Chapter Text
“Duck fucker!”
“Roadkill!”
“Mid-life crisis!”
“Virgin!”
Alastor and Lucifer hissed, growled and took fighting stances while they circled each other. The rest of the group sat a few feet away, eating dinner like they barely even noticed the spat. Angel Dust sighed and leaned his head back over the couch to look at them, “Would you two just kiss or something? This is gettin’ old.”
Charlie stood up and approached the two with a pleading smile, “Can’t we just sit down and all eat together? We’re all on the same side, there’s no need to argue.” Lucifer straightened and turned away from Alastor, suddenly all smiles in Charlie’s direction. “Of course sweetheart, I’m so sorry! I just have to remind the walking radio of his place around here.” Alastor growled and turned away on his heel, “Pompous angel, I don’t have time to waste on you. I have more important things to do than watch awful duck themed novellas, unlike you.” Alastor walked off, ignoring the sound of Lucifer being calmed again by Charlie.
Alastor intended to go to his own room, but a mischievous thought came over him as he remembered that Lucifer had fully moved into the hotel. He had never actually seen Lucifer’s room, which he seemed entitled to as the host. The permanent grin on his face got a little wider as he turned into shadow and slipped under the door of the fallen angels room.
Alastor wasn’t able to contain a chuckle as he looked around. This was a far more depressing scene than he expected. The piles of rubber ducks were taller than him, and it made him assume Lucifer had to either fly to the top of them or have excellent throwing skills to get these stacks so high. The bed was huge for just one person and even though it wasn’t made, it didn’t look slept in. There were oversized sweaters all over the place. There’s no way that some of Niffty’s prized roach friends don't live here somewhere. Alastor turned his attention to the large work desk in the room, which was covered in custom ducks. The entire team of the hotel was here almost. For a moment Alastor thought he was the only one missing, until he spied something red under a hand rag. He lifted it to reveal a pristine ducky version of himself, staff and all. It was shockingly well done. Alastor couldn’t stop himself from picking up the little ducky before turning back into shadow to return to his room, duck in hand.
The next few days were priceless. Lucifer was far too occupied to argue with Alastor over anything. The King of Hell was searching everywhere, crawling around on all fours and rearranging furniture looking for what had to be his stolen rubber duck. Lucifer was constantly talking out loud while looking, as if asking a rubber duck where it was would get an answer. Charlie and the others watched Lucifer’s search with great concern, as if everyone was convinced he had finally lost his sanity. The best part by a landslide was watching him try to persuade Niffty to look for the thing while cleaning rooms. Niffty, who knew exactly where it was, kept bringing him random junk and asking if it was the rubber duck he was looking for. Alastor kept her well fed with as many sweet treats as he could muster in return for the subterfuge. Luckily for everyone else, there were almost no guests at the hotel for the moment, so Lucifer’s embarrassing display was done to limited fanfare. The only other odd thing happening was how often Alastor found himself admiring the rubber duck of himself. It sat on his vanity, sitting on a little wooden box to keep it elevated. Something about it was incredibly charming. Had Alastor been the one to create a doll of any sort to represent Lucifer, he most certainly would have destroyed it or butchered it somehow, made it ugly on purpose. Lucifer didn’t do that though, it was a perfect depiction.
After 3 days of this, Lucifer had enough. Alastor was suspect number one, and that voice filter having demon was not keeping him away from his precious ducks. Late at night, he made his move. Convinced that it was making him sneaky, Lucifer crawled along the floor towards the Radio Demon’s room. “I’m so sneaky, you can’t see me. I’m invisible. A shadow.” He mumbled to himself as he approached Alastor’s door, the last room in the farthest wing of the hotel. He’s as far away from anyone as he could get. Lucifer reached up from the floor for the door knob.
Then the door opened from the inside.
Alastor leaned on his door frame, glaring down at Lucifer, his tie undone, blazer missing, and his button up shirt was halfway open. A cigarette in one hand, whiskey glass in the other, Alastor blew smoke into Lucifer’s face, which turned very red at the sight before him. “Can I help you? You’re horrible at sneaking around, I could hear you halfway down the hall.”
Lucifer forced himself to blink, “Uh, uh, uh…duck. Y-you stole my rubber duck!” Lucifer forced himself to stand up, which only made things worse. He was standing close enough to smell whiskey, smoke and the usual faint smell of old meat that came from Alastor. It was much nicer than his usual scent. “Oh did I? Did you expect to break into my room and find proof? So sorry to have embarrassed you by being home, but you’ll have to try harder than that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I was enjoying myself.”
Alastor shut the door in Lucifer’s face. Lucifer stared at the door for a few moments before practically running back to his own room. He slammed his door behind him and put his face in his hands, squealing. “What the hell?? No, no, no. This is not happening. I do NOT think Alastor is attractive. I refuse. He’s a sinner! A cannibal! Serial Killer! Sexy! Fuck, no!” Lucifer loudly wallowed into the pile of rubber ducks, wrestling with himself. Trying to literally smack sense into himself. “I-I can’t worry about this. So what? He looks good with his shirt undone. So do I! No big deal, Lucy, you’re the king of Hell. I can be mature about this. Super mature. I'm committed, married…” He trailed off, looking down at the wedding ring on his left hand. He was with Lilith for so long. She had been gone for what felt like forever, but he was always telling himself she would come back. She hadn’t. Not even for Charlie. If she had left him behind, that would’ve been okay as long as she was still talking to Charlie. But that wasn’t what happened. He couldn’t bear to remove the ring, but could he really think of himself as married? Guilt for finding others attractive wasn’t unusual for Lucifer. He felt it a few times over these past lonely years. He had assumed when he made up with Charlie his loneliness would fade, but in a way it hadn’t. Lucifer sighed heavily, changed into a big sweater and curled up on his couch. He knew his mental state was poor. He just had no idea where to start. Fixing things was so painful. The familiar pain of leaving things the same felt less harmful than the pain of getting better.
He growled in frustration at himself. Why was he bothering with all these thoughts? He still hated Alastor, and that was that. He forced himself to drift off to any amount of sleep that would stop his brain from turning.
Meanwhile…
Alastor locked his door and returned to his arm chair. How ridiculous. Of course Lucifer suspected him of the theft, but it was clear he only did so because of their mutual hatred. Lucifer was an idiot. So shocked he was caught, his whole face turned red. For a man of his immense age, he most certainly wasn’t the brightest. Isolation has clearly diminished how brilliant a mind that old could be. Alastor reached over and restarted the record player he had stopped when he realized Lucifer was trying to break into his room. He would have to make sure to mention the break in while the staff was having breakfast. Surely Charlie would reprimand her father, that was always fun to watch. The girl really shouldn’t have to act like the real parent of the two. She was naive in her own ways, but Alastor did have to admit he admired her angry streak. It was almost always justified and she only ever did it when her very flexible personal bounds were crossed. In Alastor’s opinion she should be angry more often but that could be fixed with time and patience. It was clear that despite his earlier concerns, Alastor had no reason to believe that Lucifer would truly parent Charlie. The man had done a horrible job of stopping Alastor’s influence over her. He did hate to admit it, but the rubber duck tribute to him did make a positive impression. It was lovely. So detailed. Alastor never realized just how long Lucifer must have spent staring at people to be able to make such accurate depictions. The little staff on the thing was made out of a toothpick and air dry clay, it seemed. Delightful. Lucifer would most definitely not be getting it back.
The next morning, Lucifer casually made his way to the bar with his morning coffee. Angel Dust and Husk always had espresso martinis in the morning, and luckily neither were thrown off by his approach. Yet. “Good morning, Husk and Angel Dust. How are we this morning?” Lucifer did his best to be casual, remember their names, and seem like this was another effort to get to know Charlie’s friends. Husk answered first by gesturing to a few bottles behind him, “Here for a kick to that coffee? One of your shitty duck shows end badly?”
Lucifer scoffed a bit but sat at the bar, “Uh, not shitty thank you but no. I had a suuuper casual question actually, no big deal, I just wanted to know if you knew what kind of whiskey Alastor drank so I could mess with him?” The longer the question went, the faster he started talking. Angel Dust giggled and finished his drink before he spoke, “Yeah, super casual. You better be careful with that prank, he likes his stuff the same every time.”
Husk nodded, “Legs has a point. But to answer your question, no I don’t. He doesn’t drink here, he gets it somewhere else. Probably that creepy cannibal bitch he hangs out with. Just make sure none of us get caught up in the aftermath of that if you do it.”
“How do ya even know he drinks? I’ve never seen him drink anythin’ let alone whiskey.” Angel Dust’s curious look made Lucifer sweat a little as he laughed to stay calm, “O-oh, you know, I get up in his face sometimes to argue and I just thought I smelled it on him a couple times.” Angel Dust and Husk exchanged a look but they both decided whatever was happening, wasn’t worth it. They shrugged off the bad explanation and Lucifer took a breath of relief, saying a quick goodbye before leaving to eat with Charlie and Vaggie.
Alastor entered the living room a few minutes into the meal, pleased to see Lucifer so he could start a fight. “Aaah Lucifer, you look plenty rested. I’m so glad that trying to break into my room last night didn’t prevent you from sleeping.”
Charlie’s sigh of disappointment was music to Alastor’s ears, “Dad, please tell me he’s joking. I just told you to act nice with each other, and you tried to get in his room?” Vaggie chimed in by making a face and adding, “Alastor’s room probably smells like roadkill anyway, why go in there?”
Alastor’s ear twitched but he shrugged a little, “I can’t fully deny that statement.”
Lucifer jumped up from his spot on the couch and pointed a finger at Alastor, “He stole one of my rubber ducks! It was custom! I spent 2 days on that.” Charlie opened her mouth to play moderator but took a deep breath first instead.
“Dad, I’m sure we’ll find it. Alastor’s never stolen anything before. What does the duck look like? I’ll make it our team building exercise of the day to find it! It’ll be fun.” She beamed while she waited for an answer that Lucifer started to choke on. He completely forgot he would have to tell them he wasted 2 days making a duck to look like Alastor. Even worse, he just told Alastor he spent 2 days on it. Lucifer forced himself to try and stay composed, hoping he wasn’t blushing, “Well you see I, uh, made a little ducky for everyone in the hotel. The…Alastor ducky is missing and now my set isn’t complete.” Lucifer’s efforts to not sound a little pathetic in saying that felt like they failed, but Charlie smiled more. “Awww, dad, that’s so sweet! I doubt Alastor took a duck that looks like himself. We’ll find it, I swear. I'll round everyone up!” Much faster than Vaggie could stop her, Charlie was off in a flash to wake up their handful of guests and start the search. Lucifer glared at Alastor and tried to get in his face to fight with him, but the subtle smell of cigarette smoke made him back up a little. Alastor laughed as he walked off, “I do ever so hope you find that duck, good luck.”
It was only almost 5 hours later that searching turned up nothing, Alastor popped up next to Charlie from a shadow to suggest a most wonderful compromise. In swift order, she made everyone sit in a large circle and attempt to craft their own custom ducks of whoever they wanted. The amount of art supplies she was able to summon up was almost scary. Lucifer sat down, dejected, and started trying to recreate the missing ducky. Charlie plopped Alastor down in a chair, center of the circle for everyone to reference from. Alastor happily sipped from a mug of dark red liquid while everyone talked.
“So dad, did it really take you 2 days to make a custom duck? Is that normal?”
Lucifer swallowed hard, hating how he couldn’t lie his way out of the scenario he made for himself. “Well normally I can do it in one day. About 10 hours. It takes longer when SOME people carry around signature accessories like a magic staff they can’t live without. The fuck-ass bob took time too.”
Alastor growled at the bob comment. “Not like I got to pick that. I used to have curly hair.”
Charlie, Angel and Vaggie all started lamenting over how unfortunate it was no sinners could choose their forms. Lucifer had to turn his attention to the blank rubber duck in his hands to avoid imaging Alastor with different hair. Frustration at this whole ordeal started to bubble over. This was humiliating. If he had just kept his mouth shut, he wouldn’t have to be doing this. He just wanted his duck back, the little things were like his friends. They were easier to talk to than the real versions. Now where did that get him? Trying to maintain a lie, and trying to avoid thinking about Alastor, but he was right there, and trying to act like he didn’t memorize all his physical features and-
Lucifer stood up swiftly and walked much faster than he meant to out of the room. He tried taking deep breaths to calm himself down as he went to the nearest balcony. The angel of Pride was not enjoying being embarrassed, even if it was only embarrassing to him. Except it wasn’t just him. It was Alastor. It was like some stupid shared secret. He was the last person Lucifer wanted to share anything with. He isn’t even supposed to interact with sinners, he was only here and doing so for Charlie. It was obvious Alastor had some agenda with Charlie, he just couldn’t figure out what it was. It made him furious. It was worse on the days where he felt that Alastor might be a more competent presence than him. Lucifer lightly started hitting his head on the balcony railing.
“Ugh, why is everything I think about him so complicated?”
“Think about who?”
Alastor’s radio static voice behind him made Lucifer jump out of his skin. He whipped around, scowling. “What do you want?”
Alastor held up his hand, and at first a ball of shadow formed, only to reveal the missing rubber duck when it fell away. “You know, I didn’t intend to steal anything from you. I just wanted to be nosey. Something about this did strike my fancy though. It’s nearly perfect.” His permanent grin made his face hard to read at times like these. Lucifer found himself oddly flattered. “Wait…you took that because you liked it?”
Alastor continued to examine the ducky, which was still in perfect condition, “Mmhm, that’s correct. If I give it back, will you stop throwing a tantrum? I’d rather keep it but you are very annoying.”
Despite the insults mixed in, Lucifer started to feel the swell of a familiar feeling of pride in his work. He was so good at this, even his own enemy was impressed.
“You know what? Keep it, Alastor. I can make another. Actually I better show the others how to paint them properly before they ruin those poor duckies. I really appreciate the compliment.” He rubbed the back of his neck to soothe himself as he talked, hoping not to betray how happy he actually was to receive that compliment. Most people just told him he was weird or crazy for making ducks of people he knew. Even Charlie was off put it seemed. A genuine compliment from someone, even if he hated them, felt nice for once. Lucifer puffed his chest out and walked back to the duck crafting circle to take charge before Alastor could answer.
Alastor watched Lucifer walk away, rolled his eyes and teleported the duck back to his room. “One compliment is all it takes. He really is the sin of Pride.” Alastor went back to posing as Lucifer went into a long lecture on how to properly craft ducks.
The following weeks seemed somewhat normal for once. Bickering, arguing, insults. The only real change was Lucifer’s new habit of attempting to learn a few more personal facts about his nemesis, no doubt to use against Alastor. At least that’s what he had promised himself. Most of it turned up nothing. The Radio Demon was very private, and no one knew much about him outside of the obvious. He had a tailor, was obsessed with having a perfectly put together appearance and hated sharing personal facts. He seemed to antagonize nearly everyone. The only person he didn’t seem to bother quite so much was one of the other overlords he was close with. Lucifer sat again at the hotel's bar, listening to Angel Dust and Husk fake bickering over something. Guilt and interest took a rotating shift in his mind, staring into an apple flavored drink in front of him he hadn’t touched yet. He shook his head hard to clear his thoughts.
“You know, I don’t think most people know how hard it is to be a good dancer. You got any good moves, whiskers?” Angel Dust smiled at Husk over the bar. Lucifer couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, watching these two flirt so seamlessly. He started sipping the drink Husk had made for him, wincing as it burned. It had been a long time since he’d had alcohol. Husk rolled his eyes as he poured more mixer, apple juice, into Lucifer’s drink for him. “You know damn well I don’t dance.”
“You’ve danced with me before.”
“That was to make you feel better. Hey, King of Hell or whatever, are you gonna make it over there? Fucks wrong with you?”
Lucifer straightened up in his chair and chuckled nervously, “Who, me? Oh yeah, I’m great! Just great. No need to worry about me.”
Angel Dust’s eyebrow went up, “You seem weirder than usual. Come on, spill. We’ll just bother you until you do.”
Lucifer’s breath caught in his throat, and he coughed to clear it, “U-uh, I, well…I’m sorry, I’m just embarrassed. I think I might have a tiny little crush. On someone. I feel horrible about it, okay?”
Instead of awkward silence, Husk laughed while Angel Dust said, “Aww! How cute. I don’t think you should feel bad. You’ve been alone for a while, accordin’ to Charlie at least. Maybe you could change that. Go for it. The worst that can happen is they say no, right?”
Husk nodded, “Yeah, fuck it. No offense but you’re already a weird duck obsessed recluse. Can’t get any worse. Finish your drink, give you some courage. Nothing to be ashamed of in these walls. Hell, I’m sure Charlie would be excited if you had a new side piece. She hates seeing you all sad.”
Lucifer smiled, surprised. He didn’t expect so much support. He avoided interacting with most sinners. He had almost forgotten they had all been human. They had been through bad things to end up here, it made no sense to think they would judge him over this. He felt stupid in hindsight but tried to shake it off. “Yeah? Maybe you have a point. What do the kids say, shoot your shot?” He laughed at Angel Dust’s eyeroll and quickly finished his drink. Lucifer stood up and straightened his clothes, trying to hype himself up. “Okay, surely I got this. Just be yourself Lucifer, it worked the first time. A really long time ago…wait, this isn’t creepy is it? I’m crazy old. Do you guys know how old Alastor is?”
The name wasn’t meant to slip his lips, and he almost didn’t notice it until he heard both Angel Dust and Husk choking on their own drinks. “Alastor?? Really?? That asshole hates you-” Husk was cut off from finishing his thought by Angel Dust putting up one of his hands. “Hold on, kitty. I’m surprised, but I can see it. They may argue, but they do argue almost every day. They both go out of their way to do it even. Maybe the fighting is just an excuse to talk to each other.”
Lucifer felt a little red in the face and scurried off quickly to avoid having to finish that conversation. Angel Dust shouted after him, “Dress more casual!”
Standing at the end of Alastor’s hallway, Lucifer snapped to change his clothes. He removed his hat and overcoat. Angel Dust had to be good at this stuff, and right now he certainly didn’t trust himself with doing this right. Several deep breaths later, he started walking to the door.
He had to be careful of how to frame this conversation. This would be the real test of whether or not he was crazy for thinking this was possible. He reached up and knocked on Alastor’s door.
The sound of the jazz record he was listening to paused, and after a moment Alastor opened the door. Angel Dust’s advice turned out to be perfect, because Alastor was in the same state as he was the last time he was here. Lucifer swallowed hard and took a deep breath of the smells from Alastor before speaking, “Alastor, sorry to bother you, but I was hoping I could talk to you about something?” He knew the smile he was giving wasn’t going to help convince Alastor of anything.
Alastor stared at him for a moment in suspicion before opening the door more and walking back into his room, “Fine, but make it quick.”
Lucifer’s heart skipped a beat as he followed Alastor in, who sat down in an armchair and gestured to one across from him. Lucifer sat down and looked around a little. It was weird in here, like it was in the middle of the forest somewhere. The scent of wet dirt and fallen leaves made for an oddly lovely smell.
When Lucifer returned his eyes to Alastor, the way he was watching him caused shivers. It felt like being hunted, being under such sharp eyes. “Uh, well, I came here because I’m trying to think about Charlie. I don’t think our squabbles should be causing her stress. I want us to get along and stop fighting so much.”
It wasn’t really a lie. Lucifer may want a little more than getting along, but that was farther down the path. If he was going to get what he wanted, he had to start slow. THe lack of information he had found on Alastor was a sign the demon hated getting too close to people.
Alastor tilted his head to the side a bit, “Really? You came here to ask me kindly to stop arguing with you? You could solve that by moving out.”
“I’m not leaving Charlie again. I can’t. It’s obvious that you have your own goals for her that you want to push her towards. My only goal is her happiness. Charlie is an adult, and as annoying as it is to admit, she’ll listen to whoever she wants. Can we just stop fighting? Please?”
Alastor stayed quiet for a minute, thinking while he smoked. He looked like he was trying to figure out if this was a trick or plan of some kind. He put the last of his cigarette out in an ashtray on the table between them.
“Fine then. I don’t have any reason to waste so much of my time with you anyway. Just keep in mind I’ll finish any fight you start on your own. I’m not required to be nice to you.”
Lucifer took a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “Great! Yeah, yeah of course. I just think if we give Charlie one less thing to stress about, she’ll be more on top of things. That’s all. Well, I’ll leave now then. You should really open a window or something in here though.” Lucifer stood up, smiling, and left. The second the door was closed, he fist pumped the air in silent victory. It wasn’t the same as confessing a crush, but that would never have worked at this stage. He rushed back down to the bar to update Husk and Angel Dust, and beg them not to say anything.
Slowly, slowly…Lucifer continued his plan. Standing near Alastor was now possible without getting glared or growled at, though it took weeks to pull off. Charlie had made several comments to both of them about how glad she was they were getting along now. Alastor used this as a way of making himself look good, by telling her it was to keep her happy. Lucifer didn’t care at the moment if he tried to take the credit, it was fine with him. The next stage was ready to go: Talking!
Lucifer started spending a lot more time with everyone else in the hotel. It had started as a way to get to Alastor, but he had to admit it was helping with some of his usual depression. Humming, he put the finishing touch on his project. There was every kind of device in a room behind the hotel’s front desk. A tablet, CD player, cassette, and the most difficult to hook up to the sound system, a record player. Practically skipping, Lucifer made his way out to the common room where everyone was sitting. “Hey guys, I got a surprise for you all! I thought we could start playing some music in the hotel. I set up everything in the office if you guys want to go pick out some songs.” Almost everyone was up in a flash to go argue over the soon to be playlist. Alastor was the only one lagging behind, just as planned. Lucifer cleared his throat, “Uh, I figured out setting up a record player back there too. You listen to a lot of jazz right?”
Alastor narrowed his eyes a little, “You did that just for me? For what end? I don’t trust your odd change in behavior.”
“Odd? Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m doing exactly what I told Charlie I would do. Besides, once you stop being such a prick, you aren’t so bad sometimes.” Alastor seemed confused at the compliment, like he had no idea what to do with it.
“I don’t understand you.” Alastor turned on heel and walked to his room. He just didn’t get it. First, Lucifer was bold enough to suggest that they shouldn’t “act like they hate each other.” It was ridiculous. He was convinced it was a plot of some kind. He had agreed only to see what Lucifer was up to, but he still can’t figure it out. Now he wants Alastor to act like they’re really friends? This was a horrible game, whatever one he was playing.
Alastor went through a stack of records and pulled out a few. How odd indeed, how kind the king of Hell was behaving. He needed to hold out and see if he could figure this out. He was determined to figure out where this was going, no matter how nice he had to be to figure out this plan. So he could ruin it, of course. Alastor walked back to the lobby, hearing upbeat pop music already playing. Cherri Bomb and Angel Dust were dancing together while they mocked Husk for not dancing.
Lucifer was watching Vaggie try to talk Charlie into dancing, anything to get her to relax, through the little window in the office. Alastor set up one of the records he brought and waited patiently until the current song was over before hitting the button to play it.
Lucifer listened for a moment, watching a look of recognition on Angel Dust’s face before turning to Alastor, “Did you and Angel Dust live at the same time? He looks like he knows this song.”
Alastor tilted his head. “Hm, I suppose so. I died some time in the 30s. Angel Dust sometime in the 40s I believe. I suppose I’ve never thought of it that way. I’m not surprised he knows it then, it was quite popular. I never hosted a musical program but I heard it come from other studios in my recording building.”
Lucifer laughed, “You had a radio show? I guess that explains your voice. Why would anyone want to listen to you blabber?”
“I was incredibly charming, I’ll have you know. My mother raised a perfect gentleman. I just don’t have a reason to act that way anymore. Hell is very different from the human world, not like you would know that.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I don’t go up top like humans think I do, that’s all the other demons. I…I don’t know what having a mom is like, but I’m sure yours was lovely. She must’ve been tough to raise a cannibalistic serial killer.”
Alastor felt a strange twitch in his chest, one he didn’t recognize. He wasn’t really sure why he wasn’t angry at the moment. “Yes. Yes she was…I appreciate the compliment. I do still stick to some of her lessons even though I don’t have a strong reason not to.”
Lucifer gave him a kind smile. “Hey, nothing wrong with that. I think it’s nice. In a way I do that too. I know I act more like an angel than I should for having fallen. I’ve never been able to shake it. It makes me feel worse than most other Hellborn or sinners, rather than better…No one around here appreciates optimism much.” His smile faded by the time he had finished talking.
Alastor felt an indescribable shift. He felt…bad for him? He had never assumed the King of Hell would have a reason to be lonely. He made the Goetia, and guided all of Hell’s higher power structures. How could someone be lonely after creating all of their own company?
“That’s an odd confession for someone whose sin is supposed to be Pride, isn’t it?”
Lucifer paused for a moment. “Pride doesn’t automatically come with confidence.”
Charlie popped her head into the office, and pulled Lucifer out to join the surprise dance party.
Alastor continued to watch from the lobby window. Something had just changed. He had absolutely no idea what, but it happened. Did he really just open up? Why did he tell him about his mother? Why did Lucifer let his guard down like that? What was going on? Did Lucifer…mean it? Did he want to be friends?
The confusing string of questions stopped when Niffty launched herself onto Alastor’s leg, “Alastor! Dance party! Come on, you gotta!” Her manic grin distracted Alastor from his train of thought. “Why, how could I say no to you? Alright, let’s go.”
The following weeks were very strange. Lucifer was practically on cloud nine, he seemed in a wonderful mood. His plan was going great. Talking to Alastor was going wonderfully, though most of it was still small talk. Nothing else was deeper like their conversation in the office, but that was okay. Alastor seemed in a constant state of mild confusion. There was no one to argue with. He still traded the occasional insult with Lucifer but it was much more playful. Alastor had no clue why Lucifer seemed so much more relaxed, or why they were actually talking, or why the others seemed to exchange glances the entire time they did so. It was starting to frustrate him. Not knowing was deeply annoying.
Lucifer was taking a little too much joy in how confused Alastor was about this. He decided as fun as it was, he had to take this seriously. It was time to have the talk he had been avoiding. It was confession time. He had practiced on his replacement Alastor Ducky over and over again. Acted out all the scenarios he could think of. He still didn't have an answer for everything, but he couldn’t put this off any longer. He had a plan and no confidence in it, but he had to do something. If he was being honest with himself, he was starting to crave more from Alastor. A week ago was the first time his imagination about the demon had taken a much more…intimate turn. Hot shame and embarrassment was most of what he could feel when he thought about it, but since that didn’t stop him from thinking about it, he had to make progress.
Lucifer had Angel Dust help him get dressed, he had tried too hard to be formal again.
“Don’t treat it like a meetin’, this is different. I can’t say I think Alastor will swoon and agree right away, but I think you might have a chance. Just make sure if he walks away that you follow him. Never let a lover storm off without a chase.” Angel Dust’s four hands adjusted Lucifer’s clothes and hair a final time before giving him a thumbs up.
Lucifer took a deep, shaky breath. “Thanks, Angel Dust. I really appreciate you helping me with all this, and not telling everyone. You’re a great friend.”
Angel Dust returned the smile, genuinely happy to hear someone say that, and left Lucifer to hype himself up before making his move.
Alastor had been spending more time than he would probably admit in the hotel’s office, messing with the music system. He had bought a much larger selection of music for the sound system, even getting a few newer records that the others asked for. He complained about it, but he did it.
Lucifer knocked on the office door before going in, smiling first. “Hey, Al. Can I bother you for a minute?”
Alastor had gotten over the nickname coming from Lucifer, since so many people called him that, and nodded as he put a new record on, “Sure, what is it?”
“I had made a reservation at a restaurant for me and Charlie but she’s not feeling so good. I was wondering…if maybe you would want to go with me instead?” It was a long shot of a lie, but there was no way Alastor would agree to go anywhere with Lucifer otherwise.
“What restaurant?”
Lucifer felt a surge of hope, and a bit of pride at the place he chose. It took a lot of poking around to figure out exactly where to go, but he had finally decided after thinking he had enough clues to guess where Alastor was from.
“It’s a bit high end, but it’s the only cajun place in this ring.”
Alastor’s ears shot up, “Cajun? I didn’t know there was a cajun restaurant here. I’ll try it. “
Victory! “Yeah, it opened up only a year ago. They don’t advertise on the radio, or with posters, so I guess you've never heard of it. It’s on me, I called a car already. It’s out front.” Lucifer turned and walked toward the door before his face betrayed his joy. He gave Angel Dust and Husk a thumbs up at the bar before Alastor followed him to the car waiting out front. He almost ordered a limo, but Husk had pointed out how over the top it was, if the plan had really been to eat with Charlie in the first place.
There was only one seat’s worth of space between the two of them in the car, and it felt suddenly like the closest they had been. They’d stood next to each other before, but this was different. Lucifer fought to stay calm. Alastor hummed happily as he watched out the window during the drive. Lucifer spent almost the entire drive staring at Alastor, hoping he never noticed in the reflection of the window. Alastor made a few negative comments about VoxTech ads being everywhere as they went, and Lucifer did his best to agree without sounding distracted.
Lucifer hurried when they got there to open the door for Alastor, kicking himself for such an old fashioned gesture the moment he did it. Alastor stepped out and sniffed the air outside the restaurant like he didn’t care about the door. The air did smell oddly spicy out front, making Lucifer blink a few times. Alastor however, seemed very pleased.
“Oh I haven’t smelled that in ages. This place seems great. I’ve never seen Charlie eat Cajun food though, were you really going to bring her here?”
Lucifer had planned for this question, “Oh yes, she had mentioned wanting to try more authentic Living World food to try and relate to the sinners. She isn’t usually a fan of spicy food, but you know her. She’ll do anything for the cause.”
The answer seemed to make enough sense that he simply nodded and allowed Lucifer to lead them inside. A group of three nervous looking servers were waiting inside for them, the Morningstar name on the reservation spooking them. The servers took them to a table that was in the back, near the kitchen, and private from all the other tables. It was much more quiet here than the rest of the place. Alastor was mumbling a few words in French to the servers as they went.
“Al, I didn’t know you spoke French.”
“Why of course, it’s the second language of New Orleans. Everyone there speaks a bit of French. You couldn’t get any of the truly good food without it.”
Lucifer smiled. He loved hearing about facts about Alastor. “That’s impressive. I’m ashamed to say I don’t know all that much about the Living World. A side effect of not interacting with sinners much, I suppose. I’m trying to change that. Order whatever you want, by the way. I’d appreciate it if you ordered for both of us, I don’t know what’s good to try.”
Alastor seemed gleeful at controlling the meal, “I would be honored to! It’s been far too long since I’ve had any of this kind of food.”
Lucifer was hopeful his face didn’t betray anything as he watched Alastor talk to the servers, order, and talk excitedly about the cuisine and his home when he was alive. Alastor wasn’t quite sure what the glint in Lucifer’s eyes was, or why he was smiling so much, but he had to admit this was shaping up to be fun. He had no idea this restaurant was here, and it was nostalgic hearing French curse words coming from the kitchen nearby.
Small talk passed by for about an hour. Alastor laughed at Lucifer every time something was too spicy for him, meanwhile Alastor was adding extra hot sauce to most of his food. Lucifer’s mouth may be on fire from the food, but he was far more worried about how nervous he was. This was so easy. This was the first time it was truly just the two of them, and it was going so well. He didn’t want to ruin it, but he had to do what he came here for.
He waited, happy to bask in how easy their conversation was, for almost 2 hours. They had just finished dessert and Lucifer had paid. “Uh, Al, there’s a nice park nearby. Do you care to walk the food off a little?”
“I suppose not. I don’t usually eat that much at once, it’s a good idea.”
Lucifer and Alastor walked maybe 10 minutes from the restaurant and started slowly walking around a small pond in the center of the little park.
Lucifer cleared his throat and braced himself, “Al, there’s something I have to tell you. I…I lied about me being here with Charlie being the plan. I just didn’t know how to ask you to have dinner with me. I wanted to talk to you…about us.”
It was far too late to go back now. Alastor stopped walking and tilted his head a bit like he usually did when he was confused.
“Why lie? What do you mean by ‘us’?”
“I was nervous, I don’t know why it felt easier to lie. I don’t want to make a habit out of it, trust me.” Lucifer took a deep breath. “By us, I mean…that right now we’re friends. I want more than that. I care about you, Al, I really do. I don’t understand when it happened but…I love hearing you talk about stuff you care about. You’re so confident, you’re smart, you’re powerful. I want more.” It felt impossible to look Alastor in the eyes while saying it, so he didn’t. He forced himself to meet Alastor’s eyes when there had been a moment of silence. Deep confusion was carved onto Alastor’s face, like he truly had no idea what they were talking about.
“I’ll take the compliments surely, but what do you mean by ‘more’? I feel like I’m missing something here. Friends seem a bit strong a word perhaps for someone who just lied to get me to dinner.”
Lucifer knew he would probably respond with insults at first, it was his default. He moved quickly, before Alastor could stop him, by grabbing the taller man’s tie. Lucifer pulled Alastor down into a kiss. Alastor didn’t kiss him back, but that didn’t matter. If he didn’t understand words, he would have to use actions. It took a few shocked heartbeats for Alastor to push him away, his face turning angry.
“What the fuck was that for? You can’t be serious! Leave me alone and keep your perverse ideas to yourself! I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not your friend or whatever it is you want from me! You mean nothing! You’re just competition in my way of getting me what I need to get out of my deal! What the hell is wrong with you, trying to kiss someone while wearing that ring anyway?!” Alastor turned on his heel and stormed away from where they had come from.
Lucifer felt tears well up in his eyes, and tried to rub them away. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. He’s just confused. I surprised him, that’s all. We’re friends, he just doesn’t want to admit it. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.” He took a few deep breaths, and looked down at his old wedding ring. Alastor had a point about that, he was horrified to realize. He wore it so often he didn’t even think about taking it off. “Do what Angel Dust said. Follow him. Give him space but don’t give up.” Lucifer turned and started going the same way Alastor did, mind swirling. He had mentioned a deal. Was that stopping him? He didn’t know anyone as powerful as Alastor would have a deal. He would just have to find him and find out.
Alastor marched off into the city, fuming. Anyone who didn’t get out of his way was thrown violently out of the way by shadow tendrils without a second thought. Something was wrong with him. Some feelings he didn’t understand. A kiss? Why? He had never exactly been kissed before. In theory, he knew what it meant but he couldn’t understand why it had just happened. Sure they had been getting along, sure they had a nice time. Was that it? No. No it couldn’t be. Every time he tried to rationalize how little sense it made, the feeling he didn’t understand came back and it was like he could feel Lucifer’s lips again. Anger followed.
He walked for over half an hour, ending up on a bridge over a river somewhere. He looked out over the water, trying to clear his head. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t something he ever wanted to happen. He hated it when people touched him. He was supposed to hate it. He hated Lucifer. He was supposed to, anyway. Why couldn’t he summon the hate he felt for Lucifer? How long had it not really been here? How many times had he gone out of his way to bother Lucifer? His train of thought was interrupted when he saw something moving in the water. It was all white, quacking happily as it floated with a brown colored companion. Ducks. They were ducks. Alastor felt something break in himself, the feeling he didn’t understand flooding him.
“Fuck.”
He put his head down on the railing of the bridge.
“Fuck.”
He rubbed his fingers over his lips.
“I am so fucked.”
Alastor looked up when he heard the click of a phone camera. Lucifer stood at the end of the bridge, his phone pointed at the ducks in the river. His smile looking at them was so gentle. He looked up from his phone screen at Alastor and put it back in his pocket.
“Al, I…I didn’t want to leave you alone out here. I’m sorry I messed everything up, I knew I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. I know how angry it makes you, I just, I wanted you to understand and I didn’t have the words…”
Alastor slowly walked towards Lucifer while he spoke, watching as tears started forming in his eyes. Lucifer gasped a little and stopped talking as he felt Alastor’s warm fingers on his cheeks, wiping away the tears threatening to fall. Lucifer put his hands over Alastor’s as he looked up into his eyes. He’d never seen them so…gentle?
“I apologize for running off, that was rude. I know better, I just…You surprised me is all. I’m surprised at myself. I don’t know what to call the feeling, but whatever it is I think I feel it. It’s…new, for me. I’m sorry for insulting your ring, I know it’s important.” Alastor’s tone was so soft, it almost didn’t sound like him.
Lucifer smiled and leaned into Alastor’s hands. He pulled away after a moment, taking his wedding ring to Lilith off and putting it in his pocket. “You’re right. It is important, but so are you now. I should’ve thought about it. I’ll do my best to go slow and be clear about what I want. I promise. We’ll figure this out…if you want to try dating a fallen angel, that is?”
Alastor’s smile seemed to take a more genuine shape, and he locked arms with Lucifer like a gentleman should with his date. “Only on the condition we don’t tell the entire Hotel yet. I don’t want to listen to Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb’s gossip over this.”
Lucifer leaned his head on Alastor’s arm as they started walking back, “Might be a little late for that, Angel Dust helped me pick my outfit.”
Alastor groaned a bit, “Oh, of course he did. Fine then. Don’t push your luck with me though, Luci.”
Lucifer giggled at the nickname, it made him feel fuzzy inside. “I feel plenty lucky already.”
The entire Hazbin Hotel group was crowded around the bar, talking excitedly and giggling as they came back home. Alastor decided there was no point in acting like nothing had happened. He sighed a bit, leaned down, and kissed Lucifer on the cheek in front of everyone. “Goodnight, Luci.” Alastor gave a short bow and walked back to his room, leaving Lucifer to turn red in the lobby by himself as the group ran over to ask way too many questions.