Chapter Text
Alastor wasn’t exactly prepared when the King of Hell came to the hotel. He knew it was a possibility, of course, but he had assumed (and rightly so) that the Devil was an absentee parent. It was vexing to see the others literally rolling out the red carpet for the bastard. It was particularly difficult to see Charlie anxiously fret over someone who wasn’t even worth her time or energy.
When the door burst open, Alastor’s blood was already boiling. Far from his usual composed affectation, he could feel his eye twitch as he looked down and saw the garish top hat. Heard the high pitched squeal and baby talk. How patronizing.
Then the king skipped away and turned around. Letting Alastor get a full view of Lucifer Morningstar’s face. That was when everything changed.
Portraits did not do him justice. In fact they were flat out deceptive, subject to the whims and impressions of the artists. Lucifer looked so much like his daughter. Only so much smaller and more darling. Which he didn’t even think was possible until now. There was a hint of his diabolical nature of course, but otherwise…
Adorable.
Alastor had a weakness for small, cute things. He knew this. And it wasn’t exactly well hidden. Even so, he thought he had a smidge more self-control. But before he knew it, he was engaging. It was so delightfully easy to rile the royal imp up. He found himself internally cackling at the king’s expressions; finding excuses to lay hands on and toss around the little devil.
It was confusing how charmed he was by the precious imp. It was as if he were utterly entranced. Even going so far as to show off when those jackanapes intruded on the hotel grounds. Only to be dismayed at how unimpressed the king was by his display. He didn’t understand why he would be so affected.
Then Alastor realized it.
Oh. Ohhhh…
Oh. He liked him.
It took him all but half a heartbeat to decide.
Yes. Lucifer was his now.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. Not when his new plaything decided to go traipse off in a puff of smoke. However, Alastor could be patient. Lucifer would eventually come back for his daughter.
All he had to do was wait...
~o~
A cold shiver unexpectedly ran down Lucifer’s shoulders.
Which was kinda alarming considering how unbelievably hot Hell was. Even as used to it as he was, he had to shrug off his jacket while helping with the rebuilding of the hotel. (He couldn’t get the sweats in front of his little girl and her friends. It would have been so uncool.)
A moment later though, he saw shadows coalescing in the space beside his daughter. Even before Alastor the Radio Demon fully materialized, he muttered darkly, “Oh, not this fucking guy.” He exchanged a look with Husk, who was just about the only other one who wasn’t exactly celebrating the strawberry pimp’s return. On the other hand, his daughter and the rest of the crew were ecstatic. Cheering and celebrating, talking animatedly to the Radio Demon about his whereabouts. Because of course he only turned up the minute they were about to cut the ribbon on the new hotel.
Lucifer watched the whole thing balefully, arms crossed over his chest. Then Alastor glanced up in his direction. ...Was he just imagining it or did the demon’s smile only grow wider? The weirdness only grew when the Radio Demon dislodged himself from his admirers to saunter over to him. “Lucifer~” he crooned, his voice poisonously sweet, as Lucifer’s hackles began to rise, “What an absolute delight to see you here. Schlepping amongst the common folk, are you?”
The king rolled his eyes. “Har har har. No. For your information, I’m going to be staying here from now on.” He raised a finger jabbing it into Alastor’s chest and inwardly grinning at the way he winced. “So you better watch yourself. No funny business. You got me?”
Far from being intimidated, Alastor’s claws only wrapped around his fingers to take it away from the wound that Lucifer could smell on him. …And then didn’t let go. In fact, his thumb slid over Lucifer’s knuckles in a way that wasn’t remotely chaste.
Another freezing chill ran over Lucifer’s shoulders as he yanked his hand back. The first droplets of unease prickled down his spine at how delighted the Radio Demon looked. “So we’ll be neighbors,” he said aloud in wonder, in a way that seemed way too ominous. He was suddenly all easy-breezy as he pulled back. “Well, then I had best get settled. I’ll see you later, Luci~”
Alastor turned around to face the rest of the crew who had been watching this whole spectacle with jaws dropped. He nonchalantly took the gold scissors from Charlie’s hands to cut the ribbon to the hotel. He tossed the enormous scissors aside, not even caring that he completely ruined the ribbon ceremony, and headed into the bowels of the hotel.
Lucifer could only gape after him, still stuck on Alastor’s last words. Luci?!
“Ooooh~ King Roach likes the Ultimate Bad Boy~!” Niffty cackled, somehow voicing what nobody else dared to say. But were all thinking.
“Wh-what?!” Lucifer cried, horrified. “How?! Since when?!”
That was when Husk came up to him and laid a paw on his shoulder. The sphinx gave him a look like a brother-in-arms as they were about to head off into war. “Good luck,” he said gravely, “you’re gonna need it.”
“Oh c’mon, it can’t be that bad,” Charlie entreated. “Right?”
Husk gave her a look. Then rather than answer her directly, he turned back to Lucifer. “Look, just go along with whatever he wants and then he won’t try to figure out a way to control you. That’s his M.O. Hopefully, he’ll just eventually get bored.”
His daughter looked stricken. Like this was going to be what pushed him over the edge to flee back to his palace. And yeah, past him might have. But he made a promise to her and by God he was going to keep it this time. So Lucifer gave her a consoling smile. “I’ll be fine, sweetie,” he assured her. “I can handle myself just fine.”
Famous last words.