Chapter Text
He gagged. He could feel it stuck halfway up his throat. He forced himself to choke and gag again. And finally, the final flower fell from his mouth and hit the water in the toilet. He spat out a few stray petals before he stared at the heap of lily of the valley flowers in the toilet bowl for a short while, watching the small ripples on the surface of the water.
Eventually, after catching his breath, he flushed it. He watched as the dozens of flowers, some of which were fully bloomed while others were wilting and withering, went down and into the plumbing. The white bell-shaped flowers had just kept coming up his throat, and though it had only been a few minutes, to Lucifer, it felt like hours and as if it would never stop this time. He let out a relieved sigh at the realisation that he could sit back from hunching over the toilet and go about his day.
He slowly stood up and took a few steps towards the sink. Once he reached it, he turned the tap on with a twitch and filled a cup with the clear liquid before drinking it in small, slow sips in hopes of getting rid of the taste of dead flowers from his mouth. When he'd finished he rinsed the cup out and placed it back in the side of the sink, catching his reflection in the mirror. He looked tired, with visible bags under his eyes, and his blonde hair was all dishevelled from him having to hold it back when he'd puked out the flowers moments ago.
He hated this.
It'd been way over a year since he and Lilith had separated, yet part of him still clung to her. He didn't know why though. He wished he could let her go but... he just couldn't. He wondered why couldn't he just move on. After all, he knew there was no chance of her coming back so what was stopping him from finding someone else? He didn't know how to stop caring for her as much as he did and he hated that part of his heart was still attached to her.
He wanted to be loved, to be cared for but he knew he wouldn't get it from her. It was pointless spending so much time throwing up these stupid flowers because his stupid sentimental heart wouldn't let his ex-wife go. But no matter how much he tried to, he couldn't stop himself. More flowers always filled his lungs, and he would always end up vomiting them out.
Lucifer was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. He quickly straightened up and tidied his appearance as much as he could. He glanced at himself in the mirror again before he exited the bathroom and moved to open the dark wooden door to his room. Outside in the mostly red hallway stood his daughter Charlie in her usual uniform.
"Morning! I thought I'd come and check on you since I was heading this way anyway, how are you?" She greeted. Noticing the bags under his eyes and how his hair was hastily brushed back, she quickly added another question. "Is everything okay?"
Lucifer nodded. "Good morning." He smiled. "I'm fine Charlie, no need to worry." He assured her though he could tell that she knew he wasn't telling her the full truth.
"Are you sure, dad? Are you still having that flower problem?" Charlie questioned to which Lucifer nodded somewhat reluctantly.
He didn't want to bother Charlie with his thoughts so he kept quiet other than that which she respected and didn't press further. The divorce between him and Lilith was hard on both of them though she wished she could do something else to help her dad other than offer words of understanding and comfort.
"It'll get better." Charlie smiled, hoping to boost his morale, even if it would only be by a little bit.
"Thank you, Charlie." He smiled back at her, grateful for her trying her best to make him feel better. He wouldn't tell her but it did make him feel quite bad knowing she felt like she had to do that for him.
The two chatted a little while longer before they exchanged quick goodbyes. Charlie rushed off to take care of her hotel and Lucifer shut his room door again. He got ready for the day, finishing dressing in his usual white suit with red trimmings and making himself look more presentable, before heading down to the lobby of the hotel.
As he reached the lobby, he greeted each staff member as he passed them. While he didn't officially work at the hotel, he did like to help out when he could so he asked everyone if there was anything he could do. Everyone said they were grateful for the offer but that they were fine for the moment and so Lucifer just went around chatting with a few guests.
He quickly noticed that Alastor wasn't around today, though he didn't think too much of it. It had become a pretty common occurrence that the radio demon wouldn't be at the hotel though no one, not even Husk or Niffty, knew why that was the case. To Lucifer's knowledge, none of the overlords had suddenly gotten extra responsibilities, and it definitely wasn't a meeting day today. Charlie had even asked everyone if they'd seen Alastor that day, but no one had, which stumped Lucifer even more. He'd assumed that if it wasn't overlord work, maybe Alastor had just gotten more paperwork or something akin to it since the hotel had gotten more popular. But if Charlie had no idea where he was, then surely it wasn't that.
For the rest of the day, Lucifer tried not to worry about it too much. After all, what Alastor did was his own business, but there was part of him that wanted to make sure he was okay. They weren't super close or anything, sure, but he still did care about the deer demon though he wouldn't admit it to his face. He purely just wanted to know what was keeping him from his duties so much that they were forced onto his daughter.
By the end of the day, Lucifer was tired, and he already knew that he probably wouldn't be getting much sleep, considering he usually woke up once or twice to vomit. He hadn't seen Alastor even once and he didn't think anyone else had either. He did his usual night routine before he climbed into his bed, eventually slowly falling asleep.