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Charlie watched Husk stumble out into the lobby with a dreamy smile stretched across her face. She sighed, hands clasped together, even as Husk slouched all the way over to the table Alastor and her dad were sitting down at. When she’d seen the way Alastor had dressed up the lobby, she’d been taken aback with how beautiful it all looked, like something out of one of the romantic novels she used to catch Lucifer reading when she was younger. Seeing the both of them together now filled her with so much happiness, she could cry.
She could but she wouldn’t, because they still had a job to do.
“Okay, guys,” Charlie said, tearing her gaze away from the peep hole and rounding back on Niffty and Vaggie. “So far, so g-“
Her words were cut off as Husk came flying through the door, crashing into the counter hard enough to rattle the walls. The pots and pans hanging from the rack above all came crashing down to the floor in a series of clangs like bomb drops. Charlie jumped back on instinct, Vaggie catching her in her arms, also seemingly on instinct. Husk let out a pained groan as he pushed a colander off his chest before sitting up, rubbing at his head.
“Fuckin’ dick,” he spat.
“Husk!” Vaggie barked, still holding Charlie bridal style. “What the Hell?”
“Don’t look at me!” Husk shot back, his wings flaring out at his back. “It’s that motherfucker who’s the crazy one! Always was, always will be. And here’s Charlie, ready to see her old man get hitched to that creep.”
Vaggie gently set her down and Charlie opened her mouth to retort, when the back entrance to the kitchen flew open and two heads poked through.
“What’s all the racket down here?” Angel asked, chin rested atop Cherri’s spiky pink hair.
“Yeah,” Cherri added, tossing a handful of potato chips into her mouth. “Some of us are tryin’ to watch the newest episode of It’s Me or the Hellhound.”
Charlie’s quip died in her throat as she took in how crowded the kitchen was becoming. This was slightly more people than Alastor had intended to be let in on his proposal plan.
“Wow,” Lucifer sighed, setting down his fork and laying one hand over his belly, the other dabbing at his mouth with his napkin. “I’m stuffed.”
Alastor grinned from across the table, his hands perched on his intertwined fingers. Watching Lucifer gladly stuff his face with his cooking scratched a particularly satisfying patch of his ego. He thought he perhaps understood the witch who had fattened up Hansel and Gretel with the delicious candy from her house a little better now.
“You eat beautifully,” Alastor crooned, tipping his head to the side as Lucifer cracked one eye open to squint over at him. “And such lovely teeth you have.”
“Ah,” Lucifer intoned, his expression resigned. “I see we’ve entered the weird and creepy portion of the evening already.”
“Not at all!” Alastor quickly cut in, snapping shut that part of him that longed to ask Lucifer to unhinge his jaw and stick his forked tongue out for Alastor’s inspection. Romance. He was trying to be romantic. “In fact, I’ve always thought the best activity in the aftermath of a fine dinner is-“
“Napping?” Lucifer asked, perking up with excitement.
“-Dancing,” Alastor finished, his smile twitching as Lucifer deflated slightly.
“Oh.”
“Don’t sound so glum, dear,” Alastor said, pushing his chair back and rising to his feet. In the same instant, his magic swept over his body, transforming his everyday coat and trousers into a fine suit of black, threaded through with accents of dark red. He even swept his hair back from his face the way he knew Lucifer liked, securing the strands in place with a pin between his ears. He presented himself with a twirl on his heel, stopping with a flourish and holding his hand out to Lucifer. “The night is still young, after all.”
Lucifer eyed Alastor’s hand as though inspecting it for a shock buzzer or something, before reaching out and taking it. Alastor pulled him to his feet until they were stood, chest-to-chest.
“Well,” Lucifer purred, running a finger down the red piping along Alastor’s lapel, “now I feel underdressed.”
In a flash Lucifer, too, transformed, the whites and golds of his suit swapping around, leaving him in an inverted version of his usual dress. His boots, now a sparkling ivory, stepped between Alastor’s shiny shoes, his fingers threading through Alastor’s. The golden sleeve of Lucifer’s suit bounced brightly off of the midnight fabric of Alastor’s suit jacket, like a star shining in a night sky.
Alastor grinned, placing his other hand on Lucifer’s waist. “Two dapper gentlemen and a gorgeous, open floor? Why, all that’s needed now is a little music.”
A beat of silence.
Alastor’s eyebrows drew together slightly.
“A little music.”
Another beat. Lucifer was starting to frown now too.
Alastor whipped his head around to glare over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen.
“I said-“
“I can’t believe you guy’s have been plannin’ this whole scheme and you didn’t let me in on it!” Angel lamented, throwing his hands up to press against his chest. “Me. I’m like the grand master a’ surprise parties!”
Charlie, who had her hands pressed against either side of the doorframe leading into the lobby, physically blocking Angel from barrelling in and preventing him from interrupting Alastor’s dinner date, held firm.
“I’m sorry, Angel, but you can’t go in there,” Charlie stated, setting her jaw, even as Angel tried peering around her to see through the window. She shoved her head to block his view. “Alastor will get mad if you do.”
“Mad enough to throw a guy around like a baseball,” Husk grumbled from Cherri’s side, the two of them sat on the floor and sharing her bag of chips.
Cherri had made no move to kick in the door like Angel had, seemingly content to sit back and watch the show ensue. Charlie kind of wished she’d take a little more of a hands-on approach to corralling her best friend instead of leaving all the work to her.
Angel blew out a puff of air, rolling his eyes. “He won’t be mad. Trust me, I’ve worked enough bachelor parties to know what gets guys goin’.”
“Bachelor party?” Vaggie piped up from behind Angel, causing all eyes to spin to her. She instantly tensed up and Charlie could see the sweat beading along her brow already. Vaggie gulped, tugging at her collar. “Who said anything about a bachelor party? It’s not—hah—It’s not like they’re getting married or anything.”
Charlie bulged her eyes out and shook her head rapidly, trying to spontaneously develop the power to make Vaggie’s mouth disappear.
Before anyone could react, Alastor’s shadow slipped under the door, tapping its wrist impatiently. Niffty gasped and jumped to her feet in answer, dusting off her skirt.
“That’s my cue!” she chirped, seizing her viola and bow. Flashing a sharp-toothed grin up at Charlie, she said, “Wish me luck!” Then she was following Alastor’s shadow out the door, chittering in excitement to herself.
There was a beat of blessed silence, almost long enough for Charlie to sigh with relief, but then Angel spoke up again.
“You got somethin’ you wanna share with the class, Vaggie?” he asked, bending down at the waist until he was eye-level with Vaggie, whose mouth had thinned out into a flat, strained line.
“No,” she snapped, looking ready to collapse like a house of cards.
Angel straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. “You sure ‘bout that?”
“Yes,” Vaggie shot back, tugging nervously at her skirt. “It’s not like Alastor’s planning to propose or anything.”
“Vaggie!” Charlie gasped, feeling like a bucket of ice-cold water had just been dumped over her head. Judging by the ways Vaggie’s eye blew wide and her lips puckered in, she guessed she was feeling similarly.
“Oh, shit,” Cherri laughed around a crackle of potato chips. “Really?”
“No fuckin’ way!” Angel burst out, rounding back on Charlie, all eight of his eyes blown wide. At the haunted look Charlie was sure was plastered across her face, he sucked in a ragged gasp. “Holy shit! It’s true? Now I’m really fuckin’ offended no one clued me in! Outta the way, sweet cheeks, I’m about to set such a mood in there, your daddy’ll be screamin’ daddy so fast your head’ll spin-“
“NO!” Charlie yelled, taking her hands off the doorframe to shove Angel back. Angel tried slipping under her arm but she caught him in a headlock, squeezing his neck under her armpit as he yelped and struggled. “This is probably the only shot my dad has of getting married ever again and I’m not going to let you ruin it!”
“I’m not ruinin’ nothin’!” Angel protested, his lower arms reaching around blindly to pinch at Charlie’s fingers. “I won’t interrupt Al, I just wanna talk!”
“No talking!” Charlie screeched, her horns breaking through the skin of her temples, just as she slipped on a rolling pin, sending the two of them falling to the ground.
“I said-“
Niffty scrambled out the door before Alastor could grit out yet another pointed cue. He relaxed some as Niffty took up her position by the fireplace, polished viola in hand. She grinned and waved her bow at the two of them before tucking the instrument against her shoulder. Alastor turned back to Lucifer as she began playing a slow, looping tune, her notes filling the cavernous lobby with soft music.
Alastor smiled as he drew Lucifer away from the table and onto the open floor, where they began to move in wide, twirling circles. Lucifer gripped his shoulder, the green glow of the hellfire candles reflecting off his buttery eyes. The warm press of his body against Alastor’s was a solid comfort, his slight frame exuding power with every move.
It was one of the reasons why Alastor loved dancing with him so much. To have all that power cradled snugly between his arms was enough to go to any man’s head.
“First Husk, now Niffty?” Lucifer chuckled. “Next thing I know, the entire hotel’s going to be in on this little set-up of yours.”
There was a hint of steeliness to his voice, a slight bite in those honeyed words. Alastor couldn’t quite puzzle out the meaning of it—he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong so far. Lucifer had seemed to greatly enjoy the meal, and always delighted when he and Alastor danced, so why the attitude?
Alastor shrugged it off as an element of Lucifer’s moody nature and focused on keeping his steps in time. His nerves were beginning to burrow through the sheet of ice he’d painstakingly packed over the pit of his stomach as they swept around the lobby. With every pass of Niffty’s bow along the strings, the song drew closer to its conclusion, and so, too, did the debut of the little square-shaped box tucked into his inside pocket.
“Nonsense,” Alastor said through a forced smile, stretching his arm out to twirl Lucifer around on his heel. “This is all between you and I.”
“If you go through that door, it won’t be Alastor who kills you!” Charlie screamed, shoving Angel’s face down into the tiled floor. “I swear to my dad!”
Angel, carrying one princess of Hell on his back, continued trying to claw his way towards the door. “I just-“ he wheezed, “-wanna talk!”
“Come on, you two!” Vaggie yelled, squatting down and trying to pull them apart, but it was like trying to separate a dog from a bone. “Knock it off!”
“Nah, keep goin’!” Cherri called out, raising her phone towards the action. “This shit’s poppin’ off on my Sinsta live.”
Angel’s fingers scraped the door and Charlie lashed out with her tail, wrapping it around Angel’s neck. He let out a choked gurgle that mixed with her furious shrieking.
“Did you hear something?” Lucifer asked, frowning in the direction of the kitchen.
“No,” Alastor lied. He was vaguely aware of a commotion going on behind those doors, but he was choosing to keep his attention on the moment at hand. Charlie could deal with whatever hissy fit Husk was choosing to throw after getting ejected from the lobby. He squeezed Lucifer’s hand, bringing his fingers up to his lips. “All I hear is this lovely ambient music. Thank you, Niffty.”
Niffty let out a light giggle over the sound of her viola.
Lucifer smiled as Alastor pressed a kiss to his knuckles, though his distraction only lasted a moment. Another crash sounded from the kitchen, followed by some muffled yelling. Lucifer turned in Alastor’s grip, eyes locked in on the door.
“What in Hell is going on in there?” he demanded, just as Niffty played the last chord of her song.
Alastor suddenly froze. He was at Step 5 in the plan, just as he and Charlie had plotted it out. The time was nigh, but still he hesitated. What if Lucifer said no? What if he laughed in his face? What if he never wanted to see Alastor again and had him cast out of the hotel? All these wild possibilities ran though his mind. Ridiculous though they were, they were still possibilities, realities he could suffer.
He blinked about the room before his gaze landed on Niffty, the sight of her like a lighthouse in rocky waters. She lowered her viola and gave Alastor a thumbs up. That single gesture was enough to calm the stormy sea of Alastor’s mind, his concerns all turning over, belly up.
His muscles thawed and Alastor moved, speaking loud and clear.
“Lucifer,” he said.
“There’s definitely something going on in there. Alastor, are you-?“
Lucifer’s question died on his lips as he turned and saw Alastor down on one knee before him, holding up a ring nestled in a box of velvet.