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Lucifer woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He had no dreams, no nightmares, just felt like he was falling, and that was the scariest thing he had ever experienced. It usually pierced him only for a second, and then let go, allowing him to go back to sleep. He fell once, he is in Hell, there is nowhere to fall lower anymore.
Two large white wings cut the air above him and Alastor several times with a soft whooshing sound. They won’t let him fall. But it still didn’t make him feel better.
Hot tears welled up in his eyes as his body started to shiver. He was terrified . For some reason, today the falling feeling did not let go as easily as before. And the realization hit him: it was the first time he had it after getting together with Alastor. Lucifer faced the fact that love hadn't cured him. He was still ill. And he will continue to be ill no matter what. And Alastor was going to see him sick and disgusting and pathetic, like he was before…
Fuck.
Alastor, who was a small spoon at this time, opened one eye slightly, feeling his fussing. He had no idea about what was going on.
"What is it, mon cher?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
A swirl of viscous, terrible thoughts rose up in Lucifer's head like silt in the water. Feeling of futility, resentment, fear… And Alastor mustn’t know about all that. Their life should be normal . And in a normal life there’s no place for such an unstable person as him . He was told that many times. He knows it.
Lucifer didn't want to drag Alastor into all this, he didn't belong in this dirty past and messy present. Lucifer hoped that he could leave it all behind for Al, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t a white sheet of paper, and he couldn’t change that.
The Devil can’t run from his own demons, how ironic!
Alastor didn't understand what was happening right in front of him. And he will never understand. The only one who did was Lilith, but she left. She was tired of babysitting the King of Hell. Alastor will get tired too eventually. It always happens this way: they promise that everything will be different, that you mustn’t be afraid to be yourself with them, and then they hurry you up to get better and no longer be sick, like if you try hard enough, you can squeeze ages of trauma out of your head.
The thought of Alastor leaving sooner or later was gut-wrenching.
All this was flashing in his head at the speed of light like movie frames and Lucifer was powerless to stop it. He was drowning and he couldn't swim to the surface to breathe.
Lucifer was falling apart right in front of Alastor, who had never seen him crying like that and didn’t even recognize at first that he needed help. And also, when was the last time the demon saw tears that wouldn't make him laugh? He was used to victims crying, asking for mercy. It's not like he is very good at recognizing emotions...
But Lucifer was his beloved partner, turning to face him and nuzzling against his chest in search of some kind of protection from him , from the overlord part of him . His white wings were trembling, and Alastor didn't even notice that they were there at first. Sleep still wouldn't let him go, making his thoughts slow.
"Huh, Lu?" He called out again, as if Lucifer just hadn't heard him. Claws ran over his spine and scratched under the shoulder blades, where the wings grew out, but Lucifer remained a shivering, exposed mess. At that moment, suspicions finally began to creep into Alastor's head.
Radiotower was the only place in Hell where Alastor and Lucifer felt completely safe and relaxed. They protected it with several powerful spells. Alastor needed time to get back on track. He wasn't used to dangerous situations in his own fucking bed.
"He's scared!"
The thought finally flashed through his head like an electric shock. Alastor quickly propped himself up on one elbow, looking at the trembling fragile figure of his lover in the darkness. Everything inside now screamed to protect this little angel of his.
"Mon cher, what’s wrong?.." Alastor gathered the blanket behind Lucifer and tucked it under the crying man's back. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I won't cry anymore…" Lucifer grabbed Alastor’s hand, pressing it to his hot, wet cheek, kissing it, like he was desperate to show Al how much he needed him. "Just don't leave me, please don't go…"
"Lilith brainwashed him pretty well…" Alastor thought for some reason, although he had no evidence that the (former) queen of Hell was to blame for this behavior. The only thing he could do was stroke Lucifer's hair, soothing him as he tried to catch his breath.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said calmly. Why would he leave just because Lucifer had a nightmare?..
"That's what everyone tells before leaving…" Lucifer said with the last drop of his strength before falling into an uneasy sleep. His body went completely limp, and his breathing became even just a minute later. His wet cheeks were touching Alastor's chest, and his shirt soaked with tears.
Well, that was something new.
But if Lucifer was asleep, then Alastor’s mission here was complete, and he could fall asleep too. No matter how surprised or concerned he was, he still really wanted and needed to sleep. Alastor always woke up at five or six in the morning and got to work almost immediately, unlike Lucifer, who liked to sleep until noon.
The talk could wait until morning.
He woke up expecting to see his lover wrapped in a blanket, fast asleep. But, to his surprise, he found Lucifer in the bathroom, stubbornly covering up the dark circles under his eyes with a white concealer.
"What's going on?" Alastor asked without any preliminaries.
"Oh, good morning, darling!" Lucifer turned to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I’ve decided to get up early today!"
"Insomnia again? What happened at night?" Alastor winced, clearly unimpressed by Lucifer’s pretense.
"At night? Have no idea, I don't remember." Lucifer continued to play dumb. Or, maybe, he was trying to ‘fake it till he made it’ a bit too hard. "Hey! I have a lot of things to do in Lu-Lu-World today, so I'll be late!"
He was a very bad actor and even a worse straight up liar. He looked as if some inner spark had disappeared. His usually joyful eyes were completely empty and lifeless. He was not himself , although he tried hard to imitate. Alastor couldn't say exactly what was wrong, but something was . And that scared him, because he didn’t even understand what he needed to return. What was he supposed to do?..
Lucifer tried hard, but failed miserably. All this looked extremely unnatural, and every day the amount of foundation under Lucifer’s eyes changed — he slept less and less every night, even though Alastor tried to soothe him, hold him tighter, pull him closer and wrap him in a blanket. Nothing helped. A week later Lucifer stopped eating.
"Are you sure you don’t need breakfast?" Alastor asked skeptically. It was Friday, all the staff gathered in the kitchen, and Alastor was making pancakes... Lucifer loved pancakes, it couldn't be that he just decided to skip "pancake Friday."
"Ab-so-lute-ly!" Lucifer said unnaturally happily. And immediately got out of sight.
Alastor was losing patience fast. He narrowed his eyes, still making pancakes, while a slight anger was boiling inside him. If it hadn't been for Charlie's happy face, he would have dropped breakfast and flown after Luci this instant, but the princess of Hell should have at least one semi-decent father. Even if Alastor didn't sign up to be one.
Lucifer continued to act weird. He became more and more tired and nervous, with brief outbursts of anger here and there. But it wasn't considered that serious, as long as they only happened in front of Alastor. But at some point it all got out of control entirely. Lucifer yelled at Angel for "laughing too loudly". He was immediately slapped in the face by Husk, but, thank God, only figuratively, otherwise the day would have ended in bloodshed.
Then, another day, Alastor got publicly scolded for leaving a bloody hoof print after one of his "hunting trips". It was a fair comment, but making a scene in the middle of the hall in front of everyone was definitely not necessary. Alastor clenched his jaw, but endured the humiliation to privately express his displeasure to Lucifer afterwards. Luci apologized, but not very sincerely.
He was annoyed to the limit all the time. And made it everyone’s problem.
One evening, the situation reached its climax. Alastor was cooking dinner, Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table nearby, scribbling something in her journal about the upcoming therapy for sinners. Lucifer, who came into the kitchen, groaned that Al did not turn on the vent again, and the smell of food was too strong, to which Alastor calmly replied: "Just ask me in a normal way," and turned on the vent.
"Maybe you should have figured that out yourself," Lucifer said bitterly.
"If you don't like something in my kitchen, you can get out of here right now," Alastor hissed, already sick of putting up with his lover's behavior. No matter how many times he asked Lucifer if he needed help, he replied that he definitely did not, and then snapped again, just like now. "Why are you so annoyed anyway?"
"Because co-existence with you does not imply relaxation." This phrase alone left Alastor outraged, but then Lucifer did something completely unnecessary.
He deliberately let go of the cup that was in his hand. Alastor felt like he was watching everything in slow motion, goosebumps on his back out of pure sickening fear and rage at the same time. The cup landed on the tile and shattered with a loud sharp clink, and Lucifer just left without a single word as if nothing had happened, shards still on the floor. Charlie flinched, startled by the loud sound, and looked at what used to be a beautiful cup with a flower pattern. She didn't even try to get involved in the quarrel, knowing how messy it might become, but this was another level…
Alastor's blood boiled in a second. The shards of the unlucky mug came together at the behest of Charlie, who watched her father go away with sad puppy eyes. This finished Alastor off. Maybe half a year ago he would have just laughed at their poor father-daughter relationship, but now that he and Lucifer were, um… kind of in love and dating , Charlie became something more than just a colleague for him. He started feeling the same things as Lucifer, and he wanted to stand up for Charlie with no less zeal. Even if it was against her own father.
Alastor put his hand on Charlie's shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. She tensed. Al, knowing that he was hardly capable of looking harmless, tried his best to soften both his voice and his smile.
"Don't take it personally, my dear. Sometimes your dad's a real pain in… in some parts of the body."
Charlie, hearing this, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, but didn’t even try to smile, and Alastor felt something drop in his stomach. Now he was mad .
"I'll talk to him." He promised firmly.
Alastor took the pan off the stove, leaving it on the table to cool down a little. With a soft woosh, he disappeared into the shadows and teleported into the radio tower. It was dark. The curtains were drawn. Lucifer hid under the covers on the bed, only some gold curls visible.
"Just so you know, Charlie is crying," was the first thing Alastor said. Right away and as painful as possible. "Did you have fun, your Highness? Satisfied with your little performance?"
There was only silence in response. Alastor didn’t like this particular type of toxic talks, but Lucifer fucked up badly, and he should know about it.
"Have you ran out of words? Want to throw something at me, or what?"
Lucifer didn't move at all. Alastor rolled his eyes.
"Did you die there?"
He walked around the bed, tapping the heels of his boots, but all his fervor disappeared as soon as he saw what condition Lucifer was in.
He was crying, of course he was crying. His lower lip was trembling, and tears were running down his cheeks. He stubbornly tried to hold back the pitiful hiccups and just choked on each one.
Lucifer raised his hazy eyes and whispered in a shaky voice: "I-I didn't mean to…"
Alastor dropped all his masochistic tendencies and kneeled in front of the bed, face to face with Lucifer. Yes, he was an asshole, and he probably deserved some kind of punishment, but it could be given later. It wasn't fair to hit a man who couldn't fight back. It’s like kicking a meowing kitten who hissed and scratched someone.
Alastor took Lucifer’s tear-stained face in his hands, stroking his wet cheeks. Now the hot tears were flowing onto his fingers.
"I know, you idiot. I know."
Lucifer covered one of Alastor’s hands with his own and nuzzled into it, receiving the care he actually craved so much. He was visibly shaking and couldn't hold back anymore, sobbing out loud. He closed his eyes not to see Alastor's face, his expression showing only understanding (and just a little bit of judgment) because he simply didn't deserve it.
Alastor didn't go away or say anything, leaving the bickering for later.
He kicked off his shoes and put off his coat, unbuttoned his shirt, took off the bow tie, and crawled into bed with Lucifer under the covers. His tentacles closed the remaining curtains, creating a comfortable darkness. Lucifer lay down by Alastor's side, holding his hand and still shivering. He felt cold.
The thought Lucifer couldn't quite handle was that he had upset Charlie. Scared her, most likely. He acted disgustingly in front of everyone, gave an impermissible slack. He threw a tantrum like a child.
What the hell was wrong with him?..
Alastor held him close, forcing to put his ear to his chest and listen to the calm beating of the heart.
"Hush now," Alastor patted Lucifer on the back. "You can’t change things that already happened. Accept the inevitable indifferently, my dear."
"I can't believe we had a fight right in front of Charlie," he confessed in tears once again. "I'm a terrible father."
Alastor rolled his eyes. Lucifer thought about how bad he was as a father too much sometimes. He made bad mistakes, sure, even very bad ones, but he always recognized them, reflected and returned with apologies. And then never repeated those mistakes again.
"You're the average idiot father. Mine was definitely worse."
"What do you mean?.." Lucifer sobbed, but shifted to look Alastor in the face.
"At least you are in your kid’s life. I made my dad leave when I was seven."
"Oh."
Alastor was warm, even hot, and there was laughter inside his lungs, no judgment at all. His scarred furry chest, which felt so good to press the cheek against, felt like a steel shield that could protect from all adversity.
Lucifer finally let himself relax. Something strange was going on inside of him after that. He didn't quite understand what it was at first, because it just made him feel a lot lighter, but when it dawned on him, he laughed. Alastor looked at him with a silent question in the air: "You sure you’re not going insane there?"
"I'm sorry. Would it be weird if we had sex right now?" Lucifer asked quietly, still laughing. "I think I just want to relieve the tension... I'm sorry if I'm saying this out of place."
"I see you approach some of your needs without any foreplay. But I think we can do that."
He didn't hesitate, immediately joining their lips in a gentle kiss.
Alastor slipped his arm under Lucifer's back and lifted him up, placing him on his lap, stealing another kiss. In this position, Luci could only hug the demon and if his hands were not shaking, jerk himself off to the rhythm of the thrusts. He wrapped his arms around Alastor's neck, moaning, feeling amazingly full. Alastor remained almost completely silent, pausing only for heavy breathing. But soon Lucifer heard a warning growling.
"You're so lovely…" Alastor whispered, nibbling on Lucifer’s ear.
The golden blood rushed to his cheeks from the praise as he smiled softly.
"I've missed you being like this," Alastor licked his cheek carefully, wiped away the sweat from his temple, and finished with a kiss on the forehead. When Al was talking so confidently, Lucifer felt weak in a perfect way. And, considering he was already touch- and praise-starved, it was easy to make him flustered.
Alastor grabbed Lucifer more comfortably under his knees, lifted him up, and then abruptly lowered him onto his cock again. Magne gasped loudly, leaving four lines of scratches on Al’s back.
The cock filled him perfectly. Alastor repeated the same movement a few more times, frankly enjoying the reaction, and then changed his approach to a more gentle one. He released one leg, allowing Lucifer to kneel, freeing his hand to caress his clit with two fingers. Everything was wet with slick, and every move was followed with a loud squelching. Lucifer was almost screaming from the stimulation, bringing him closer and closer to his climax.
Alastor kissed him behind the ear, purring something in creole French, and Lucifer breathed out, putting his head on his shoulder. It was just perfect. The height difference helped a lot when he was at the demon's mercy.
They slowed down the pace to catch their breath a bit.
For some reason, feelings began to boil up inside Lucifer. Such deep, unbearable pleasure, love rising in waves felt like a lump in his throat, when a quick thought pierced his mind: he didn't deserve to be treated so nice…
He woke up from his thoughts only when several tears rolled down his cheeks, and hysteria seized his body again. Alastor noticed it almost immediately.
"Does it hurt? Should I pull out?" Alastor immediately changed his position, laying Lucifer on his back, looking down on him. His voice was full of concern.
"No, no, no, it's just…" he tried to replay the moment in his head when everything went wrong, but he couldn't figure out what had happened. "You're so gentle… I don’t think I can handle it. I don’t deserve..."
His eyes were filled with tears as he bit his lip and looked the other way in embarrassment.
"Oh, shut up," Alastor said angrily, obviously unhappy with the self-deprecation Lucifer was engaged in right while they were making love. " I will decide what you deserve to get from me."
"Sorry…"
He continued to sob. Not just moan or whine in a sexy way. He was crying genuinely, and Alastor didn't know what to do about it exactly.
"Are you sure you don’t want a break?" He clarified again, just in case, before starting to act a little rougher.
"No," He covered his face, trying to wipe away the salty moisture, angry at himself. "Just keep going, please, you're doing everything right…"
"I will, just promise you are not doing that just to please me. I will not enjoy it in that case."
"Al, please, I really need to come…"
He felt like that, he wanted to reach it. His tension was flowing away with every tear and move, and that physical feeling combination was pushing him out of his messed up head, silencing the thoughts.
Alastor just nodded. Slowly swinging his hips again, he got an unexpectedly loud moan and a few desperate sobs. Lucifer, being extremely sensitive and tense, was choking on tears as Alastor began to pick up speed, ruthlessly pushing him to the edge. Lucifer held himself under the knees until Alastor pushed his legs up almost to his shoulders.
It seems that Alastor finally caught on to what was happening and was determined to bring Lucifer to an end, to let him spill out what he had on the inside and not think about anything else. Lucifer could hate himself as much as he wanted (and sometimes rightfully so), but simple hatred would lead to nothing.
Alastor had to show him that he wouldn't leave even in the scariest and weirdest situations, just because angel’s past was still affecting him now. And if Al could remind him that he was loved in this way, well... so be it.
Lucifer pulled him closer, grabbing his ears. Normally, Alastor would have bitten off his hands at the elbows for such a thing, but now he didn't dare. On the contrary, he allowed him to move his head. Lucifer pulled him up to speak directly into the furry ear.
"Say something…"
"What do you want to hear?"
"Something nice…" After that, Lucifer just hugged his neck, moaning with every thrust. His insides were clenching, and Alastor could feel him pulsating around his cock.
What did this "nice" even mean? Alastor wasn’t good at speaking when he wasn’t given exact instructions or didn’t feel turned on to the certain point. For him, actions were always more valuable than words and he didn’t like loud statements, unlike Lucifer. But if that was what he needed right now, Alastor was willing to grant his request.
"You're doing so well," he whispered, peppering Lucifer's cheeks with kisses. That's what Luci himself had told him a lot. He relaxed his shoulders, sighing without a whimper. "You're so good. You take me so well. So beautiful for me. Relax, I'll take care of you."
Lucifer covered his face with his hands, starting to cry again. Apparently, he was telling himself again that he didn't deserve all this, and Al wasn't ready to let him belittle himself right now.
"No way!"
Alastor grabbed his hands and forcibly pulled them away from his tear-stained face. Lucifer wept and turned away, ashamed.
"Look at me," Alastor said. Not rude, not loud, but confident. Lucifer shook his head, refusing at first. "Come on!"
Lucifer sobbed and opened one eye slightly, looking somewhere away, not at Alastor. He gave several hard thrusts, and Luci responded with sobs.
"Don’t you dare hide from me! Don’t even think about it!"
Alastor kissed him, biting his lower lip. Each movement brought endless pleasure not only to Lucifer, but also to him, and he slowly lost his composure, approaching climax. Lucifer gasped, relaxing at the thought that he was not only getting love, but also making Alastor feel good. He finally let go of his hands, and Luci put them on his neck, locking them together.
They found a delicate balance with each other, absolute comfort, maximum pleasure, moral and physical.
"It's okay, you can cry," Al whispered, moving faster. "I'm here. I'm not leaving."
Lucifer screamed at a particularly strong thrust and coughed because his throat was sore. Alastor lifted him off the bed, gently holding his hips, and Instantly dropped him down on his cock, just like before. Lucifer lowered one hand between his legs, caressing his clit with fingers.
"I’m gonna…"
"Come on."
"Al!.."
"I’m here, I’ll catch you."
Lucifer arched, his hand slipped off his neck, but he did not fall on his back, although lost his balance. Alastor's hands were steady.
Lucifer sobbed one last time and came, hugging Alastor tightly inside, gasping. His blood literally glowed, a soft yellow light surrounding his body so brightly that Alastor had to close his eyes. Lucifer became almost painfully tight and hot, bringing Alastor to end. He froze inside, filling his insides, making Lucifer howl from too much stimulation, becoming hyper-sensitive to every little touch. Wings growing behind his back, which he tried to wrap around himself, creating a cocoon, but Alastor pressed so close to him that the wings wrapped the two of them at once.
They fell on their side, still wrapped in white wings. For a while, colored circles danced in front of their eyes, as if a supernova had exploded in the room. Alastor only woke up when he started hearing again...
"What happened?" he asked, opening his eyes. Lucifer lifted three wings, releasing him from his embrace
"It's... it's fine…" he sobbed in spite of himself. Alastor stroked his back reassuringly.
"I don't think so," he admitted. He brushed away a blond strand stuck to Lucifer’s forehead and wiped away a tear as big as a pearl. "You're crying."
"I know," Luci nodded, and he hurried to wipe his face with the edge of the blanket, angry with himself. "But honestly, it's not about sex, and it's not about you. It really was amazing."
"Judging by how you turned into a spotlight at the end... want some juice?" Alastor suggested.
"Yes, please."
This sex and release felt perfect. Lucifer's remaining tears were just flowing by momentum, but he finally felt relaxed. It was as if Alastor had drained all the bad things out of him, all the irritation, the tension that had accumulated due to self-loathing and the fatigue he was trying to drive himself into so that he wouldn't have the room left for bad thoughts.
The tentacles handed Alastor a small juice box. He inserted the straw and offered it to Lucifer, but noticing the tremor that was now overpowering his hands, just directed the straw to his lips. The juice soothed him in an amazing way, like a magic potion.
"There are pills in the drawer," Lucifer whispered, letting the straw out of his mouth. "I can take them to make it feel better."
"Pills? I've never seen you take pills."
"I take them situationally…"
Alastor searched the bedside table with one of the tentacles and found a small orange bottle among condoms, lube, juice and sex toys. "Sedative," Alastor squinted, because it was clearly not written in Lucifer's name. He read the components and remembered everything his pharmacist father had told him when he was seven years old before he disappeared. In his time, people were put into a vegetable state with such drugs.
Why the fuck does Lucifer even have those?
"Where did you get them?"
"I stole from Angel, he has a lot of them," Lucifer confessed. The golden blood couldn't rush to his face any more than it already had, but Alastor understood that Magne felt ashamed as hell.
"Well, you’ll never put anything like this into your mouth from that moment on."
The pill bottle burned up in a green flame. Lucifer released a little protesting sound, but as he felt that Alastor held him tighter, he dropped the arguing.
"You won't find peace in random pills. There are no magic drugs for all troubles."
Lucifer sniffled and hid his face in the folds of the blanket, running away from the attentive gaze of the red eyes. Al was right.
Alastor softened and circled his goat-like ear with his finger, scratching behind it. Luci reached for the warm hand and took a deep breath. What's the point of denying it now? Alastor had already seen everything, he knew about Lucifer’s state. Or at least he guessed it. Alastor is damn smart when it comes to psychology in his own way.
"I understand, but I need at least an illusion of peace."
"If you need to calm down, you should ask for what you need, and not silently accumulate fatigue and anxiety. Do you feel like you can't handle things? Okay, I'll be right there to help you. I'll find you a healer if you need one. You feel like you need care? Warm? I'm right here, darling, and I'm a warm-blooded animal, I'll keep you safe. My soul is in your hands, I am at your service from now until the very end of eternity."
Poetically, sometimes the personality of Alastor that was responsible for broadcasting on the radio, captured him in everyday life.
Lucifer curled up in his arms, getting more and more comfortable. The emotional turmoil was already making him sleepy, and when Alastor said such reasonable soothing things, he was completely smeared.
"Charlie loves you," Alastor reminded him. Lucifer flinched at the mention of his daughter. "She's already lost Lilith. Think about whether she needs an idiot father on some random drugs."
"Thank you for being patient, my dear. I'm sorry that I behaved like that."
"You're welcome mon amour, but you really should get help."
"First thing tomorrow morning."
"Good."
They dozed off, but Lucifer soon woke up, feeling hungry for the first time in a week. After looking at his tear-stained, swollen face in the mirror, he asked Alastor to come out to the kitchen instead. But when he was on his way back…
"What's wrong with Dad?" Charlie caught him on the stairs right before he tried to open the door to the radio tower. It's useless to deny that Lucifer was there now — Alastor literally had his favorite cereal on the tray. And the princess, who had apparently decided that Al and Lucifer had made some kind of cruel deal, because of which he was suffering and had to stay close to the demon, now looked angrier than Cerberus, ready to tear the demon to shreds.
Morningstars are terrifying in their protectiveness over each other.
"He…" Alastor sighed, not knowing what would be the most correct thing to say, but settled on the most neutral one. "He doesn’t feel well"
"He doesn't want you to see him like that. Thanks to your mum, he now plans our relationship ten steps ahead towards a potential breakup. He's worried that it's too late to build a bond with you. He needs peace and care. And, also about your mom: I don't know what she did, but she fucked your daddy up a lot..."
"If you did something to him, I swear…"
"Your father needs time to get better, Charlie. It's not because of me."
"Recover from what? What did you do?" The horns on her head were growing by the second.
The Princess of Hell threatened to kill him right on the threshold of his own room. Before Alastor could figure out how to carefully retreat to safety, hurried footsteps could be heard in the room. Lucifer opened the door, wearing an old stretched T-shirt and long pants that didn't fit him. His eyes, irritated from crying, looked up at his daughter, and without any words, he squeezed under Alastor's arm, unconsciously hugging him around the waist, as if Al was the only thing that was able to keep him on his feet.
"Char-Char, honey, I'll explain everything later," he promised, wheezing. Alastor put one hand on his back, stroking him in soothing circles. The tray with food was intercepted by his shadow. "I'm sick, but I'll be fine, I'll get better. Alastor is helping me. It's not his fault."
Charlie looked at Alastor as if she had never seen him before, and under her gaze, for some reason, he felt uncomfortable, as if he had been caught doing something indecent. His smile, sewn onto his face, betrayed nothing of his intentions, as usual, but his hands, carefully supporting Luci, moisture gradually gathering in the corners of his eyes, were clear proof that her father was not lying. Except that he didn't tell the delicate details of what Alastor's help was.
Charlie, instantly removing all demonic features, opened her arms, inviting Lucifer for a hug. Lucifer detached himself from Alastor and happily drowned in her arms, hugging her as tightly as he hadn't hugged her in a long time, and his soul was absolutely calm. He felt drowsy.
"I’m so, so sorry for what I’ve done," he said quietly, hugging Charlie a little tighter. "That was very stupid and rude. I’m sorry for scaring you. It won’t happen again."
"It’s okay. I understand." Charlie nuzzled into his hair, feeling her father’s goat ears flick near her cheek. Her own twitched in happiness.
"Good night," he whispered, barely pulling away from Charlie.
"Good night, dad," Charlie said, smiling softly.
"Let me help you," Alastor said, and the informal "you" didn't go unnoticed, as did the fact that Lucifer was sleeping in Alastor's room. Al cursed under his breath, realizing that he was on the verge of revealing his connection with Lucifer.
Not even like that: he had already revealed everything, it only remained to state everything directly. But that's later.
Charlie had the grace not to ask unnecessary questions right now. Well, it wasn't for long, as Alastor suspected.
"I need a proper vacation," Lucifer said as soon as the door closed behind them.