Work Text:
Cake Day
A scent, distinct and sickeningly sweet filled the lobby.
It originated from the kitchen, Alastor figured by the sounds of laughter as well as (definitely more delightful) screaming. He stepped down the stairs, his cane in one hand as he folded them neatly behind his back, he turned his heel towards the noise of this early-morning disturbance.
The grin on his face strained in disgust as the sweet smell invaded his senses tenfold when he opened the door to the kitchen, which, to be frank, looked an absolute horrid mess.
Flour was everywhere and by everywhere, he certainly meant everywhere.
The usually pristine aluminum kitchen tops were white and even the air felt dusty. He raised one hand to his mouth, ready to cough should he inhale too much of it. A batch of dough stuck to the ceiling, slowly unlatching and ready to drop back down as a sugary but no less dangerous projectile. What he hoped to be chocolate cream decorated the walls, there was a puddle of unknown origin below one of the ovens and if he wasn’t careful he would end up smacked in the face by flying pieces of pastries.
Alastor ducked just in time, his ears twitched to both sides as something flew right over his head, missing him by a hair's length and embedding itself into the opposite side of the hallway. It barely took a second for a flour covered Nifty to whirl past him with a gasp to clean the mess off the wall. Poor thing didn’t even know where to start her cleaning endeavors in this mess.
His eyes snap to the source of the attack, ears pointing back up sharp.
Lucifer laughed hard enough that he almost toppled over, one hand gripping the edge of the counter for support. His clothes were as much a mess as everything else. The once white apron with the words ‘Hell’s greatest dad’ on it was covered in dough and colorful patches of what Alastor assumed to be food coloring. Husker leaned on the counter next to him, fur white, a bottle of what could only be alcohol pressed to his lips to suppress a laugh of his own.
“DAD!” Charlie yelled, her hair tied up in a high but messy bun. She too, was covered from head to toe in flour, dough and chocolate, she spun around, eyes jumping from Lucifer to Alastor, back to Lucifer and back to him.
Alastor absently wondered how they planned on getting the sticky mess out of their hair and fur later. He could clean this entire mess up with the snap of his fingers, but where would be the fun in that?
“Oh you should have seen his face!” Lucifer continued to laugh as if Alastor had just told him the best joke hell has ever heard, clutching his side as he hunched over.
Oh, of course.
“Yes. Very funny, sir. May I ask what all this,” Alastor used his cane to point at the battlefield that once was their kitchen, “is about?”
“Alastor I am so sorry, are you okay? We-” Charlie started, promptly interrupted by Vaggie who was, to her credit, covered in significantly less baking ingredients than the other people in the room.
“We missed Angel's six month anniversary with the hotel because of the extermination so Charlie wanted to throw him a party with cake and all that.” Vaggie sighed, stepping a bit closer to him, adding in a hushed whisper “He is at the bar and knows what’s going on, but don’t you dare tell Charlie that, she wants this to be a surprise. Just, I don’t know, join him there, we’re almost done here.”
Alastor narrowed his eyes, glancing at the sweet mess in the kitchen, the giggling disaster that called himself the king of hell and the flour covered Husker, then back at Vaggie. “Fair enough!” He said, using his cane to twirl on his heel as walked out of the kitchen and towards the bar, picking Nifty up by the scruff of her dress on his way out.
And, as he was promised, Angel was seated on one of the barstools, scrolling through his mobile device. He raised his head as he noticed Alastor approaching, grinning from ear to ear, Nifty sitting on his shoulder.
“Hey Al, I see ya have already been to the kitchen?” He pointed at his own head with a wink when Alastor raised a questioning eyebrow at him. “Flour in your hair.”
Alastors ears twitched.
“Yes, I have been mercilessly attacked by none other than the king himself.” Another annoyed flick of his ear to shake the flour from his hair.
“Oh! He is right, boss! You look like a mess!” Nifty gasped, moving to touch his ears again, it flicked from her grasp. Instead, Alastor snapped two fingers to remove the flour from his hair. It was hard to tell if it was to Niftys' delight or dismay, but she jumped off his shoulder to sit on the bar counter regardless.
“Man, I'm jealous,” Angel grinned, “I wish Lucifer would put white stuff in my hair, or you, if ‘ya know what i mean.” Another wink, and Alastor felt his shoulders tense up, he opened his mouth to respond but Charlie was suddenly faster, brushing past him with a platter of cake on one hand, and another one with sweet pastries in the other. Vaggie, Husk and Lucifer followed suit behind her.
“Happy six month and two weeks and three days anniversary at the hotel Angel!” Her excited voice drowned out that of the other two and she placed the platters down in front of Angel, who still grinned at Alastor, awaiting an answer.
“I would rather have a slice of cake.” He said bluntly, making a move towards the plates and grabbing a piece of chocolate sponge cake.
“But you hate cake…”
“Exactly.”
The piece tasted as sickeningly sweet as he expected it to.