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Lucifer nervously smoothed his hair for the fifth time in the last ten minutes, not knowing what else to do. Clock ticked steadily, measuring the time until a small informal meeting, and with every second he felt more and more sick. He wasn't meeting with investors, overlords, or new hotel guests today, and yet Lucifer would have been less worried even if it had been a meeting with Heaven itself.
They were going to have a little tea party with Charlie and Vaggie. And not just a tea party, but a "this is-a-serious-conversation" kind of tea party.
After what happened a week ago, Lucifer hardly left the radio tower because he was doing his own healing (and also because Alastor was treating him), and he didn't have time to properly explain to his daughter why he was spending that night with the demon. He didn't want to explain everything without the proper details, and it would be very stupid to hide the relationship with Alastor, so he gathered all his willpower and suggested that they talk about everything on Sunday.
Sunday came unexpectedly quickly.
"Worried, Majesty?" Alastor quipped softly, watching his lover inspect his black claws for the hundredth time.
Lucifer chuckled, trying to hide his anxiety, and looked himself up and down in the mirror. Nothing has changed there: perfectly styled golden curls, black eyeliner, blush on the cheeks, which has been there since the creation of the angel. All right!
“No, why would I? It’s my daughter…” Alastor rolled his eyes, realizing that Lucifer was calming himself down rather than responding to him right now.
“She's a grown-up girl, she will understand everything. And don't call me “Majesty,” especially in front of Charlie, or she'll get completely confused.”
Yes, Charlie, of course, is a grown-up girl, no one denied that. But it wasn't so much about adulthood as the fact that the trauma of Lilith's disappearance still bothered the Morningstars. Charlie has barely regained a parent figure in flesh in the person of Lucifer, and then it turns out that he actually got a secret "lover" while living under the same roof with her. Lucifer did not want Charlie to think that he would focus his attention on his "new" family or abandoning her to build another home. He absolutely wasn't going to do that. His relationship with Alastor accompanied him every day, but he didn't cut Charlie out of his life: he helped her, supported her, and slowly got to know her amazing girlfriend, even if it was a bit awkward.
He did not want to start a "new" family apart from his adult daughter. Both Alastor and Charlie were his family now... All that remained was to put it in words.
Ironically, Alastor also slowly (and sometimes unknowingly) entered into parenthood, even if he deliberately did not claim to be the second "parent" for Charlie. He just felt that it couldn't be avoided, and yet he was too proud to admit that he had already taken care of her.
Today it was necessary to take another big step towards getting a little closer. To talk with words through their mouths, which has always been hard work for everyone.
They were in Alastor's room, not in the radio tower. The radio tower was, like, a bedroom for them, and the room itself became a study. The pocket dimension with the swamp was here. Fireflies were flying around, and there weren't even deer corpses on the horizon. It looked... cozy?
Knock-knock.
“Girls, come in!” Lucifer sincerely hoped that his voice wasn't shaking, and put on his friendliest smile. Alastor didn't even have to try to do that. Vaggie and Charlie opened the door, peering inside.
Luci and Al were sitting on a small couch, hips touching, and there were two armchairs in front of them. All this was separated by a small table with tea and sweets. Lucifer tried very hard to find a favorite food for everyone, even bought extra licorice sticks for Vaggie.
Each of them was at least a little bit dressed up. Alastor took off his usual burgundy turtleneck, remaining in a white shirt and classic trousers. Lucifer put brooches connected by a chain on his collar. Charlie and Vaggie put on frilly shirts and long skirts, and styled their hair.
Everyone looked anxious as hell and everyone was silent. Except for Alastor, of course, who, summoning the microphone, exclaimed joyfully:
“Come on, don't stand on the threshold!” He waved his hand in the air, and his shadow, smiling, began pouring tea into small porcelain teacups. Charlie and Vaggie exchanged glances, and only then went deeper into the room.
Lucifer could feel the anxiety on his fingertips.
Of course, Charlie immediately noticed how Lucifer and Alastor were acting, sitting next to each other, and her gaze became curious. Luci felt as if he was being scanned from head to toe.
Everyone froze, holding a cup of tea in their hands. It became very awkward. Even Alastor didn't make the situation any better with his big creepy smile.
Lucifer sighed heavily, feeling that everyone was waiting for a speech from him.
“I understand that it's getting harder to ignore the elephant in the room every day,” he began.
He looked at Alastor, who was sitting with such a straight back, as if a stick was put up his ass, but Alastor looked back at him, which was completely unexpected. He hid his sharp teeth, smiling almost softly. They were affectionate in private, but Lucifer didn't expect Alastor to take it beyond their one-on-one communication, even if only in front of two close people. He used to worry too much about his image as an overlord, a violent villain. But for Lucifer, he didn’t have to act, right?
So, it wasn’t so important for him anymore?
“So…” Lucifer smiled back, gathering his strength, even though everything inside was shaking like the strung strings of a piano. “I didn't want to talk about it before because, well... It was pretty hard, and I didn't want to embarrass anyone. But Alastor and I have been together for quite some time, um…”
He suddenly covered his face with his hand, burning with shame in front of his daughter, who looked incredibly surprised and seemingly stared straight into his soul. It turned out to be harder than he first thought. Alastor hugged him, comforting and surprising him for the second time that evening.
“Your father, dear,” Alastor spoke to Charlie. Lucifer took his hand away from his face, but looked away, not knowing what to expect from his partner. His shoulders tensed. “Is trying to say that we're in a relationship.”
“Romantic?” This time it was Vaggie's turn to comfort her girlfriend by holding her hand. Her throat was as dry as Lucifer's.
“Yes.”
There was a heavy silence, as it seemed to Lucifer.
“I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, honey,” he wheezed. His cheeks were glowing yellow. “I thought it might hurt you because of mom. I wouldn't want you to think that I'm trying to build a new family, find a replacement for her, or anything else. No one will ever take your place in my heart. No one will ever replace a mother for you. Alastor and I didn't notice how things started, but I wouldn't want you to think that my new relationship would be more important to me than you.”
They fell silent again. Charlie asked softly, cautiously:
“For how long?"
“A little over a year.”
Vaggie whistled quietly.
“But you can't stand each other!” She said. Alastor grinned very contentedly and shook Lucifer's shoulder slightly.
“If everyone still thinks that, then we're great actors,” he squeezed Lucifer's hand, trying to bring him to his senses and revive him again. Lucifer finally laughed, wiping his cheeks with his hands.
“That's for sure. We tried hard not to be revealed.”
He forced himself to look up. Charlie didn't look scared or upset at all, on the contrary. Now she was rather calm and seemed to be solving some problem in her head, the corners of her lips quickly went up.
“Do you like Alastor?” She asked almost happily.
Lucifer nodded, embarrassed, like a teenager who's been caught with an object of his affection.
“Al, do you like my dad?”
“Very much so.” His charming smile was sly.
“So that’s the only thing that matters!” A cup of tea landed on the table with a soft clink, and Charlie clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Why didn't you tell me? That's great! We didn't know how to make the two of you friends, we were running out of ideas, and here you were!..”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lucifer couldn't keep up with his daughter. “You’re not upset?”
“Dad, you and Mom haven't been together for almost ten years. It was expected…”
Ah.
Oh…
Lucifer hadn't noticed at all how long it had been since Lilith disappeared, and the divorce had happened even earlier. He was completely consumed by his depression. But really, ten years without a relationship… It's a lot. He had every right to a new happiness.
“I'm just glad you have a loving partner,” she concluded.
“Unless, of course, it's part of some kind of deal,” Vaggie suddenly interjected, giving Alastor an appraising look.
“No deals,” Alastor sipped his tea. He looked slightly offended. “I may have made over a thousand soul deals and broadcast their cries of pain on the radio, but I'm not crazy.”
Everyone stared at him for several seconds.
“Anyway!!!” Lucifer happily rushed to deflect any suspicion. “No deals! Only sincere affection, I promise.”
Vaggie squinted, as if trying to see if Lucifer was telling the truth, but Charlie had already decided to absolutely trust everything he said.
“I'm so happy for you two! Who confessed their love first? What is your romantic story? How did it happen?”
Lucifer almost choked on his tea, listening to question after question and remembering how it all actually started. The story of the beginning of their relationship was by no means romantic, and it was worthwhile to come up with some decent one for Charlie.
“He confessed first,” Alastor said blankly, pointing at Lucifer, and stirred the tea in his cup. Luci opened his mouth, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks, but immediately closed it when he realized that there was nothing to say...
“Yeah, I did,” he awkwardly confirmed, scratching the back of his head.
“Awww!” Charlie said softly. “And how did you two get together?”
“This is a very interesting story!” Alastor said with extreme enthusiasm.
“Which we'll tell you some time later!” Lucifer yelled in panic, but Alastor just laughed, and they turned into one big ball of laughter and joking warnings to strangle each other if anyone told the truth.
Charlie and Vaggie sat across from them in disbelief. Alastor and Lucifer were fooling around. Absolutely in love, happy, quite funny from the outside... Overlord and King of Hell.
The rest of the evening flew by pretty quickly, because from discussing Lucifer's personal life, the conversation turned to hotel business, upcoming events, and gossip about how Angel and Husk's relationship was developing. Alastor listened with some enthusiasm, sometimes he was as interested in Husk's business as his own.
When it was time to leave, Lucifer hugged his daughter tightly, and then Vaggie (a little more gently, so as not to make the situation even more awkward). Alastor contented himself with a polite nod and a “good night”. Just a second after the door closed, Lucifer exhaled as if his soul left his body.
“Oh. My. Stars.”
He found a chair with his hand and sat down in it, trying to catch his breath. Alastor laughed out loud, looking at his lover, who looked like he had run a marathon.
“Well, everything went fine,” he finally said, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes.
“Are you amused?” Lucifer frowned playfully, but couldn't help but smile. “Fuck, my daughter knows about us, and she doesn't mind…”
“It feels like you were preparing for an execution, and not for a conversation with your child.”
Alastor wanted to turn around and start clearing the food from the table, but Lucifer attacked him from behind, kissing him on the cheek. He literally glowed with happiness, golden blood rushed to his cheeks.
“It's a happy day in Hell!”
Alastor laughed and kissed him back. God bless Lucifer's good mood.