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You tilted your head around the corner of the wall, peering around to make sure you weren’t in danger of being interrupted, before you ventured into the kitchen. It took just a little while for any lingering nerves to settle from sneaking about the hotel at night, but eventually you moved past it and set to the task at hand.
Late night baking.
You rolled up your sleeves and tied back your hair, pulling out your phone to pull up the recipe for what you had in mind. You had low-key checked beforehand to make sure you had all the ingredients for what you had in mind, and thank spirits you did. It made this whole thing much more simpler. Normally you stayed out of the kitchen unless you were scrounging up a snack between meals or making yourself a quick dinner, and you certainly didn’t treat it like it was a big secret, but this was a bit more of a sensitive topic…
When you had first come to the hotel under Alastor’s suggestion, you had struggled a bit when it came to meeting new people and getting used to them, especially still in your fragile state. Charlie was a bit over-the-top, Vaggie came off as terrifying sometimes, Angel was a bit much when it came to the innuendos and sexual comments he seemed so gleeful to point out and dish out, and Niffty… Well she was a bit psycho, but sweet in her own way. The only ones you really didn’t mind being around were Husk, since he was mostly quiet and let you be as long as you didn’t bother him too much, and Alastor, since he had for some reason taken a bit of a liking to you (though you were sure it was because Rosie had introduced the two of you). It took some time, but eventually the shy little wallflower with severe social anxiety had managed to not only grow used to everyone there, but also started calling them friends. Charlie was sweet and really knew how to reassure you, even though she still needed to work on boundaries a bit. Vaggie was still a bit scary, but you knew it came out of wanting to protect everyone here, so you grew to appreciate it, especially how she could calm Charlie down and reel her in. Angel had become a good friend, especially when he realized how uncomfortable he was making you, and you could talk to him about anything, and Husk had a similar sentiment with you, though he was more distant.
The only person you didn’t really socialize with, though, was Lucifer.
Don’t get me wrong, you saw him around the hotel plenty of times. You found him to be endearingly goofy and silly, and a bit awkward when he made a blunder that Charlie embarrassingly pointed out. He was funny, and he managed to make you smile, even if he didn’t see you. It’s just that you were a bit shy, and you tended to cling to the shadows of the room when others were present, and you certainly didn’t like being the center of attention.
But sensing what you could about Lucifer, it made it all the more worrying when he went so long without making an appearance.
It had been the better part of a week, actually, and you knew Charlie was starting to get worried the longer she hadn’t heard from him. He was still in the hotel, you all knew that, but he seemed to be avoiding everyone and leaving his room. Being a concerned friend, you had talked to her and she had confided in you that she knew her dad was still struggling with things after the separation with her mom, but she could rarely get through to him about it. That made sense to you. Lucifer loved his daughter, and he struck you as the type that wouldn’t want to get her worried over him. But, after that talk, more things started to fall into place.
You knew the signs of depression when you saw them, after all. From personal experience.
Wallowing alone wasn’t healthy, and you knew that, and you felt an urge to try and reach out to help or offer some kind of sympathy, but you weren’t sure how to approach it. If Charlie couldn’t get through to him, what chance did you have at reaching out?
The answer came to you, admittedly, when you were having a rather sleepless night that had you wandering the halls of the hotel at night, and were rummaging around in the kitchen for a late night snack. Food. Food always helped. And with that realization quickly came a rather half-baked idea to see if you could cheer up the king of Hell with some treats.
No pressure at all.
It took a lot longer than you had thought, but you were happy with the end result. You packed the small pastries in a box and tied it shut, very reminisce in the style of an old fashioned bakery. After making sure the kitchen was as clean as when you had first arrived, you headed up towards Lucifer’s tower with the box in hand. You were honestly nervous as hell that someone would appear and find you doing this, Angel and Alastor being the most likely culprits outside of you, and potentially Lucifer himself, but you trusted your reflexes would be enough to dart out of view before you could be seen.
Thankfully you made it to his door without any issues, and set the box down in front of it. You didn’t leave a note or a calling card or anything, and you certainly didn’t want credit for this. You were just doing a friendly little favor to someone who needed a pick-me-up.
You took a breath to steady yourself, then promptly scampered back across the hotel towards your own room, hopefully able to sleep tonight despite the nerves tingling in your guts.
Lucifer could not sleep, no matter how hard he tried, even though he had mainly given up by this point. He had been in a low for the better part of a week, and all those thoughts of anxiety, regret, sadness, self-depreciation… Well, it tended to keep a fella up at night.
“Fuck.” He sighed, rubbing at his face as he dragged himself from his bed.
He stood, fumbling a bit to shove his hooves into slippers before he plodded across the room towards the door, yanking his robe to cover himself just a bit more, though even then it still appeared a bit off-kilter. Not that it mattered. He was hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone anyway.
He cracked open the door, peering both ways down the hall before it slowly creaked open, though when he went to take a step he felt his foot knock into something. Looking down, he blinked in genuine bewilderment at the box at his feet.
“What is…?” He picked up the box, looking both ways once again as if to check for any lingering souls in the hall, before he retreated back inside and shut the door.
He had no idea what this was, but when he lifted the lid just a bit he caught the overwhelmingly pleasant smell of pastry and cinnamon. When he actually looked, he noticed the entire box was filled with delicious smelling pastries, still steaming and warm actually. It made his mouth water and his stomach give a lurch, reminding him that he hadn’t actually eaten much these past few days.
“Well, it would be a shame to let these go to waste.” He picked one up, taking another deep whiff to enjoy the smell before he took a cautious bite, and fuuuuck did he practically melt. The insides were filled with diced and seasoned baked apples, and he really had to fight not to stuff the whole thing in his mouth at once. They were a bit more on the smaller side, but still too much for a full mouthful.
He plopped his royal rear on his bed, box in his lap, popping pastry after pastry in his mouth until his stomach was full and the box was nearly empty. They tasted so good, and he actually felt a lot better than he had before, perhaps even enough to get a bit of sleep. It just felt nice, to have something made for him, and the thought that went behind something like that made the weight on his mind lift considerably.
“Morning Char Char.” Lucifer grinned.
“Dad!” Charlie whipped around, immediately leaning in for a huge hug, which he leaned in to return. “You’re out of your room! Are you feeling any better?!” She pulled back, eyes immediately focused on him,
Did he feel better? Honestly, yeah he did. Not by much, but enough to stop being a hermit for a little while at least.
“Ah, yeah! I’m fine. Just needed a bit of time to myself, ya know?” He tugged at his collar with an awkward grin. “Annnyway.” He snapped out his fingers, and the box with the leftover pastries from last night appeared in his hand. “I wanted to ask you, did you make these?”
“Ooh, what are they?” Charlie leaned in, looking curiously at the pastry that Lucifer pulled out of the box and offered to her.
“They were at my door last night. Someone left them for me. I thought it was you.” Lucifer watched as she took a bite, and her eyes immediately lit up like his had done last night.
“Oh these are so good!” She scarfed down the rest of the treat, then shook her head. “But no, it wasn’t me. Or Vaggie for that matter.”
Lucifer frowned a bit. “Then… Who would have done this?”
Granted, he didn’t really know most of the sinners at the hotel that well… He really couldn’t picture anyone doing anything like this for him. He thought it had been his sweet little duckling.
Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment, then clapped her hands in excitement. “OOH! I know! It must be Y/N!”
“Y/N?” He blinked, head cocked curiously. He didn’t recognize the name… Then again, his memory could be shit sometimes. It took him forever to get Maggie’s name right after all. Wait, damn it, Vaggie! Right? Right.
Charlie smiled. “You’ve probably never met her. She’s really shy, but she’s also super sweet and really nice. Honestly dad, I have no idea what she did to end up down here in the first place, she’s just so… So, agh, you know what I mean.”
Lucifer nodded, smiling along even though his mind had derailed a bit by the end. Charlie tended to talk about everyone in a positive light, but clearly she had a very high opinion of you. That honestly made him want to talk to you more. Aaannnd it had been awhile since anyone had given him a thoughtful gift like this. He really ought to say thank you, at least.
“Think you could point me in her direction?” He asked a bit awkwardly.
“Well, it’s hard to narrow down where she is. If she’s not in her room, you could always check the library or the gardens out back.” Charlie suggested.
“Alrighty then, I guess I’ll be off.” He chuckled. “Thanks Charlie!” He waved as he set off. Where was the library again? Or the gardens, for that matter.
“No problem dad!” She smiled. “And good luck.” She said in a softer voice.
The gardens were nice and quiet in the morning, and in your opinion it was the perfect place to relax early on before everyone started getting more active and loud. It was nice out here, and watching the Hellborn flora and fauna gave you some material to work with in your sketchbook and little blurbs of writing that popped into your head. You felt relaxed, dispute the long night you had, and were just in the middle of lightly sketching something on a light scrap of paper before someone cleared their throat behind you.
You turned your head to look at whoever it was… And immediately stiffened up.
Lucifer was standing little more than a few feet from you, arms folding behind his back and a slightly awkward looking smile on his face. When you finally turned to look at him, he waved.
“Hi there. You uh… You wouldn’t happen to be Y/N, would you?”
You slowly nodded your head, feeling the nerves come shooting back into you from last night. Crap, you really thought you had been careful…
“I am. Were you… Looking for me, your highness?” You asked shyly.
“I am! Or, was, rather.” He chuckled, just a tad nervous from the sound of it.
“Oh…” You blinked, and both of you stood there a bit awkwardly as one of you waited for the other to continue. “Uhm… About what?”
“What? Oh! Right!” He snapped his fingers, and a white box appeared in his hands, one that you recognized immediately. “I talked to Charlie, and she said, well, assumed, that you were the one who had made these…” He suggested, looking just a little bit unnerved that he might have gotten this wrong. “Did you…?”
You ducked your head, and fought the urge to hide your face a bit. Oh boy, him being nervous was making you a bit nervous. But, the king of Hell asked you a question, so you had to answer. It would probably be rude not to.
You nodded after a brief pause, offering up a shy smile as you finally lifted your head to look at him more in the eye than before. “Did you like them?”
Lucifer’s smile immediately brightened as he nodded vigorously. “I loved them! These had to be some of the best things I’ve ever tasted! And that’s not just me being polite, I promise.” He chuckled, looking much more at ease as he snapped the box back out of existence, leaning a bit on his cane.
Now you could really feel your cheeks heat up, and you smiled just a bit more. “I was hoping the apples would be a safe bet.” You mused, eying the apple on the top of his cane. “I’m glad you enjoyed them, sire.”
Lucifer made a dismissive gesture. “Oh please, call me Lucifer. Or Luci, whichever you prefer.” He chuckled, beaming at you before he cocked his head. “I, well, I’m curious… Why did you do that? I mean, I’m not complaining or anything.” He laughed a bit. “But it’s just unexpected.”
You paused, looking thoughtful as you tried to weigh what to say to him. You didn’t want to potentially upset him, since this was clearly a more sensitive topic for him, but you felt like being vague wouldn’t end in your favor. Even Charlie admitted her dad could be a bit scatterbrained and oblivious sometimes.
“Well…” You hesitated. “When I’m feeling down, or depressed… Good food tends to make me feel better…”
Lucifer was quiet, blinking at you in a way that made you think his mind was completely somewhere else, and you fidgeted in your seat a bit awkwardly. Finally, though, he gave you an almost soft look.
“Well, it worked… Thank you.” There was genuine kindness in his face and eyes as he spoke, and it made some of the nerves fade a bit if you were honest.
“Don’t mention it, Sir- uh, Lucifer.” You corrected, which made him grin.
“Right, well, I’m glad we had this little talk, Y/N. Again, I appreciate the pastry.” He smiled, taking a bit of a half step back. “Buuuut, I gotta run. King stuff to do, fatherly things to attempt, you know.” He gestured a bit.
You giggled a little bit. “I wouldn’t know… But I can imagine.” You smiled a little. “Bye Lucifer. See you… Later?” You trailed off.
He nodded quickly. “Yup! Totally! I’ll, uh, catch you later.” He made a gesture that looked strangely like he was giving you finger guns, before he side-stepped into a portal and disappeared.
You couldn’t help but chuckle just a little bit.
It was nice to see him back to himself again.