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The first thing Alastor noticed when he woke up was that his legs were numb. He remembered he'd made the mistake of falling asleep with them dangling over the arm of a couch he'd made himself comfortable on, so that was annoying but it made sense.
What didn't make sense was the second thing he noticed, a hand in his hair stroking gently just by his ears.
If he'd still been tired just after waking up the feeling would be gone now as he snapped his eyes open, and reflexively let out the most surprised and loud feedback sound he could. He sat up to grab the hand touching him, and twisted it almost ready to twist it off as he glared and bared his teeth at whoever it belonged to.
He stopped himself from actually attempting to break it when he looked over and saw the tense, tired, and definitely surprised but not at all afraid eyes of Lucifer staring back at him like he was waiting for him to let him go.
From the look on Lucifer's face as he stared—tired glassy eyes that flickered between their hands and Alastor's face—it looked like he was still in the process of waking up before this. He'd probably still been half asleep before Alastor had woken up.
With that realization Alastor dropped the arm like it burned and wiped his hands on his coat. He started looking around waiting for the feeling to return to his legs, and trying to remember what was going on before he'd fallen asleep. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lucifer clenching his hand over and over. He relaxing his elbow against the back of the couch, turning his whole body to face Alastor.
"Careful, Al. That almost tickled," Lucifer said.
He was teasing, obviously. Alastor must've looked tense still. When Alastor glared back at him he had a shit eating grin on his face.
Alastor glanced at Lucifer's hands again, and noticed an indent at his wrist where his own hand had a moment ago been ready to rip it off.
Alastor straightened his tie. "Don't insult me."
At that Lucifer turns his head to look at the bar behind them, leaning his face into his hand. His expression still held amusement, and for reasons Alastor couldn't discern he looked indecisive for a second there.
"Or what? 'ts not like you can put my screams on your broadcast," whatever Lucifer had decided evidently involved trolling.
Alastor rolled his eyes.
"Do that again and I'll consider finding a way," Alastor mumbled although Lucifer definitely still heard him given that he rolled his eyes as well.
Lucifer looked back at him, who had not moved from his position tensed up and pressed against the other arm of the seat they shared. He gestured towards the cushion in front of him. An invitation to lay down again which was instead met with Alastor glancing around the empty lounge area again.
"Just us for the next couple hours," he was reassured.
Lucifer scrunched his nose while he said that, having just as much of a clear distaste for dealing with the unwanted questions of anyone who would walk in and see them as Alastor did.
Alastor laid back down on the couch like he had the night before with his legs dangling over the edge and his head laying flat against the cushion as he looked up at the ceiling. Lucifer looked over him, smiling slightly, and tilting his head.
Lucifer twisted the arm he'd been leaning on so he could lean his head on his elbow which just ended up drawing Alastor's attention briefly to the hand then back to looking up at him.
"Y'know, If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were afraid of me," Lucifer said, teasing again.
The shock he'd felt earlier from waking up the way he did was gone almost entirely at this point, leaving nothing but a tired feeling, otherwise he would've thought of something creative to jab back at him.
Instead he pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed out a "Fuck you."
He could almost hear Lucifer running through things he could say in his head. It was a entertaining to watch until Lucifer leaned down until their faces were close enough that Alastor could feel his breath on his forehead.
Alastor furrowed his eyebrows while maintaining eye contact with him, but otherwise making no attempt to move or react at all.
"In my dreams, maybe," Lucifer started, his voice soft, not much more than a whisper. He tilted his head. "But I should know you better than that by now."
Aside from the fact that there was no way sitting like that was comfortable he looked calm, and more importantly unbothered by his own words towards his companion. Lucifer was still smiling while he spoke although it was different now. Where before the expression on his face was all playful from the banter now it looked more serious. Now that they were closer he could swear the angel almost looked apologetic.
Alastor closed his eyes and took a deep breath now recognizing what he's saying also serving as the closest thing to an apology for earlier that his pride could manage.
To be fair to him, it was also the closest thing to an apology Alastor's own pride would've accepted.
"Wow, to be known by the King of Hell," Alastor said, sarcasm saturating his voice, and crossing his hands over his heart. "Quite the accomplisment, I may never recover."
He opened his eyes just in time to see Lucifer's face contort and with a sharp exhale pull back away until he was back to his original sitting position.
The look on Lucifer's face was some mixture of surprise and adoration, along with looking like he was trying not to laugh. It was like he wasn't expecting him to respond that way, but at the exact same time was realizing that he really should have.
Alastor closed his eyes again. He could still feel his eyes on him in the silence and he sighed, relaxing completely despite the intensity of the gaze.
Maybe he was serious about never recovering. Maybe that was a good thing.