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Delivery people probably fought over who got to deliver to the Espinoza-Decker-Morningstar house when Lucifer ordered takeout. Trixie thought, watching her mom’s boyfriend hand the pizza guy a few hundred dollars for a tip. He’d moaned and complained about her “abhorrent” taste in pizza (“Plain cheese? And it's not even good cheese? Beatrice, have I taught you nothing?”) but in the end he’d ordered her a large plain cheese pizza.
Trixie happily loaded up her plate with cheesy deliciousness. One benefit to Lucifer’s usual lack of understanding when it came to what kids were like - there would be plenty of leftovers. Too bad her mom had figured out early on to give Lucifer very strict guidelines on buying chocolate cake for her.
“Urchin, are don’t you need...vegetables or something?” He asked, looking like the words tasted bad.
Trixie almost laughed at him. “There are no vegetables on pizza night! Well, unless they’re on the pizza.” She amended. “Now come on, I already picked a movie out for us! It’s a classic. From back before I was born.”
“ Casablanca ? Or maybe Bringing Up Baby ? You know Cary Grant and I -”
“No, silly!” Trixie cut him off before he started telling her another one of his stories that her mom almost always considered inappropriate. One of her closest friends was a demon. Blood and guts didn’t gross her out. But still, she very much did not want to hear gross makeout stories about her kind-of almost stepdad. “I picked it out specially for you!”
“And what movie have you selected?”
“It’s a surprise!” Trixie chirped.
Lucifer looked worried. Trixie knew she should just tell him what the movie was, but she was having too much fun. Her mom referred to it as “getting Lucifer’s goat,” although she never used the phrase around him. Trixie wasn’t clear on Lucifer’s dislike of goats, but figured it was another one of those stories it was probably better for her not to know.
Lucifer had ordered himself a spicy tomato sauce, mushroom, black olive, and pepperoni pizza and was now considering it carefully, yet to put a slice on his plate.
“Hello, what are you waiting for?” Trixie made a ‘hurry up’ gesture at him. “Movie night. With Trixie.”
Lucifer smiled slowly at her, a mischievous grin that made her think that maybe he was messing with her too.
Trixie shot him an offended look. “You are not getting into the spirit of Movie Night.” She accused.
“Pray tell, what exactly is the spirit of movie night?” He retorted.
Trixie sighed heavily, realizing she didn’t really know how to phrase the spirit of Movie Night. “It’s…” She tried. “Like…”
“Urchin, are you having some kind of medical event?” He asked, actual concern on his face.
Trixie gave up. “I want a favor.” She said.
Lucifer eyed her warily. She had a feeling her mom had warned him about offering her favors but not the other way around. Probably an oversight, but one that she could use. “What do you want?”
“I want you to give movie night an honest, enthusiastic chance. As is with no complaints .” She added that last bit with a stern tone.
Lucifer looked down at her, clearly torn. They both knew her mom probably wouldn’t really be mad if she found out, but didn’t want to encourage favors between the two of them, especially not without her knowledge ahead of time. He straightened his suit jacket as he made his decision. “Right, well you are very young and you have such a limited...credit history, as it were. So I’m afraid I can’t extend an IOU. I’ll need a favor in exchange.”
Trixie eyed him. She resisted pointing out her connections through Maze, sensing that would go very badly these days. “And how long will this go on?”
“Well, you humans are legally adults at eighteen, so we’ll say that this policy is in effect until you are an adult.” He looked proud of this reasoning.
Trixie narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She’d learned to listen very carefully to what Lucifer said, because he always told the truth but not the whole truth, as her mom called it. “So on March 1st, 2026 at 3:17 am, you’ll start accepting IOU’s from me?”
“What happens at 3:17 am on that date?”
“That’s my eighteenth birthday exactly. I was born at 3:17 in the morning.”
He shuddered. “3:17 am is a time for revelry, urchin, not...childbirth.”
“I don’t think you get to pick.” Trixie laughed.
“Well…” He cast around for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “You have to start small. It’s like a credit card, you see. Most humans don’t have enough life experience to have credit until they’re at least in their twenties.”
Trixie was almost certain that he was making up these rules as he went, but she humored him anyway, because he was doing it for her mom. “Okay, fine.” She shrugged. “What kind of favor do you want from me?”
Lucifer frowned and glanced down at his pizza. He looked back up at her and and he hesitated.
On impulse, Trixie decided to add to Lucifer’s already made-up rules. “Wait a minute, if you get to say I have to give you a favor back right away, then it’s really more of a deal, so shouldn’t we both have to agree to it before anything can happen?”
He thought that over for a moment and then nodded carefully. “Yes, I...I think that is a good idea.”
“Okay, so ask your return favor and then I can say yes or no.” Trixie reasoned.
“Very well. In return, I must ask you to explain why you are so determined to have this substandard pizza instead of a hand-tossed gourmet pizza made with the finest ingredients?”
No way would her mom object to her answering that question. “I think that’s a fair exchange of favors.” She glanced at him. “Now what?”
Lucifer stared at her, clearly making this up as he went. “Um, we should shake on it. That’s a thing you humans do to seal bargains, yes? You know shake, right?” He tilted his head and Trixie couldn’t help but giggle. “Do you know shake?” She asked, genuinely curious if he knew that there was a difference between the human version of shake and the dog version of shake.
Lucifer looked offended. “I most certainly do. Alright, urchin. We’ll shake on it.”
Trixie agreed and stuck out her hand. Lucifer very carefully slid his palm against hers, staring in a weird wide-eyed look as he grasped her hand. She gave a firm handshake, the way she’d seen her dad do and then released his hand. Lucifer glanced down at his hand and flexed it, almost as if it hurt. She shrugged it off. It was probably some angel thing. Or maybe a devil thing. Whatever. It was a Lucifer thing.
“I’ll go first.” She said, giving him time to recover. “The thing about this pizza is that I like it more because it’s comforting.” She said. “Fancy pizza might be better but it won’t necessarily taste better.”
“But why would you want the lesser quality version when you can have the best?” Lucifer frowned at Trixie, wearing what she'd come to think of as his Thinking Face. He made that same expression every time he half-understood a human concept. She wasn't sure what would come out of it, but Lucifer had done lots of stupid things after making his Thinking Face. And some funny ones.
Trixie frowned, trying to take his question seriously and explain even super basic human stuff, just like she'd seen her mom do. “Because sometimes you don’t always want the ‘best’ kind of something, you want the kind of something with good memories attached. It's comforting. It's like…” She searched for the right way to describe it. “It's like a warm blanket. Or a nickname you like. Like how my parents call me monkey.”
That startled Lucifer. He clearly hadn’t expected such a serious answer from her. “So you’re saying that the more good memories you have of this food, the more you want it?”
“Yup.” Trixie grinned at him.
“Ah.” Lucifer nodded, clearly processing that information. “In any event, I believe Movie Night should include a movie, should it not?”
“Oh right!” Trixie refilled her water bottle to go with her pizza. Lucifer poured himself a glass of something amber-colored that made her nose burn. They settled into the media room where Trixie had already set up the movie as well some snacks.
Lucifer glanced at the screen. “Lilo and Stitch? I don’t believe I’ve heard of this one before.”
Trixie grinned. Perfect .
“I am not watching a child’s cartoon!” Lucifer protested, throwing an arm at the TV for emphasis. If the urchin was trying to torture him, she was doing a bloody brilliant job. Maze would be quite proud.
“Lucifer, that’s not in the spirit of Movie Night.” The Detective’s offspring scolded him, for a moment reminding him so thoroughly of her mother. “Movie Night is about watching something happy and hanging out together. Would you throw a party and put on bad music?”
Lucifer tilted his head. The child had a point.
“And -” Sensing weakness, she zeroed in for the kill. “You did promise to give Movie Night an honest chance.”
Lucifer frowned.
“You agreed that meant no complaints.” She pointed a finger at him, all youthful and defiant confidence, no care that she was facing down the King of Hell. Not that she had anything to worry about. The Detective cared about her daughter more than anyone, more than him even, as well she should. He might not be able to get her to say it, but he could plainly see how she desired to keep her daughter safe. And so Lucifer would never willingly allow so much as a scratch to the spawn’s person.
Lucifer backed down. “Very well. Please begin the movie.”
Whatever Lucifer’s initial protestations about the movie that the Detective’s offspring had selected, he had to admit that the story was very moving. When the little Stitch defended the family he had found, however imperfect it might be, to his would-be captors, Lucifer felt tears pressing against his eyes and he frowned. “I thought you said that Movie Night was about watching happy movies!”
Trixie’s paused the movie immediately upon seeing his expression. “Oh it is happy in the end, Lucifer! No, sometimes after something bad happens, you get something good out of it and you just get to...enjoy that and be happy.”
“But he had to change how he looked. He had to hide his extra legs.” Lucifer pointed out.
Trixie spoke carefully in response, looking far wiser than her mere twelve years. “Only at first. But by the end? I bet they would have been ok with it if he brought his extra arms out.”
Lucifer took a deep breath, mentally gathering himself. Perhaps, then, the Decker women weren’t so scared of him. Maybe Linda was right. Maybe his devil face was simply another part of him that he could learn to control. The Detective and her offspring certainly seemed to trust that he could control himself. He shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. “Apologies, urchin. You may begin the movie again.”
She gave him a funny look, but obligingly hit play.
Lucifer held himself very carefully as he saw how Stitch was “exiled” to Earth, to live under the watchful eye of his newfound family.
“Lucifer, are you okay?” Trixie asked him worriedly.
“What? Oh, yes, I’m fine.” Lucifer hastily forced back the overwhelmed feeling. “I take it back. That was a lovely movie choice.” Feeling completely unable to sit still for a moment more, Lucifer jumped up to clear their dishes. He gathered their plates and his whisky glass (he’d bought the brand on a lark because of its name, but it had turned out to be quite good, so he kept it on order) before making his way back to the kitchen.
Beatrice followed him. “Maybe your Dad will let us keep you.” She said, so softly he wouldn’t have heard her, but for his celestial hearing. Then she pitched her voice louder, clearly intending for him to hear her this time. “You need a nickname, Lucifer. Like how Lilo got to name Stitch.”
“I have a nickname, child. Many of them, in fact. Lucifer is not my given name.”
Trixie nodded, helping put away the leftover pizza. “I know. But you don’t like the name your parents gave you, so you picked Lucifer instead. Which makes it your name, not a nickname.” Trixie argued.
Lucifer paused. Clearly the spawn got her brains from her mother. There was no way that Daniel would be able to put together such a thoughtful point. “Very well.” He finished loading the dishwasher and moved to refill his drink. “What sort of nickname shall I have?”
“Amenadiel calls you Luci.” She suggested.
Only because Lucifer had long ago given up his efforts to beat Amenadiel into submission on that. “No.”
“Hmm.” Trixie folded her arms. “Luce?”
Lucifer thought of a small brunette who was off somewhere, finding herself. “I think we’d better stay away from variations of my name, offspring.” He said gently.
“That’s true. You don’t call me Trixie.” She agreed, then broke into a smile. “I’ve got it. You can be my step-devil.” She practically beamed at him.
“I can’t be your step-devil, urchin. Your mother and I aren’t married.” Lucifer pointed out.
Trixie gave him an eyeroll that would have made her mother proud. “Are you planning on going somewhere?”
Lucifer thought of the crown tucked away in a safe the Detective could open and dipped his head slightly in an acknowledgment of the urchin’s point.
“So it’s settled.” The child said triumphantly. “You are officially nicknamed my step-devil.”
Lucifer tilted back his whiskey glass, hoping it hid the smile tugging at his lips.
Lucifer had just barely fallen asleep when he woke back up to the sound of sheets rustling. He felt his Detective slip underneath, carefully settling into her place in his arms. “Did you have a good time?” He rumbled, thinking how his siblings would laugh if they saw him waiting at home for his Queen.
“I did.” She said happily, slurring her words slightly both from drink and lack of sleep. “But cuddling in bed with you makes me happy too.” She buried her head in his neck, and he took a moment to inhale her sweet scent. Lucifer felt a wave of contentment rush over him.
“Mm, several times a night, if I recall correctly.” He said teasingly, even though he had no intention of ravishing the Detective while she was under the influence. Not unless she explicitly agreed to it while sober and there were clearly defined safewords.
She blinked up at him sleepily and gave him a soft kiss. “That’s true. Only you can make me happy like that.”
Even in his sleepy state, Lucifer puffed up his chest with pride.
“And only you can make me happy like this.” She wrapped wiggled against him, burrowing deeper into his grasp. “You feel like a warm blanket.”
Lucifer froze and then tightened his arms around her. “Love, I’ll be your warm blanket as long as you’ll have me.”