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Mother’s day circled around, and everyone was on edge.
Vaggie had explained to everyone why the holiday could be problematic a week beforehand. Charlie had an adverse reaction when it rolled around, since Lillith had left seven years ago.
Sure enough, when Charlie had emerged in the morning she looked a wreck, hair messy and eyes red. Vaggie was following her girlfriend around like a lovesick puppy, clearly trying to lift her spirits.
Everyone mostly seemed sympathetic towards her, and did their best to cheer her up. Well, almost everyone. Alastor sat at the bar, downing drink after drink that Husk poured for him with a scowl.
No one really knew what his deal was, but they didn’t really care. By lunchtime, Charlie had seemed to lighten up and was grinning excitedly. She had gotten hooked on some idea, and was rushing around attempting to recruit all the people she could.
“Alastor, do you want to come pick flowers with Vaggie and I? We’re going to do a craft and-”
"I don't see why we should fuss over such trivial matters," Alastor replied, waving her off with a snarl.
The effect was almost instant. Charlie’s smile fell, eyes welling with tears. She let out a sob, running off down the hall. Lucifer called after her, beginning to follow. Alastor raised an eyebrow, watching curiously.
Suddenly, he was pressed up the wall, Vaggie glaring daggers into his soul. Her hand clenched the fabric of his jacket, spear held above her head.
“You don’t have to be such a fucking Asshole! I know it’s Hell, but you could at least show some compassion. You have no clue what she’s going through. She lost her mom, you inconsiderate mierda,” She shouted, eyes ablaze with anger.
Alastor was silent, and Vaggie saw a glimmer of… hurt, flash in his eyes before he morphed into his shadow, disappearing. The radio in the room suddenly flickered on, a gut wrenching scream crackling through the speakers. Everyone covered their ears, wincing at the sheer volume of the sound. But just as soon as it had come, it was gone; the radio flickered off, and the room was silent.
“What the Hell was that?” Lucifer asked, too stunned to speak.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Husk sighed.
“What the fuck do you mean?” Vaggie snapped, whirling around to face him,”He had no right to be such a cabrón to Charlie. He has no clue what she’s going through, it’s not her fault that he’s pissed.”
“Actually, it kind of is.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, Husky, what’dya mean by that?” Angel asked curiously.
“Well, she’s not purposely doing it,” Husk clarified, “He just doesn’t do too well with today. Usually he just ignores it all together, or gets too drunk to remember it. He was a mama’s boy.”
“Shit,” Angel and Lucifer murmured.
“Well how is that Charlie’s fault?” vaggie questioned, eyebrows knitting together in confusion and concern.
“Well, he couldn’t really ignore it with her talkin’ about it all day, could he? With everyone coddling her and bringing it up, he was forced to think about it. And when you said all that shit, it probably triggered him into one of his freaky melt downs.”
“Melt downs?” Lucifer asked, sounding panicked.
“Pretty much a panic attack, but more psychotic. The asshole doesn’t show emotions half the time, so they get bottled up until something sets it off.”
“Fuck,” Vaggie cursed, letting out a frustrated exclamation,”I’ll make sure Charlie’s okay; you three go look for him before he can cause any damage, to himself or to everyone else.
+++++++
Lucifer eventually found him. Everyone had split up, hoping to cover more ground that way.
Alastor was standing on the roof, his arms wrapped tightly around his torso. His breaths were wheezy and far too fast, and it looked like he was shaking.
“Bambi, you okay?” Lucifer asked softly, reaching out an arm.
Alastor sucked in a harsh breath at Lucifer’s voice, his hands flying up to his hair.
“Fine, fine, perfectly alright, why do you ask, I’m still smiling, hmm? Smiling means fine, I’m fine, t-this is fine, I- I’m okay, it’s f-f-fine, i-it’s n-not-” He broke off with another wheeze, pulling at his hair.
He was pacing now, and not really breathing, mostly frantically gasping. It was a little disconcerting, but Lucifer could see small glitches formulating in the air around him.
“I-I miss her,” He let out a sob, scrubbing frantically at his eyes.
Lucifer walked forward, pulling him into a hug. The effect was almost instant. Alastor crumbled in his hold, collapsing to the floor as he let out heart wrenching sobs. Lucifer held him tightly, not really sure what to do. He was never great at emotional situations; they didn’t make sense to him. When Charlie was little, he was pretty much able to hug her and she’d stop crying. But Alastor was a grown adult, and a pretty unpredictable one at that.
Luckily, though, Alastor seemed to calm down on his own. After about ten minutes, his crying seemed to have slowed to quiet sniffles.
“Did that help at all?” Lucifer whispered, rubbing his back in what he hoped was a soothing gesture.
There was no response, and he frowned.
“Alastor?”
Lucifer glanced at Alastor. The demon seemed to have tired himself out, and was dozing on the king’s shoulder. Lucifer smiled at how peaceful he looked, feeling relaxed.
Until he realized that he was stuck under the weight, and he had to pee.