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Lucifer is sitting at the hotel bar late at night, nursing a whiskey, reminiscing about past Valentine’s Days spent with the love of his life. Hell may not celebrate many earthly holidays, but being the hopeless romantic that he is, Lucifer just had to incorporate this one. He had been grateful for any opportunity to spoil Lilith with his love, no matter how cheesy the manner.
But now, he is alone. She has left him, not even bothering to answer a single call or text from him, and he’s forced to spend yet another holiday without her. He miserably rests his upper body on the bar, staring at his drink as if it holds the secret as to what he can do to fix this gnawing emptiness inside him. This truly is Hell.
Suddenly, a red blur appears in the corner of his eye and sits on a stool a seat away from him. Lucifer doesn’t even look at him before asking, “What are you doing here, Alastor?” He’s too emotionally exhausted to pretend to not remember his name tonight.
“I’ve come to enjoy the show! And what a delightfully pitiful sight you are, my dear.”
Lucifer bristles. “Fuck you.”
Alastor replies lightly, “Not even if you ask nicely.”
Against his will, Lucifer huffs out a little laugh at that. He summons another glass and pours some of the whiskey into it for Alastor, and then they fall into a surprisingly easy silence as they sip their drinks. Alastor’s company is nicer than he thought it would be (he must truly be desperately lonely) and he decides to let his guard drop a little, testing the waters.
“I miss my wife.”
“Pathetic,” Alastor immediately scoffs.
Outraged, Lucifer shoots back, “Says the guy who also wanted to drink alone on Valentine’s Day because I know you didn’t come down here to cheer me up.”
“Touché, you know me so well,” Alastor replies drily.
Lucifer studies him for a moment. Alastor does have a distinctly lonesome aura to him. Lucifer is familiar enough with that feeling himself. Deciding to prod at him a bit, he questions, “So, is it the TV head? Because I was definitely sensing something between you two. That guy was seething in jealousy when you so much as breathed in my direction.”
Alastor scratches the bar with his claws. “No, he’s the last person I would ever have feelings for,” he snarls.
Lucifer is unimpressed. Defensive, much? “Uh huh. Buddy, you need to get better at lying.” He takes another sip, watching for Alastor’s reaction.
Alastor does not disappoint and whirls on him, eyes turning to radio dials and his antlers growing. “I am not lying. I would never do something so low as to pine over such a worthless creature. He’s the one who should be pining after me, not having a lovely night with his dim-witted moth partner who’s far too forgiving of his transgressions.”
“Oh-ho, so you’re the jealous one. Got it.”
“I am not jealous.”
Lucifer stifles a laugh at Alastor’s petulant behavior. “Sure thing, Bambi. I bet you really didn’t like seeing the Vee’s attempt to rebrand it into “Valentino’s Day” this year, did you?”
As an answer, Alastor’s form begins elongating, towering over Lucifer even more than usual.
Feeling entirely unthreatened, Lucifer grins. “Actually, thank you, this is making me feel better.”
“You sadistic freak,” he grumbles at him, turning back to face his glass as his form returns to normal.
“Not like that. It’s just nice not being alone in this,” Lucifer says, surprising himself with his honesty. Still, he can’t keep himself from adding, “And it’s nice to know that you actually do have a heart in there after all, however teensy, tiny it is.” Lucifer is unable to resist the urge to poke at his chest, making sure to miss the injury that Alastor thinks he’s hiding better than he actually is.
“Fuck you,” Alastor growls viciously.
“What, changed your mind already?” Lucifer winks at him.
Finally having enough of his antics, Alastor starts standing up, but Lucifer grabs his arm without thinking. He’s not ready to be alone again. He immediately lets go when Alastor makes an angry, staticky deer sound however, sensing that he just crossed a serious line.
Trying for some damage control, he quickly blurts, “Don’t go. I’ll stop. I hope you know I’m not actually making fun of you.” He lays back down on the counter, his arms pillowing his head, watching Alastor.
Alastor reluctantly sits back down but his ears are still pinned back. He’s clearly wound up, probably feeling far more emotions than he’d like to, so Lucifer takes pity on him.
“More whiskey?”
Alastor wordlessly pushes his glass back, glaring at the table as if it’s the one that offended him, and Lucifer pours more for both of them. In a wary truce, they sit in silence once again. Slowly, he sees Alastor start to relax, his shoulders loosening and his ears drooping in less of an “I hate everything but especially you” and more of an “I’m so tired” kind of way. Lucifer certainly knows that feeling well.
Suddenly, he’s hit with the realization that he’s been feeling lighter ever since Alastor joined him. He still misses Lilith painfully, but he’s genuinely grateful for Alastor’s presence.
“You know, you’re not too bad of a guy to be around sometimes.”
“I wish I could say the same for you.”
Lucifer just laughs at him. Alastor’s defensive prickliness can be kind of cute sometimes. Wait, where did that come from? Even though there’s no way Alastor could have heard his thoughts, he feels his face heat up a bit and looks away so Alastor doesn’t notice.
They stay like that for a while longer, just sitting at the dimly lit bar with their thoughts, their drinks, and each other. Lucifer sneaks another glance at Alastor and finds himself thinking that this isn’t the worst way to spend Valentine’s Day. At least they’re not alone. Maybe they can drink together more often after this. Lucifer thinks that he would like that, and if the fact that Alastor is still here means anything, there’s a possibility that Alastor could feel the same.