lucifer’s hand settle on his shoulder. “I just don’t know what to expect.”
“We wrecked the entire thing and built a small castle,” Lucifer said, clearly trying his best to sound as serious as he could.
“Somehow I doubt that,” Alastor deadpanned.
“You’ll just have to find out, then,” Lucifer prompted, grinning slyly. “I’m really happy with how it turned out.”
“I thought you said you hadn’t been to Earth?”
“No, but I got some pictures,” Lucifer explained, patting his shoulder. “I want to say you’ll love it, but you know… I can’t really tell for sure until you actually see it for yourself.”
“Well, the other surprises went well, so this could either make it or ruin it completely,” Alastor said, grinning evilly. “No pressure.”
“Fuck you. I’m already nervous enough about this,” Lucifer grumbled, moving out of Alastor’s hold.
Alastor hummed, knowing for a fact that there was just about nothing that could ruin it other than actually finding a castle where there once was a house. He decided not to think about it too much as he slipped his hand back into Lucifer’s and tugged him along toward their destination.
“Then I believe we should get this little trip over… with?” He stopped, feeling his ears snap to attention and turn to the left. He turned his head to look into the darkness. He couldn’t see anything, but he thought he’d heard something. It almost sounded like a whimper. “Did you hear that?”
Lucifer frowned, turning to follow his gaze. “No?”
They stood there, silently. Listening. Alastor couldn’t hear anything other than the rain hitting the ground, the leaves on the trees rustling and the faint sound of the trickling river in the distance. He breathed in the air around him, trying to use his sense of smell only to be met with the same, earthly scent he’d smelled earlier. It was too unfamiliar yet familiar to be able to discern anything special.
“Can you still hear it?” Lucifer whispered.
“Not if you keep talking,” Alastor replied dryly. Lucifer fell silent, giving his hand a squeeze. They waited for another couple of minutes before Alastor sighed. “Must’ve been the wind,” he muttered. Still, he continued to stare into the treeline just to see if maybe he could see anything. When he felt like he’d been standing there for long enough, he narrowed his eyes and kept walking, pulling Lucifer with him.
“Are you sure?” Lucifer asked when he apparently felt like he could speak again. “I mean, if we’re not alone out here—”
“Who would be outside in the bayou while it’s raining other than animals?” Alastor asked as he stepped over a particularly big root. He stopped and let Lucifer lean on his hand while he made his way over it, too.
“Other than a cannibalistic serial killer and his trusty, devilishly handsome sidekick?” Lucifer retorted as Alastor rolled his eyes and kept walking. “I mean, we can’t be the only ones who enjoyed running around in the bayou.” He looked over his shoulder at the trees. “If the city has gotten a lot bigger, why wouldn’t people enjoy getting away from it for a while?”
“In the middle of the night?” Alastor questioned doubtfully. When Lucifer shrugged a shoulder, he sighed. “We’re in a pretty deserted part of the bayou,” he muttered. “And it sounded more like a whimper than anything else. If some fool walked out here in the middle of the night and got attacked by an alligator, then that’s on them.”
“I’m kinda curious now, actually,” Lucifer muttered, continuing to look over his shoulder. “Though, I guess we can go check it out in the morning.”
“You want to go running around the bayou looking for a dead body?” Alastor asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lucifer glanced up at him. “Sure? I mean, I remember it being quite fun when we were here last.”
“Last time we were here, we were the ones killing people,” Alastor said. The rain had soaked through his jacket and he could feel his hair flatten against his skull. It was a strange, yet familiar feeling. One that he’d missed quite a bit, if he was being honest. He knew it wasn’t great to walk around in the rain when he’d been alive—especially not with the potential for pneumonia and dying, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. The smells, the sounds. A hidden beauty not too many people cared to experience.
“More you than me,” Lucifer huffed as he slipped on a particularly muddy spot on the ground. Alastor caught him easily. He looked just as soaked as Alastor did as he wiped a hand over his face to get rid of the worst of the water. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you in action, again, to be honest.”
Alastor stumbled to a halt. “What?”
“Look,” Lucifer said as he took the lead, pulling Alastor with him. “Last time I watched you skin someone alive was during the war. It’s been a while.”
“You’re fine with me killing humans?” Alastor asked incredulously.
It was Lucifer’s time to stop. He turned to look at him. “Since when did I mind you killing humans?”
And, yeah, true, Alastor thought. They wouldn’t be standing right there in the bayou—married, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Lucifer had literally joined him on his serial killing and helped him cover up his murders. Him suddenly having a change of heart for humans in general clearly hadn’t changed, even if his thoughts on sinners had.
“Wouldn’t Heaven be mad if I did?”
“Wouldn’t all killers be eradicated if they did?”
“But we’re demons?” Alastor said.
Lucifer’s lips split into a sharp grin. “Yes? Do you think I’m the only demon who’s ever killed someone on Earth?” Alastor stared at him. “The assassins primarily kill humans. Other demons who go to Earth kill humans for fun. Then there’re the humans who make deals and break them. They end up dead, too.” When Alastor still didn’t answer, Lucifer tilted his head. “Hell, even angels have killed humans, so if they cared about it, they’d be pretty hypocritical, don’t you think?” Lucifer took a small step closer to him. “So, if you’re up for it—”
“Yes,” Alastor cut him off. His heart was speeding up, again. He’d sometimes dreamed about getting back to Earth, wondering what would’ve happened if he didn’t die so soon. He’d probably keep killing people (and get caught without his ‘devilishly handsome sidekick’ by his side). “Yes, I am,” he repeated, because damn it if he hadn’t missed the thrill of hunting down someone.
“Hope you don’t mind some company,” Lucifer muttered mischievously, letting Alastor pull him into another kiss. Alastor couldn’t help the way his heart skipped in his chest. He’d almost thought that becoming a ruler of Hell would snuff his chances at ever actually doing something he loved, yet here his husband was, telling him he could just go ahead and do more or less whatever he pleased. It made him love him all the more, somehow.
Lucifer wrapped his arms around his waist. “I really don’t care who you kill,” he said when Alastor pulled back. “They’re just going to Heaven or Hell, anyway. As long as you don’t destroy their souls, I’m fine with it.”
“I don’t kill just anyone,” Alastor reminded him.
“I know,” Lucifer said. “Even better.” He pulled Alastor a little closer and took a small step back. It forced Alastor to follow him, which he quickly realised was just a slow dance. “To spend one night with you,” he sung quietly, the faint sound of a saxophone in the background where it echoed through the trees and mixed with the patter of rain. “In our old rendezvous,” he continued sweetly, smiling up at Alastor when he followed Lucifer’s lead. “And reminisce with you, that’s my desire.”
He swayed to the music, and Alastor leaned down, pressing his forehead against his. Water dripped down his nose and ran down from his temples as he listened to his husband’s voice fill the air around them.
“To meet where gypsies play, down in that dim café,” Lucifer continued, keeping up his small sway. Alastor couldn’t stop staring at the glowing, red eyes gazing up at him. “And dance ‘till the break of day, that’s my desire.”
Alastor ran his hand up from Lucifer’s shoulder and let it rest against the junction between his jaw and his neck, careful not to restrict his ability to sing. He just felt like he had to hold onto him. Not cradle him, per se, but—okay maybe a little bit. He really enjoyed the gentle dance, which was barely anything other than moving around in a small circle on the narrow path. He guessed he couldn’t complain about the furby and the duck not being able to dance properly when this was all it took to capture his attention to this extent.
“We’ll sip a little glass of wine,” Lucifer sung. “I’ll gaze into your eyes divine.” He grinned, pupils widening a little as his eyes flickered back and forth, taking in the sight of Alastor’s eyes before they snapped down to his lips. “I’ll feel the touch of your lips pressing on mine,” he muttered hoarsely, before his eyes once again found Alastor’s. “To hear you whisper low, just when it’s time to go,” he smiled, eyes crinkling, “Cherie, I love you so,” he whispered quietly. “You’re my desire.”
He closed his eyes. Alastor still stared at him, stroking his thumb over the soft skin of his jaw while the music continued to play around them.
“To hear you whisper low, just when it’s time to go,” Lucifer repeated as his eyes fluttered open, again. “Cherie, I love you so, you’re my desire.” He pushed himself up on his toes so his lips were brushing against Alastor’s. “You’re my desire,” he finished gently, the smooth jazz fading out and getting exchanged with the sound of pure rain as he pressed their lips together a little more firmly.
“I love you so,” Alastor whispered when Lucifer lowered himself back down.
“I love you, too,” he murmured, eyes sparkling as he let go of Alastor’s waist and grabbed both his hands. He walked backwards, pulling him with him. The fact that he wasn’t stumbling at all made Alastor wonder if maybe his husband enjoyed letting him think he was helping him out with the terrain. Lucifer could apparently see his suspicion, grinning wryly as he continued to lead him up the path.
Alastor walked a little faster so they could walk side by side, instead. Lucifer let go of one of his hands and intertwined their fingers, bumping his shoulder against Alastor’s arm. Alastor felt the song get stuck in his head. He hummed the melody quietly as they continued their walk through the bayou. Lucifer tapped the beat with his pinkie finger against Alastor’s skin.
They were getting closer, Alastor realised after a while, having felt himself getting lost in everything from the sound of the bayou, to the smell, to the song, to the way his husband was holding his hand, and just the thought of actually being back on Earth. If he’d thought getting married felt surreal, then being back in his bayou was completely unbelievable. It felt like he was dreaming. For a moment, he thought he was, but then he felt another tap of Lucifer’s pinkie against the back of his hand, grounding him enough to make him realise it was real.
They paused when they heard a rustling in the distance. Both stared into the dark where the sound had come from, Alastor feeling the same unease he’d felt when he thought he’d heard someone whimpering.
A deer stepped out from behind a tree, staring at them. They stared back for a moment, before Lucifer snorted. The doe’s ears flicked at the sound, but it didn’t move.
“Hello,” Lucifer greeted it quietly. It didn’t say anything back, but Alastor could almost feel its curiosity. Maybe he actually could? He tried to focus on it. It spiked as the doe took another few steps toward them. Was this what Lucifer had meant back at the palace?
The doe flinched, looking over its shoulder before it ran off into the trees. Alastor could feel its warning, but he was currently the second most dangerous creature around, which meant there wasn’t really anything that could harm him. The weird interaction still made him wonder what was out there, though. Unless the doe just tried to be a little extra careful.
He didn’t know why he was thinking about it. Usually, he’d probably hunt the deer, himself. He guessed that was the closest he could get to cannibalism on Earth, at least. Not that he felt like running after the deer at that moment, though. He still had his husband’s hand in his, and he’d had a fantastic day. He could probably go for a hunt some other time.
Lucifer continued to pull him along the path, and not too long after, Alastor spotted a light through the trees. A soft, warm glow. Right where his old house used to be. It confirmed his hunch that Lucifer had planned on having them stay where it was. He didn’t know what he’d done to make it happen. If the house was still in use, he would’ve had to buy it. If not, and the house had been left to the elements for the past hundred years, he didn’t have too high hopes that there was much left of it.
When he got closer, he could make out the shape of it. It looked exactly the same as when he’d left it the night he’d died. Actually, when he got even closer, and he could see more of it, he realised it looked exactly the same. Down to every plank, every window, every light. Everything looked like it had been paused in time until he could return to it.
They came to a stop in front of the stairs up to the porch. Alastor placed a hand on the railing, feeling the rough wood under his fingers. When he glanced at Lucifer, his husband looked at him softly and pulled something out of his pocket. He held it out for Alastor, who took it and almost lost it from the very familiar weight in his hand. He stared at it, realising it was his old key.
“No one’s lived here, since,” Lucifer muttered. “It was nothing more than a shell of what it once was when I got someone to start rebuilding it,” he continued, waiting for Alastor to step up onto the porch. “I think we managed to get everything as close as possible to the original. The foundation is the same, but it needed some repairs and some updates, so to speak, so it should hold for a really long time. We tried to reuse as much of your house as possible, but there was so much of it that was gone that we had to build most of it from scratch.”
Alastor stepped up the stairs, feeling the solid wood under his soaked shoes. Even the way the wood creaked sounded the same. He felt like he was back in 1933 as he walked over the porch and over to the door. He noticed a couple of chairs sitting side by side overlooking the bayou. The light from the window made them seem like the perfect place to sit on a clear evening with a friend and chat about nothing in particular, maybe with a glass of rye or maybe even wine.
“I took some creative liberties with a couple of things,” Lucifer said, clearly having noticed Alastor’s focus. “The rest should be almost a complete replica of how I remember it.”
Alastor blinked at him, not really comprehending that his husband had somehow managed to remember the house down to how the fucking floorboards creaked.
“How?” Alastor croaked.
Lucifer smiled at him. “Every moment with you is worth remembering,” he said. Alastor raised his eyebrows in astonishment. It made Lucifer snicker. “This place became important to me, too. I wanted it to be as close as possible to the old one.”
Alastor huffed and turned to the door. He hesitated before he put the key in the keyhole and twisted it. It didn’t budge. He turned to Lucifer. Lucifer just tilted his head and blinked slowly. Alastor grabbed the doorhandle and pulled it firmly towards him while he twisted the key. It turned easily.
“How the actual fuck did you—You never unlocked the door!” Alastor exclaimed as he pulled the key back out of the keyhole.
“Observation,” Lucifer said.
“Observation my ass,” Alastor scoffed as he pushed the door open. He let his eyes roam the entrée. Everything still looked exactly the same, except the coats and jackets hanging on the coat rack. They looked a lot more modern, and there were clearly two different sizes. Another one of Lucifer’s ‘creative liberties’ he guessed. He stepped a little farther into the room, looking at the dark, wooden shoe rack with an assortment of different shoes (also more modern and two different sizes).
He opened the door to the next room and looked at the dimly lit room on the other side. There was a small lamp on the windowsill that had been the source of the soft glow through the window. It made it easier to see the rest of the interior. The same, low bookshelf stood under the closest window to his left. The L-shaped couch in the corner of the room under the other two windows in the room—one on the short end, the other beside the first on the long end. A gramophone player stood in the corner by the couch. A piano stood between the door to his old bedroom and the door to the bathroom where his own used to stand.
“Is it…?” Alastor asked.
“No, but we could move it back here if you want to,” Lucifer said from behind him. “It’s up to you.”
The two of them stepped farther into the room. Lucifer looked around like he was seeing it for the first time, too. Alastor realised it was, other than from the pictures he mentioned.
“Did you recreate everything?” Alastor asked as he went over to the bookshelf, crouched down and looked at the books. All of them were the same as the ones that had once been there. Most of them even looked worn.
“Well, most of it,” Lucifer said. “Not the things we managed to track down,” he explained as he went over to the piano. He ran his hand over the wood, opened the fallboard and played a couple of chords. When he noticed Alastor staring at him, he pointed at the coffee table in front of the couch. “One of the things they apparently took. It should be yours.”
Alastor stood up and strolled over to it. He ran his hands over the smooth surface, checking it for the marks he knew should be there. Every stain was the same. Some new ones seemed to have been added to it, but other than that, it looked well taken care of.
“Should I ask where you found it?” he muttered, picking at one of the few knife wounds the table had from times when he’d been a bit too careless placing his knife down on it.
“I think it was in some old lady’s house or something,” Lucifer said while walking over to the gramophone. “Her parents bought it in the early thirties, and then she kept it until now. They bought this one, too,” he added, pointing to the gramophone player.
Alastor joined him, checking the old record player over. He’d gotten it through his work at the radio station, as well as quite a few of the records he had. Not many people had one back in the early thirties. At least not one that could play actual vinyl records.
“It looks flawless,” Alastor muttered.
“I checked over every single thing we found and restored it to the best of my ability, which, you know…” He trailed off with a shrug. “I’m pretty good at fixing things.”
“Indeed,” Alastor said thoughtfully. He continued to walk around, checking the few paintings on the wall over the piano. “Are these also the same ones?”
“One of them,” Lucifer said.
“And the carpets?” Alastor continued to question.
“All new.”
“Hmm.” Alastor kept moving through the house, ending up in the kitchen. He turned on the overhead light, blinking a couple of times to get used to the sudden brightness. The table stood in the middle of the room like it had never left. He pursed his lips and glanced at the fridge. It looked the same, but it felt more modern in a way. He was about to open it when Lucifer rushed over and blocked him. Alastor stared at him. “What?”
Lucifer grinned sheepishly as he cleared his throat. “I just have a small thing for tomorrow in there,” he explained.
“Seriously, how many damned surprises did you plan?” Alastor asked again, because he still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Lucifer kept bringing up something new.
“This should be the last one,” Lucifer said, patting the fridge door awkwardly. “I think. I actually don’t know.”
“So, you can recreate my entire house from memory, but you can’t remember your own surprises?” Alastor questioned, making Lucifer’s sheepish grin turn into a grimace.
“Uhm.”
“Who built it, anyway?” Alastor asked, finally starting to get over the initial shock of being back in his house. He started going through the cupboards and the drawers instead, finding everything he would ever need to cook whatever he wanted. He gave Lucifer a few glances before opening anything, just to make sure he was allowed and wouldn’t end up stumbling over another surprise.
“Well, Stolas and the assassins were quite helpful tracking down the old furniture and such, and then I got some of Ozzie’s succubi and some of the imps from our staff to help rebuild it. Everything went through me, though. Every decision, every plan. Everything is also updated to the latest technology just to keep it from burning down when we’re not around.”
“Are you planning on coming here often?” Alastor asked, closing another cupboard.
“As often as you’d like,” Lucifer replied as he stepped over to the window and gazed out into the darkness. “I was thinking we could use it as a vacation home.”
Alastor huffed in disbelief, before he stepped over to him. Lucifer turned to look at him as he approached. He still had that hint of concern in his eyes, like he was still a little afraid of Alastor hating the house and everything in it. Alastor didn’t, of course. He loved it.
“Splendid idea, love,” he said, seeing the relief in his partner’s eyes. “It’s perfect.”
“You haven’t even seen everything, yet,” Lucifer scoffed.
“Why don’t you show me around, then?” Alastor asked, offering him his hand.
Lucifer glanced at it and smiled, grabbed it and pulled him with him out of the kitchen. He paused by the door to the guest bedroom right outside the kitchen and pushed it open. He started talking about what was new and what was old, like the dresser, before they moved to the next room. Lucifer skipped the door to the basement and went straight for the bathroom, instead, showing off the heated floors and the standing mirror (which they both grimaced at given their soaked-through appearances).
At one point, Alastor had been more busy staring at Lucifer than whatever it was he was showing him. He never let go of Alastor’s hand as he showed him every detail he’d made sure to add, which would probably drive someone else completely mad, but Alastor couldn’t help but feel like he was falling in love all over again. It had been an emotionally tiring day. Damn, it had been a lot of emotions ever since he woke up, yet, here he was, staring at his husband and just listening to his voice as he babbled and rambled on about everything from wooden floorboards to metal pipes, feeling his heart beat a little faster whenever Lucifer grinned proudly at him.
Was it possible to fall in love with someone twice?
Lucifer escorted him out of the bathroom and over to the master bedroom door. He waited, glancing from the door and over to Alastor and back. He gave him an expectant look, clearly wanting Alastor to open it himself. Alastor did and found the room looking like expected. Just like normal, except for a basket filled with a bottle of red wine, a bottle of champagne and two glasses sitting on the bedside table closest to the door. Other than that, the bed under the window looked the same (and was the same, except for the mattress and the duvets/pillows), the drawer and the mirror looked the same, as well as the wardrobe propped up against the far wall.
Lucifer pulled him with him over to the basket. He picked up the wine, checking the label while Alastor started wondering once again how Lucifer had somehow managed to remember how every little nook and cranny looked.
“Did you snoop around while you were here?” Alastor asked, feeling Lucifer’s hand tense up.
“I didn’t exactly go through every cupboard,” Lucifer said, placing the wine bottle back in the basket. “But I mean, you were busy for hours at a time down in the basement, and I got a little bored so I wandered around a bit,” he admitted. “Or slithered, so you wouldn’t hear me.”
“That explains how you knew what the underside of the sink looked like,” Alastor drawled, making Lucifer chuckle. “Who gave us the basket?”
“Looks like it’s from Stolas,” Lucifer said, handing Alastor the small card with the prince’s swirly handwriting. It was just a short note saying he hoped they enjoyed the house and the drinks, which, yeah, Alastor definitely didn’t mind the house, and the drinks was a nice, little gift. “Don’t know if I’m up for even more wine tonight, but I mean, we’re staying here for a few days.” He glanced at Alastor. “If you want to.”
Alastor huffed. “Are you kidding me? Of course, I want to!” He placed the card back in the basket and pulled Lucifer close to him until they were standing chest to chest. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss against his forehead, before he met his eyes. “You’ve done so much for me. I don’t know how I can possibly make it up to you.” He wasn’t just talking about that day, but also just in general. Lucifer had always tried his best at helping him out with everything from just having someone to talk to, to helping him kill someone.
Lucifer stared at him, breathing becoming a little shaky. “You already have,” he whispered, echoing himself from earlier.
“I really haven’t,” Alastor argued, because what had he ever done? He’d made life difficult for them both. He’d shared just about nothing about himself during the first year they’d known each other, making it just about impossible for them to find each other in Hell when Alastor died (which had been made even more difficult because of Lilith). He’d refused to talk to him properly until he was literally dying from Adam’s energy and Lucifer had finally confronted him about it and recognised him. Not to mention the whole thing that happened while they tried to stop the war and him refusing to accept his feelings, and thus trying to push Lucifer away whichever way he could come up with. Lucifer never deserved that, and while Alastor had come around and stopped trying to push him away in the end, that still didn’t change how Lucifer had kept respecting his boundaries every second they’d been together. Ever since Earth, even (except the snooping around his house, but that had made it possible to recreate his damned house, which was yet another thing to add to the list of things that Alastor felt he had to make up for somehow).
Lucifer looked down at the bowtie around Alastor’s neck and reached up. He smiled sadly when he squeezed it, seeing the water drip out of the fabric. He moved his hands so one of them rested on Alastor’s chest, the other sliding up to his neck.
“I don’t think you understand,” he started, voice rough. He swallowed thickly as he glanced up at him through his lashes, before he looked away again. “I was depressed. Really depressed.” He took a small breath, fiddling with one of the buttons on Alastor’s jacket. “I felt completely empty for more than six thousand years, and the only thing that made me happy was my daughter.” His voice trembled. “That… She was the only one for a long time. And then I didn’t have her, either. I kept distancing myself from everyone I knew and cared about just to spare them from my fucking mood, and so I had no one for thousands of years.”
Lucifer hadn’t really opened up about his struggles, before. Sometimes, late at night, but nothing more than a brief mention, or in a surface-level way where he never got into the details. He’d told Alastor about how he’d made him happy again—quite a few times just that day, even. It was something he told him quite regularly.
“I don’t know if you know what that feels like,” Lucifer muttered. “Not the amount of time, at least. Imagine feeling nothing for your entire lifetime, and then multiply it by, like, forty-six or something,” he huffed, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Alastor tightened his hold on his waist. “And while I felt nothing, I also cared about nothing,” he continued quietly. “I couldn’t care less about Heaven coming down and exterminating sinners. I lost thousands of my subjects. I let thousands of souls die permanently, and I felt nothing,” he hissed. “I only wanted my daughter safe. That was all I ever wanted and was willing to fight for.”
Alastor could feel him shake in his arms, but he didn’t know if he should just hug him a little closer or let him speak. He pulled him closer, moving his hand up to the back of Lucifer’s head, fingers running through his wet hair. Lucifer melted into the hug with a shudder as he buried his face in his chest.
“And then I found you,” he murmured, voice muffled. “And you made me feel, again,” he added after a short pause. “You really did bring me out of that damned, empty void I couldn’t get out of on my own. You made it possible for me to understand what I was doing wrong, and to start working against it. You made it possible for me to accept the shame I felt for letting Hell get run deeper into the ground and for the amount of people I could’ve prevented from getting wiped out of existence. You made it possible for me to change my views on those I perceived as awful, and prevent more of them from being eviscerated.” He sucked in another shaky breath, burying his face deeper into Alastor’s chest. “I don’t want you to think I fell for you just because you helped me so damned much back then. You were always my friend, first and foremost. You always will be. I appreciate you more than you probably know. And this?” He pulled back, gesturing to the house around him before he stared up at him with glossy eyes. “This is the least I could do to make it up to you, for making everything else possible. I’m not doing all these surprises as a wedding gift. It’s a thank you gift for all you’ve ever done for me, for Hell, for Charlie… Everyone.” He sniffled and grinned a wobbly grin. “So, I don’t want to hear anything about making it up to me.”
Alastor stared at him, before he slowly lowered his head so he could knock their foreheads together. He blinked a few times, trying to come up with something to say, but words failed him. At least anything emotional, because he wasn’t kidding when he said it’d been a very emotional day and he felt completely drained.
“Should we call it even, then?” he asked instead, making Lucifer snort.
“Sure,” he said, the wobbly grin turning more mischievous. “But just know I’ll never feel like I’ve made it up to you, so you’ll just have to live with a few surprises every now and again.”
“Well, I believe that goes both ways,” Alastor retorted. “If I’ll ever come up with anything even remotely close to recreating my house, reuniting me with my mother, somehow managing to create a wedding that I didn’t know I wanted.” He closed his eyes and lowered his voice. “You’re incredible, you know?”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Lucifer rasped, before he leaned up and kissed the corner of Alastor’s mouth. “Thank you for listening to me ramble.”
“You know you can always talk to me, right?” Alastor asked softly.
Lucifer sighed. “I do. I really do, but I think you know how hard it is to open up about some things, right? Especially things we’re ashamed of,” he added. Alastor knew it too well, actually. “But I’ll probably get better at talking about it one day. It’s still a bit fresh.”
“We can only get better at this communication-thing, right?” Alastor huffed.
Lucifer snickered. “Well, I fucking hope so, or else we’re completely fucked. I don’t think Rosie would appreciate us showing up on her doorstep every week just because we couldn’t just talk about things.” He grinned up at him. “If someone deserves something for helping us out, it’s her, don’t you think?”
“Probably,” Alastor agreed, leaning back a bit. “We’ll have to bring her here, one day, too.”
“Oh, absolutely.” Lucifer nodded, his grin becoming something much gentler. “You know you can talk to me, too, right? I know you hate talking about your emotions and so on, but if you ever need to vent about whatever, you know where I am.”
Alastor gave him a short nod. “I do…” He hesitated looking away for a moment as the same restrictiveness of said emotions made it difficult to open up. “I’ll try,” he promised.
Lucifer smiled at him, giving him a gentle squeeze before he let him go. “Well, that’s all I ask.” He grabbed Alastor’s hands and moved backwards towards the door. “Ready to check out the basement?”
“Lead the way,” Alastor huffed, feeling the relief of not having to open up quite yet. He knew he would, eventually. He just didn’t know what to say about it, yet. He’d said some things, but not a lot, and while he wasn’t scared of talking to Lucifer about it (anymore), he felt the slight fear of what would happen to himself if he did. He trusted Lucifer enough to know he’d never tell it to anyone else, which was a trait he previously had only seen in Rosie. Especially living in Hell. Well, he had a feeling the rest of their friends knew how to keep their mouth shut about some things, too, but they lacked the comfort he felt with Lucifer and Rosie.
Lucifer pulled him back into the living room and over to the door to the basement, before he opened it up with a flourish. Alastor looked down into the dark, before he glanced at Lucifer.
“I remembered you telling me about wanting to keep me down here, so…”
“So?” Alastor pressed, making Lucifer giggle and step down the narrow staircase and into the basement below. Alastor followed him, seeing the room light up as Lucifer flipped the light switch. He expected to see the regular, concrete basement that he’d cut up multiple people in.
Well, it didn’t look like pure concrete anymore. A white, tiled floor stretched from wall to wall with a small drain in the corner. The walls were still concrete, but darker. There was what looked like a pressure washer leaning against a stainless-steel table. An operation table with leather straps stood in the middle of the room.
“You sick bastard,” Alastor uttered in pure disbelief. “You made me a damned torture chamber?”
“It gets better,” Lucifer stated, strolling over to the operation table and jumped onto it, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge. He nodded at a closet in one of the corners. “Why don’t you open that closet over there?”
Alastor stared at him for a moment longer before he moved over to the closet while giving Lucifer a few uncertain glances. When he got over to it, he paused with his hands on the handles, before he pulled it open.
“What the fuck,” he breathed when he saw the assortment of different knives, surgical equipment, and whatever else he could possibly need. “You’ve got to be joking,” he said as he picked up the old-school bone saw.
“I thought you’d like to have some better options than what you did back then,” Lucifer replied.
Alastor placed the saw back in its place, before his eyes landed on what looked like a box of paper. When he looked closer, he realised it was butcher paper. He straightened his back and closed the doors slowly.
He didn’t know what to feel about it. On one hand, the fact that Lucifer had literally made him a place where he could torture people felt incredibly strange, yet right. Then there was the other part of him that screamed at him that this was wrong, somehow.
He turned to look at Lucifer who was kicking his feet and watching him intently. “Why?”
“Because you love it,” Lucifer said simply. “It’s your escape, I guess. Cutting people up gives you some sort of relief—dad knows I should know, and while I know it’s probably strange with everything we’ve been through, and Charlie most likely not being on board with this, at all, and with all the speeches about being worth following and all that…” Lucifer shrugged. “It was something you enjoyed doing, and I thought I’d give you the option to get back into it if you wanted to.”
Alastor walked over to him. He stepped between his legs and grabbed his face, staring deeply into his eyes. He was looking for any sign of it being a joke. A prank. Anything. But the red eyes gazing back at him held nothing but love, adoration, amusement and truth.
“You’re insane,” was all he managed to say.
“And crazy. And foolish. And a complete nitwit. And probably a little unhinged. Incredibly, stupidly, idiotically in love with a cannibalistic serial killer,” Lucifer listed off playfully. “I realised a long time ago that I could either try and discourage you from continuing with your old ways, or—” Lucifer’s grin turned dangerous. “—I could give you the means to keep going. I mean, it was quite an easy decision, really—”
Alastor smashed their lips together. He felt Lucifer snicker against him as he pulled him closer and deepened the kiss. Alastor’s heart pounded in his chest as he felt Lucifer’s hands curl into his jacket and hair. He was still kicking his feet like he didn’t have a single care in the world, and not like he’d just given Alastor a way to keep doing something he loved. Something that he’d thought he’d have to give up after getting associated with the hotel and becoming the Prince Consort of Hell.
It wasn’t often Lucifer showed his more devilish tendencies. It was quite rare, actually. But sometimes? Sometimes he showed his true colours, and Alastor felt that same, strange interest he’d felt for him since that first kill that he’d helped him with.
“It’s also demon proof,” Lucifer muttered against Alastor’s lips when he pulled back.
Alastor froze. “Do you have a particular one in mind?”
Lucifer’s grin turned impossibly sharper, teeth nicking Alastor’s bottom lip. “Possibly,” he said, brushing his lip against the tiny drop of blood. “But I mean. It’s up to you who you’d like to bring down here.”
“Please tell me you didn’t make it impossible for you to escape from here, too,” Alastor grumbled, feeling the implication of what Lucifer had said earlier about remembering what Alastor had planned, once. Lucifer didn’t say anything. “Lucifer,” Alastor hissed.
Lucifer chuckled. “I’m kidding. I needed some safety in case someone manages to get lose and try to trap us down here.” He paused, leaning back and glancing at the leather straps. “Well, mostly kidding. I laced the leather with angelic metal wire.”
“I feel like that’s going to backfire on us,” Alastor admitted, feeling his attention get pulled back to Lucifer’s lip where he’d smeared Alastor’s blood across it. Alastor licked his own lip, tasting the iron.
“It has some extra safety features built into it,” Lucifer told him. “If you know about it, then you’ll get out. If not, then… well,” he muttered with another shrug. “I’ll show you later,” he promised, making Alastor huff and pull him back into a kiss, mostly just to get rid of the blood. Lucifer wasn’t difficult to ask, of course, grinning into it. “You’re still soaked,” he said.
“So are you,” Alastor said as he ran his fingers up into Lucifer’s hair, minding the crown still on his head. He pulled gently at the wet strands, making them stand out in every direction.
“Oh, come on,” Lucifer scoffed, shooting his hand forward to ruffle Alastor’s bangs in retaliation. It made Alastor take a step back and lean away from him. Lucifer giggled and slipped off of the table. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, stepped over to the staircase and waited for Alastor to walk up in front of him.
“After you,” Alastor said.
“I’m turning the lights off,” Lucifer retorted.
“Certainly, I could pull off such a difficult task, too, don’t you think?”
Lucifer narrowed his eyes. “What are you planning?”
“What makes you think I’m planning something?”
Lucifer glanced at the light switch, before his eyes met Alastor’s. He squinted suspiciously at him as be backed away from him and into the staircase, moving slowly as he made his way backwards up the stairs, eyes not leaving Alastor’s for a second.
“I’m feeling the trust,” Alastor said sarcastically as he strolled over to the switch and turned off the lights, bathing them both in complete darkness. He could feel his shadows stretch out around him. Lucifer glowed faintly as he kept backing up the stairs. It made him grin, which made Lucifer narrow his eyes further, which again made Alastor chortle darkly.
“Fuck!” Lucifer yelped when the floor opened up under him and swallowed him up.
Alastor continued to snicker to himself as he made his way up the stairs and out into the living room. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room, taking in the calming light from the little lamp in the window, listening to the gentle trickle of water going down the gutters and the water droplets pattering against the glass whenever they were caught in the wind. He took a deep breath, feeling like he was back home. Not that Hell wasn’t his home, but there was just something so calming about being back where he’d lived. He’d always felt safe, there, in that house. Well, after his father died, but after that, it had become his safe-haven. A place he could relax away from the rest of the world. Him and his bayou.
He sighed and closed his eyes, letting the feeling of being back wash over him. He knew they wouldn’t stay there forever, of course. But, if Lucifer had truly meant to use it as a vacation home, he had a feeling it wouldn’t take long for them to be back. He still felt a slight apprehension at the thought of going into the city and seeing the changes—there had to be a lot of them after so many years, but he’d enjoy learning what his city had become either way, even if it wouldn’t be exactly the same. Hopefully, they’d be able to find some spots that had stayed untouched.
It even smelled the same, Alastor thought as he breathed in through his nose and opened his eyes again. He smiled to himself as he stepped over to the bathroom and to the dresser. He pulled open the drawer in the middle and found it filled with soft towels. He pulled out two of them and closed the drawer, before he let Lucifer back out of his void. His husband staggered a little as he found his footing.
“And you call me untrustworthy,” Lucifer scoffed. Alastor threw one of the towels in his face, almost knocking the crown off of his head. He heard the snake hiss at the sudden attack. “Seriously?” Lucifer exclaimed and pulled the towel off.
“Thought you’d like to dry yourself off,” Alastor said as he let his own crown vanish like he’d done earlier. He felt particularly pleased about the ease of which he could make it melt into his void.
Lucifer pursed his lips. “I could just dry myself up instantly,” he said.
“What’s the fun in that?” Alastor retorted and stepped into Lucifer’s personal space as he draped his own towel around his shoulders. Lucifer looked unconcerned about the close proximity. “I’d think being back on Earth would make you want to do things the more human way.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done anything the ‘human way’ whenever I’ve been here,” Lucifer admitted.
“That explains a lot, actually,” Alastor huffed, reaching over to start undoing Lucifer’s bowtie. Lucifer waited patiently until he managed to undo the knot and pulled it from around his neck. He placed it on the side of the sink, the soaked fabric hanging heavily over the edge of it. Alastor reached back up and tapped the crown. Lucifer let it pop out of existence in a flash of light. Alastor took the towel from his hands and threw it over his head.
“Hey,” Lucifer grumbled.
Alastor said nothing as he started to rub the towel over his head. He hummed a small tune. It made Lucifer fall silent and lean heavily into the touch.
“There are some perks to doing things like this, aren’t there?” Alastor said, continuing the massage. Lucifer mumbled something incoherent.
“I’m drying the clothes the demonic way, though,” he said a little louder, pointing at him sluggishly. “You’re really good at this,” he added, leaning a little harder against him. It made Alastor move backwards and let go of him, making Lucifer stumble forwards with a curse. He managed to keep himself from faceplanting into the floor, at least. Alastor chuckled and started undoing his own bowtie while Lucifer pulled the towel out of his face. “There was a chance I would return the favour, but now I’m not so sure,” he said as he continued where Alastor had left off.
“Who said I wanted you to?” Alastor retorted, pulling the bowtie from his neck and placing it beside Lucifer’s.
“Just a hunch,” Lucifer replied with a smirk. Because, yeah, Alastor probably would’ve enjoyed it. Lucifer had this awfully nice scratching technique that kept making him want to rub his head against him like a damned animal. It hadn’t happened, yet. But maybe…?
Alastor didn’t answer him, instead giving him a look as he got the cord and the sash off, unbuttoned his jacket and shrugged it off, careful to hold the towel in place as he did. He glanced at Lucifer with a raised eyebrow. Lucifer huffed and stepped over to him, before he wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. Alastor felt a comfortable warmth spread through him, and a moment later, he felt completely dry, sans his head.
“Thank you,” he muttered, thinking Lucifer would let him go. When he didn’t, he looked down, finding him gazing up at him with an affectionate shimmer in his eyes. “What?”
“Just trying to come to terms with being stuck with you for the rest of eternity,” Lucifer mumbled.
“Yes, you look particularly plagued by that thought,” Alastor retorted sarcastically, seeing Lucifer’s smile widen.
Lucifer grabbed Alastor’s towel and tugged it away from his shoulders, before he flung it up and onto Alastor’s head. It draped itself awkwardly over his ears and hung like a veil down over his shoulders. He blinked, unimpressed as Lucifer snickered.
“You look a bit like a nun,” he commented.
Alastor rolled his eyes and put his hands together in a mock-prayer, keeping the jacket between them. “You’ve already seen me in a nun costume,” he retorted. “This doesn’t even come close.”
“Not with that attitude,” Lucifer huffed, placing his own hands outside Alastor’s. “Use some imagination, will you?”
“You’re using enough imagination for the both of us,” Alastor said dryly. Lucifer smiled sheepishly, and Alastor shook his head at his antics, grabbed one of his hands and pulled him with him out of the bathroom and into the living room, and then right into his old bedroom where he went over to the wardrobe and opened it. He paused at the amount of clothes already in there. “A garment bag would be nice,” he muttered.
“Oh, right,” Lucifer said. A moment later he was holding two of them, handing one to Alastor. “I’m surprised you haven’t taken the towel off, yet.”
Alastor’s ear flickered backwards and towards him, making the towel flop around. “It’s comfortable,” Alastor admitted quietly as he started putting the jacket away. Lucifer followed his example, getting his own jacket off. “Are you planning any more surprises for the night?”
“Why? Are you planning on calling it a night, already?” Lucifer smirked.
Alastor shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I slept about two hours, total, last night. Probably less.” He was definitely starting to feel the day’s events starting to weigh on his eyelids, at least. He’d either fall asleep immediately, or lay awake for hours trying to process the entire day. “So, unless you have some other ideas…”
“Not really,” Lucifer admitted, another smile playing on his lips as he glanced up. He looked away. “Sorry.” He cleared his throat, sounding like he was trying to get rid of the amusement in his voice. “I was thinking of enjoying some music, but I’m not opposed to going straight to bed, either.”
Alastor thought it over as he slipped his shoes off and got the cufflinks out of his cuffs. He placed the cufflinks on the dresser. A yawn forced itself out of him, making his eyes water. He blinked a few times, before he turned to Lucifer. His husband was smiling knowingly at him.
“Bed it is,” Lucifer said before Alastor could say anything. “We’ll take the music and drinks tomorrow instead,” he promised. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Thank you,” Alastor muttered, pulling out one of the drawers and found some dark red pyjamas. He pulled them out and placed them on top of the dresser, before he started unbuttoning his shirt. Lucifer just hummed gently as he got a black t-shirt and some blue sweatpants out of the same drawer, and moved over to the bed.
They got changed, Alastor yawning more often than not, annoyingly enough. The dark room didn’t make it much better, and the towel was comfortable enough that he definitely could’ve fallen asleep with it on. He still had to dry his hair, and the slight itch he got from the rainwater made the pressure extra enjoyable.
“Hey,” Lucifer muttered when Alastor started to dry his hair. Alastor glanced at him, furrowing his brow when Lucifer coaxed him closer. He stepped over to him and lowered his head, letting his husband take over.
Alastor was used to Lucifer’s scratches, but he hadn’t expected the towel and wet hair to add something a little extra to it. He’d thought the urge to rub his head against him had been strong, before, but he’d clearly been mistaken as he ended up pushing forwards until Lucifer had to take a few steps back, only to get his legs caught on the edge of the bed. He let out a yelp as he fell onto the mattress. Alastor followed him down, continuing to try and get him to keep going with the scratching. When Lucifer didn’t, he grumbled, rubbing his head hard against his hands. Lucifer let out a startled laugh and continued to giggle as he finally kept going. Alastor was more or less laying on top of him, at that point.
“If I knew you enjoyed getting your ears rubbed this much, I would’ve done it more often,” Lucifer huffed, really digging his nails into the soft fur-like hairs at the base of Alastor’s ear.
“Shut up,” Alastor groaned, feeling a little embarrassed at his own reaction. He felt Lucifer cradle his head in his arms, holding him still as he got more systematic with it, rubbing small circles into his scalp. Alastor hid his face in Lucifer’s chest and wrapped his arms around his waist, sighing contentedly.
Lucifer continued to chortle, stopping the massage for a moment to lean down and press a small peck to the top of his head before he kept going. Alastor felt himself start to drift off, his breathing becoming more laboured as he struggled to stay awake. It didn’t help when Lucifer pulled him farther onto the bed until he could get the covers over them both. When he was satisfied, he turned his attention back to drying Alastor’s hair. Alastor heard him yawn, too, which made him nuzzle his face a little firmer into the soft t-shirt.
He was halfway into dreamland when he felt Lucifer remove the towel and heard him throw it on the floor. A moment later, his fingers combed through his hair, nails tracing wavy patterns over his scalp. It didn’t help with the sleepiness.
“Just go to sleep, dear,” Lucifer whispered to him, brushing a stray lock of hair away from Alastor’s forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Alastor really tried to tell him goodnight, but it came out as an incomprehensible mumble. A moment later, the darkness pulled him into its gentle clutches. He’d thought he would end up thinking a lot more about the day, but apparently not. He was too exhausted to think, and just letting himself drift off and sleep felt like the best option. So, he didn’t fight it when he felt his shadows pull him in with the gentle hum of Lucifer’s voice lulling him to sleep.