Chapter Text
Lucifer yawns while he pulls a heavy leather bound book down from one of the many shelves in his library. He has been searching for a spell that he only vaguely remembers from his wizard apprenticeship days; something about levitation or teleportation… he can't quite remember. Most of his afternoon has been spent thumbing through pages and pages of illustrations and incantations, trying to make sense of the handwritten notes that he made in the margins of spellbooks nearly three decades ago. Yet, he's still been unable to find anything that resembles what he's looking for.
"Where is it…" Lucifer mutters to himself. Aside from constant bubbling of his cauldron, his self-ramblings are the only sound that fills his tower. At this point, the two may as well be the soundtrack to his daily life. An ambient white noise that he has grown terribly accustomed to.
Which is how Lucifer is so easily able to hear the faint, yet repetitive, thunking sound coming from the depths of the forest. At first, he pays it no mind; various townsfolk come through Sindersnap Forest all the time. Carmilla regularly ventures out into the thick of the trees to collect supplies for her shop, sometimes with her daughters and other times without. Niffty fishes in the lake and river for a change of pace from her beach and ocean scenery. Charlie and Vaggie go on late night strolls to unwind from their long, tiring days.
However, after an hour and a half of the thunk chink thunk chink that sounds different than any of the tools that Carmilla typically uses, Lucifer just can't take it anymore. The repetition of an unfamiliar noise causes the words on the page of his spellbook to blur together and he slams it down onto a nearby stool with a frustrated groan.
Lucifer moves over to the small window above his worktable to look out into the vast forest that surrounds his tower. He scans the area, from the small dock by the lake to the little abandoned house in the far distance until he is able to catch movement half hidden behind a grove of trees.
A tall, thin man that Lucifer has never seen before has his back to him. He's unable to make out much more. He thinks the man may be wearing overalls based on the crisscrossed straps that stretch over his back. The hands that wrap around the handle of the tool that he is holding look bulkier than normal, indicating to Lucifer that the man may be wearing gloves.
He watches the man raise a large pickaxe above his head, the top of the blade reflecting the light of the setting sun, and then slams it down against a large stone. It creates the very thunk chink noise that had brought Lucifer to the window in the first place. Bits of rock scatter around the man's feet and he bends down to scoop it all up before putting it into his bag then moves on to a patch of smaller rocks and repeats the process.
While Lucifer has never been one to make an effort to go into town on a regular basis, he does make it a point to know who is living in the vicinity. Or at least tries to. For Charlie's sake, if nothing else. Even though she is a grown woman now— and even the mayor of Pride Town as of five years ago— he still wants to know who she may come into contact with.
So, this mysterious man wielding a large tool in the woods a few feet away from Charlie and Vaggie's shared farmhouse sets off warning bells inside of Lucifer's head. There is an urge to protect his daughter, to confront the man and make him leave the vicinity. Though he knows that would only serve to cause more issues, specifically between him and Charlie if things were to become too confrontational on her behalf.
Lucifer watches from his window long enough for the soles of his feet to ache from the heel of his boots, but he stays in place anyhow. He keeps an eye on this man that he still hasn't been able to see the face of.
He needs to see it.
Eventually, the man moves on to a bunch of scattered rocks that are closer to Lucifer's tower. With this new location, he is able to make out glasses that glint in what's left of the sunlight and rest on the bridge of the man's nose. His mouth is set in a closed, upturned line that to anyone else may look like a smile.
Yet, it feels… off to Lucifer.
Nobody can be that happy hitting rocks in the late evening when, to the best of Lucifer’s knowledge, he's mining in the forest alone.
He isn't sure how much time passes, he just knows that he watches until the man takes his leave the moment the sun fully dips below the horizon. The man packs up his tools and his bag before walking the trail that leads to town, passing Charlie and Vaggie's house on his way. Lucifer finds little comfort in the fact that the man doesn't seem to turn his head to look at their home.
There is something about this man that unsettles him. Something that raises the hair at the back of his neck and makes his stomach sour.
Perhaps Lucifer is simply being paranoid and overprotective.
Still, he intends to find out who this man is, even if it means prodding for the answer.
For now, however, Lucifer will return to his spellbook and spend the rest of the night trying to find that damn spell. He'll pretend that his old notations are more interesting to him than this mystery man with an unnerving, unnatural smile.
Lucifer's eyes droop closed and his fingers loosen around the open bottle of ink that he had been using to create a protection spell for the town’s mines. The glass tumbles out of his hand and across the wooden top of his worktable until it clatters against the jars of frog legs, quartz, and fish scales that are pushed haphazardly against the wall behind it. The clinking of glass on glass is enough to jolt him awake in his chair. He stares with furrowed brows at the spilled ink that has smeared across the table's surface and sighs.
He always hates to waste materials.
A green junimo appears on his tabletop, right next to the tipped over bottle and makes a melodic note that he has come to associate with one of question.
"I'm fine. I just lost my grip on it is all." Lucifer watches the small, apple shaped creature shuffle over to the smear of ink. It raises its arms and makes a series of musical sounds. The ink slowly disappears from the wood and the bottle appears back in front of Lucifer, right side up once again. He notices that as every drop of ink is removed from the table, the level of ink that remains in the bottle rises back up to where it had been previously. He looks at the junimo and smiles, "Thank you, little apple."
The junimo lets out a hum before disappearing back into its world, leaving a very thankful Lucifer behind. He would be lost without the little forest spirits, this he knows for certain. They've always been there for him ever since he moved into this old tower, fixing mistakes or giving him a nudge in the right direction whenever he's lost something. One even helped him find the very spell that he had been searching for whenever he saw that man.
Lucifer runs his hands over his face and groans now that he's alone once more. He usually has a steady hand and a solid grip on his supplies, but he has not been in his best form lately. Over the last week or so, he has chosen to forgo most of his sleep to instead tinker with old spells that the junimo had helped him find.
Well, his spells and his new hobby of keeping an eye out for that mystery man. Between the both, he has been much more tired than usual.
It isn't as if Lucifer has been plastered to his window hoping to catch a glimpse of the man or anything, but he has peeked out to see if he happened to be there a few times.
More than a few times.
Okay… maybe Lucifer has spent the same amount of time every day looking out of the window that he spent on his magic. He really wants some more information on the guy.
Something— anything — to prove that he hasn't made the man up.
Lucifer caps the bottle of ink and slides it back to its spot among the rest of his ingredients and supplies.
If he wants answers, there is one person who most definitely has them.
Lucifer groans as he stands from his chair and rolls his eyes whenever his knees let out a groan of protest of their own. He grabs his cape from its hook and fastens the apple clasp as he looks himself over in the small mirror by the door.
"It looks as if I haven't slept in years." Lucifer shakes his head in disapproval. The last thing he wants is to worry Charlie over his sleeping schedule.
Again.
He swirls his fingers around to summon a small tube of foundation and applies it generously to the heavy bags under his eyes. He turns his head from side to side, letting the little bit of natural light that comes in through the window shine on his face.
"Good enough.” Lucifer huffs before picking up his wizard’s hat from the table and puts it atop his head.
Then he's off to see his daughter.
~**~
"Good afternoon, Vaggie," Lucifer greets whenever he steps through the door of the front room of their farmhouse that has been converted into a supply shop. Vaggie looks up from where she's taking inventory behind the counter and smiles. "Is Charlie home?"
"Sir." Vaggie nods in that respectful way she always does (even though Lucifer has told her many times that it was not necessary) and gestures towards the next room over where their kitchen resides. "She said she was going to make some tea. You know how Charlie gets when the fall season starts."
Despite having turned back to her clipboard and shelving, Vaggie still wears the most endearing look while talking about her wife's habits. It warms Lucifer's heart tremendously.
"Our girl loves her tea, hm?" Lucifer calls over his shoulder on his way to the kitchen, getting a confirmational hum from Vaggie.
The walls in the hallway are decorated with framed photographs. Some are of Charlie and Vaggie's life together: their first date, their wedding day, the honeymoon trip they took into the city. Others are of their two cows at varying ages. Most, though, are of their friends. Vaggie, Cherri, and Angel doing their nails with Charlie's beaming face filling up the bottom corner. Mimzy and Niffty engaging in some sort of drinking game at Husk's bar. Pentious standing in front of his anvil with glowing metal, his arm raised and eyes looking crazed behind his goggles.
"Char-char!" Lucifer exclaims whenever he sees Charlie placing the kettle onto the stovetop.
Charlie looks over her shoulder and smiles brightly. "Hi, dad! What are you doing here? It's not like you to randomly drop by for a visit."
Lucifer leans against the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table as she grabs two mugs from the cabinet and a container of tea leaves that is new to him.
"Can't I stop by to see my favorite daughter whenever I like?" Lucifer jokes half-heartedly. There's a stirring guilt feeling in his chest whenever he realizes that it has been a while since he's made a home visit. Usually Charlie comes to the tower whenever she has the time.
"I'm your only daughter," Charlie says with a fond roll of her eyes as she plops down into the chair across from him. "Not that I'm complaining about your visit, of course. I'm just not used to it."
Lucifer drums his fingers against the wooden top back of the chair while he contemplates how to organically bring up the real reason for him being there.
The burner under the kettle clicks as it expands with the heat, reminding him of the sound that the pickaxe the man had used made when colliding with the rock. Though he knows the two sounds couldn’t be more different. Charlie looks at him expectantly and he knows that he needs to get to the point.
If anyone is going to know about this person, it would be the mayor of Pride Town.
"Have you seen… a man?" Lucifer asks carefully.
Charlie cocks her head. "A man?"
"Yes. A tall, thin… man." Lucifer thinks he must sound insane, but Charlie isn't looking at him as if he is, so he clears his throat and continues. "I saw him in the forest about a week ago now. He was breaking up rocks for hours. I didn't recognize him as any of the townspeople."
Charlie thinks for a moment before the kettle whistles and she stands to take care of it. She switches off the heat and pours the water over the leaves in the mugs. Halfway through pouring the second, she makes a little noise and looks over at Lucifer with bright eyes. "Do you mean Alastor?"
"Who?"
"The farmer who moved in during the spring season. He usually wears glasses and overalls. Sometimes he has a straw hat on his head or hanging around his neck… tall and thin, like you said." Charlie looks back at the mugs while finishing her pour and then points to the container of tea leaves that still sits on the counter. "He gave me these, actually!"
Lucifer listens to the way his daughter talks about this man, this Alastor. Like she's fond of him. Like she's a friend of his.
He has to sit down.
"I don't trust him," Lucifer mutters when Charlie starts to hand him the mug of tea. With leaves that he handled. "Have you had this before? Can you trust it?"
Charlie giggles, thinking he must be joking. "Yes, it's a very nice green tea. He grew it himself."
"Hm…"
"Dad, you've never met Alastor. How can you not trust him?" Charlie asks as she slides back into her seat. She takes a sip of the tea and motions for Lucifer to try his. Which he does, reluctantly so.
"There's just something about that smile," Lucifer mumbles against the rim of the mug. The warm ceramic in his hands is more than welcomed after the trek he had made through the autumn cold to get to the house. And he must admit that there is a nice aroma to the leaves; earthy with a hint of sweet. He takes a small sip and his shoulders deflate from the hunched position he wasn’t aware that he had them in. There is a bitter aftertaste to the tea that he finds he's quite fond of. It's nice. Not that he's going to admit that. He makes a show of grimacing before saying, "He was smiling to himself while he broke apart rocks. What kind of trustworthy person does that?!"
"I have," Charlie says simply before she grabs the spoon from the sugar dish in the middle of the table and scoops two heaps of it into her mug. She takes a long sip of tea and smiles softly at the sweetened taste.
"Yes, but your smile is genuine. His was… I don't know how to put it. Off putting, I suppose."
Charlie stares at him for a long moment, fingernails taping against the side of her mug. "You know, the town fair is coming up and Alastor will be there. Why don't you come and see for yourself that he isn't so bad? It's been quite a while since you've attended a town celebration."
"It hasn't been that long," Lucifer shakes his head, even as the idea of being face-to-face with this Alastor character piques his interest.
"Dad, the last event you went to was the Winter Star Festival." Charlie levels him with a look and sighs exasperatedly. "That was nearly a year ago."
Lucifer frowns. "Surely that can't be true."
"Your hat got stuck in the tree and instead of helping, Adam pushed you further into it. He claimed it was a mistake because you are so small that you could have been an ornament.” Charlie bites her lip to keep a laugh from tumbling out, but Lucifer can still make it out. Especially whenever a few giggles escape her whenever she says, “Then Niffty–”
“Okay. Thank you, I remember now!” Lucifer hisses before Charlie can remind him of how Niffty used the opportunity of him being tangled in the tree as leverage to convince him to finally try her fruit cake. It had been something he had somehow managed to avoid for nearly a decade, but one loose branch of a tree and the lip of his hat tangling together broke that streak of luck. “I suppose it has been a while…”
“A year!” Charlie exclaims, the hand not wrapped around her mug waving in the air to prove her point. “That’s why I think you should come to the fair. We will have so much fun and you can meet Alastor. I actually think the two of you will get along. No, I know you will!”
Lucifer scoffs. “Sweetheart, I love your optimism, but don’t put a lot of hope into this. I’m not making any promises to ‘make friends’ with this guy.”
“Alastor,” Charlie helpfully supplies as if Lucifer didn’t intentionally avoid using his name to make a point.
“Right, yes. Alastor.” Lucifer waves his hand in the air dismissively. “I don’t think we’ll be as close as you’re thinking we may be. Even just thinking of the guy over the last week has made my skin crawl.”
Charlie furrows her brows. “All of this from a little bit of mining in the forest and a smile?”
“Yes,” Lucifer states simply with a shrug of his shoulder.
“That’s… hm.” Charlie raises her mug to her lips and downs the last bit of her tea. “Then come to the fair for me. Forget making friends, even though I think you should.”
Lucifer pictures the crowds of out-of-towners visiting for the attractions and games. He thinks about the noise and the bits of food that always makes its way to the pavement before the night’s end. He imagines the conversations he’ll have to have with all of the townspeople that he hasn’t seen in one place in a while– almost a year apparently– and how stilted every last one of them is bound to be.
But then he thinks about how happy it will make Charlie. And about meeting this Alastor person.
“I’ll be there,” Lucifer assures her with a gentle squeeze to her hand.
Charlie squeals and leaps across the table to hug him, sending her chair tumbling backwards and into the kitchen wall. “Thank you! I know everyone will be really excited to see you!”
The morning of the fair, Lucifer fastens the clasp on his cloak around his neck then brushes his hands against the fabric to smooth it out. He grabs his hat from where it rests on one of the posts on his bed and places it on his head, his fingers brushing against the patchwork that lines the inside from many years of use. He fiddles with the medallion on the brim of his hat until the engraved snake and apple are in the correct position.
Lucifer gives himself one more look over in the full length mirror that sits in the corner of his room, turning side to side before deeming himself acceptable enough to venture into town.
He takes in the crisp fall morning and lets the coolness enter his lungs to be exhaled in a warm puff of air in front of him. He's forgotten how much he enjoys this season. Every other step, the bottom of his boots meet fallen leaves to create a delightful crunch under his shoe. It's not long into his walk that he starts to intentionally walk in the path of every leaf to hear the crunch again.
Lucifer smiles to himself on the rest of his way into town.
He thinks about Charlie's sentiment about how she smiles to herself while completing tasks and how Alastor doing so isn't as strange as he made it seem. His smile twitches, but he keeps it in place.
Yet, a part of Lucifer wonders if he looks as strange as that man had looked to him.
Then again, hopefully nobody is sitting inside their home watching him long enough to judge him.
Lucifer scoffs to himself as he becomes uncomfortably aware of how creepy he probably looked that day hovering in his window while watching Alastor. How strange it would have been if Alastor had caught him watching him…
Thankfully, his shoes hit the stone pathway that leads into the center of town before he can think too much about that. He looks around and realizes that he's arrived before any other fair-goers.
One of the attraction tents is still being set up while the people manning booths are busy rigging up the games and setting up prizes. He finds Charlie over at one, helping attach stuffed figures onto a string that hangs around the booth.
Whenever she sees him, she waves him over with an excited flap of her hand and a slight pang of guilt hits Lucifer’s chest. He really should have made more of an effort to come to the town events for her sake.
Especially after Charlie became mayor and started to put a lot of energy into planning them.
"Dad, you made it!" Charlie exclaims while hopping over the little rope barrier set up around the booth. She throws her arms around him and shakes them side to side before pulling away and pointing to the game booth with a bright smile. "Doesn't this game look fun? And look, Angel made these plush prizes. Aren't they cute?"
Lucifer looks at the rows of balloons stuck to the pegboard propped up against the back of the booth and the darts laying off to the side. It's a classic that he remembers seeing at the fairs that he's attended over the years. The stuffed figures dangling from the rope are amazing.
Various sizes of different animals and creatures that can be found across the valley with enough detail in the stitching to make them higher quality than any fair probably deserves. He's a bit surprised Angel would put so much effort into something that would hang in a carnival game.
"He didn't want to save them for a more difficult game?" Lucifer asks, eyes already locked onto the blue duck towards the back of the prize section. He has very rarely participated in any fair games over the years, but he might throw a few darts to get his hands on that cute little guy.
"Oh, they're in all of the booths!" Charlie's eyes sparkle while she gestures to the other games around the town’s square. Sure enough, the prizes hanging from the walls of the booths consist entirely of Angel's plushies. "I'm going to try to win the brown cow for Vaggie later tonight. Maybe she'll put it on the shop counter."
Lucifer pictures Vaggie proudly displaying the plush on the counter beside her register and catalogue, reaching over it to complete transactions. She's always had a no-nonsense business practice that Lucifer has admired and picturing a stuffed brown cow in the midst of all that makes him smile. "She'll love it."
An out-of-towner trying to set their booth up starts to have trouble with adding a weighted jug to their tent and calls for Charlie. She gives Lucifer an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I really have to go help. I'll find you later, okay?"
"That's fine, sweetheart."
"Oh, Dad?" Charlie asks after taking a few steps away. Whenever he tilts his head in question, she smiles and says, "It really means a lot that you came today. Thank you."
Lucifer spends a few moments watching Charlie bounce from booth to booth, helping with problem after problem. Every person beams after she fixes their issue with complete ease. He feels proud watching how easily she helps others.
After a while, he decides to roam around the relatively empty square to see what else aside from the plush duck that he may want to check out later. The sizzle of oil coming from one of the food stands draws him in to watch through the window of the stall. His stomach grumbles whenever he sees batter flowing through a funnel and into a deep fryer. He makes a mental note to come back and get a funnel cake before the night is over.
It's not long before people start to filter into the roped off area of town. Lucifer picks up bits and pieces of conversations as a small group of out-of-towners pass him by.
"It's so nice to get out of the city," one person says to their friend before taking an overdramatic inhale through their nose. "The air here smells much better with all the trees, don't you think?"
"And it's so quiet too," their friend says. They nod and smile at Lucifer as they pass him and continue to chat about how small towns are so much healthier for the body while they walk up to the booth selling deep fried cheese on a stick.
Lucifer notices after awhile that people have started to gather around the grange boxes that are being set up by shop owners displaying their goods from the season.
Adam stacks various vegetables and fruits into a box with a huge, obnoxious sign on the front that has his name on it. He looks smug as he carefully angles two pumpkins and an eggplant to create a crude display.
“Adam…” Charlie groans when she notices while passing by. She gestures to the vegetables and Lucifer watches as his daughter fights for a way to phrase her words nicely. “There are children here. Could you maybe… alter this part of your display?”
“Killin’ my creative juices here, babe,” Adam huffs out even as he reaches to rearrange the pumpkins to be at the back of his box and puts the eggplant into the neat stack with others.
Charlie’s smile twitches at the pet name, but doesn’t say anything as she watches him fix his display. She awkwardly pats him on the shoulder and gives him a “Thank you!” before she trots off to check on how the other display boxes are.
Lucifer takes them all in: Adam with his newly corrected vegetable display, Niffty with her various buckets of bait and prized fish, and Vaggie with her animal products. He wonders why Vaggie fusses over how the eggs are presented and how fluffy the bundles of wool look– it’s not as if she could ever win first place. It would come across as favoritism because she’s married to the mayor.
Still, he does catch a few out of towners glancing at Vaggie’s display with interest and even one person stops to ask if she sells her goods. And he realizes, with an ounce of guilt for doubting her, that she clearly has ulterior motives to setting up a display than just winning a handful of tokens that can be exchanged for less than stellar items.
Then something catches Lucifer’s eye. Tucked between Adam’s and Vaggie’s displays, is a box being filled by the very man he saw in the woods. The same height, the same round glasses, and the same damn smile.
Except… the man– Alastor, he reminds himself– doesn't seem half as creepy as he had whenever Lucifer had seen him for the first time. Alastor’s smile still looks as though it's glued to his face, not genuine in the slightest. It seems like he's trying to look pleasant instead of actually being so.
Alastor gives him a slight nod to acknowledge his presence whenever he catches Lucifer staring for too long. He goes to apologize, but his words never make it out whenever he sees the horrific stage that Alastor's grange box is in.
A common mushroom, a sapling, an egg, and a stack of hay wouldn't have seemed too bad. A bit underwhelming, but it wouldn't have snagged Lucifer's attention. What sets him off about it is that he watches Alastor place a beautiful, clean cut diamond in the middle of all of the common objects. It sends so much fury through him that before he can think, he says, "That's a bit tacky, don't you think?"
Alastor turns from his display, his smile turning sharp and all teeth. "Hm?"
"Putting a beautiful stone next to things you probably picked up on your way here. It's awful. It's despicable. It's—"
"Wow, Alastor!" Charlie exclaims as she pops up behind Lucifer suddenly. Her eyes wide as she takes in the entirety of his display. "I love how different your display is. Using simple items that you found in the wild to show the true beauty of the stone. I think we've found our winner for this year's showcase. Well done!" Charlie congratulates Alastor with a double thumbs up and a huge smile.
"Say what now?" Lucifer deadpans as he stares daggers between the grange display and the man who has started to really get under his skin just by standing there.
Alastor smirks at him before giving Charlie a softer smile. Lucifer can't tell if he means it or if this asshole is trying to pull one over on his daughter. "Thank you, Mayor Charlie. It has truly been a pleasure to participate."
Lucifer watches in horror as Charlie pulls Alastor into a hug with a squeal. "I can't wait to see what you bring next year!"
Alastor awkwardly pats her on the back with his smile straining at the corners. Charlie's always been one to openly display her affection and Lucifer knows that it can be a lot for some people. But for some reason the way Alastor's body stiffens irritates him.
Charlie's hugs are the best and he should consider himself blessed!
"Oh right, personal space— sorry!" Charlie pulls away quickly and rubs the back of her neck sheepishly for a moment before reaching into her pocket to pull out a small satchel of tokens. "Here is your compensation for winning first place! You can take these to any of the shop booths in exchange for a bunch of cool items. A few of the trucks are taking them in exchange for food as well. Congratulations again!"
Alastor takes the bag, no longer looking strained and awkward, and crouches down to slip it into a bag that he has sitting under his display box. It isn’t long after that Charlie departs to talk with a group of fair patrons that have traveled from the city. The second she steps away, Alastor looks up and over his shoulder to smirk at Lucifer.
"Your daughter quite liked my 'despicable' display." The asshole stands with the bag in hand and starts to pack up his items from the grange display into it, all while giving Lucifer smug looks. "Now, what does that say about your taste?"
Lucifer rolls his eyes with a huff and mumbles an "Unbelievable…" as he walks away, leaving Alastor cackling behind him.
~**~
Lucifer picks up one of the darts in front of him and aims it at a balloon with great precision. Right as he's about to let go of the dart, someone bumps into his back with enough force that the needle of the dart ends up getting stuck to the pegboard backing instead of striking the balloon's center like he had wanted.
He grumbles while picking up another dart only for the same thing to happen again. He looks over his shoulder to see that there's nobody really behind him and chalks it up to there being a group of people that had been walking too close to him while passing by. He sighs and grabs another dart.
Lucifer isn't even in the right position to throw the dart yet when the force hits his back again. This time hard enough that the dart clatters to the wooden top of the booth's counter and sends the rest of his collection of darts toppling off the other side, much to the annoyance of the operator overseeing the game.
He turns on his heel to have a few choice words with whoever keeps passing by without any consideration for who they’re bumping into. He frowns whenever he sees that Alastor is now a few steps behind him, giving him that stupid shit eating grin that he gave him earlier.
"Oh, clumsy me." Alastor fishes in his pocket and places a few coins onto the countertop. He slowly pushes them until they sit right in front of Lucifer space. "Do try again. You looked like you were really going to get it that time."
Lucifer rolls his eyes and turns to leave. He hears Alastor mention something to the operator about keeping the money anyway and Lucifer assumes that he’s finally rid of him. Until he goes to another game and feels that same annoying presence at his back.
"If you didn't have luck with darts, what makes you think that you'll have any luck with a plastic ball and hoop?" Alastor taunts with his mouth way too close to Lucifer's ear, causing his shoulder to jut up and rub at it furiously.
"What happened to your ‘preference for personal space’?" Lucifer seethes before he leaves this booth as well and escapes to one of the tents, hoping that Alastor will find something else to do.
He pays the required fee to get inside the tent, not even looking to see what the attraction is, and the second the flaps close, Lucifer lets out a sigh of relief at the quiet that surrounds him. He hadn't realized just how much the noise of the crowd has been irritating him since he has been so focused on Alastor annoying him.
Lucifer's shoulders relax and he finally takes in the contents of the tent.
A large pool has been set up to take up most of the space. The water inside of it laps at the sides as a handful of fish swim around. He watches them until he feels all of the irritation dissipate from his body.
Lucifer pulls the flaps of the tent back and looks for any signs of a tall pain in his ass. When the coast is clear, he slips out and sticks close to the outskirts of the main attractions to avoid running back into Alastor.
Before he knows it, he's back in front of the funnel cake stand and his stomach growls loud enough that a child passing him looks back over their shoulder in horror.
Lucifer approaches the stand with determination, waits in line for a beat too long, and then gives the vendor a half smile.
"One please." Lucifer goes to hand the food vendor the currency but instead an arm reaches over his shoulder and places coins in their open palm.
"Make it two please." Alastor tells the vendor who nods and turns to start working on the funnel cakes.
Lucifer's jaw clenches. "I could pay for myself, you know."
"Consider it an apology for my awful behavior today," Alastor says saccharinely. He walks around to face Lucifer and sighs, all for show. "I haven't made the best first impression. Then again, neither have you."
Lucifer glares at that too-much-teeth smile and huffs. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" Alastor asks, his words coming out in a sing-songy taunt. He pulls at Lucifer's cape to redirect him to the side of the food booth whenever the person behind them clears her throat, annoyed that the two of them have been preventing the line from moving forward.
"Get off of me," Lucifer hisses while batting his hand away from his cape. Alastor raises his hands up in defense and steps back, his smile only growing sharper and more amused. "Don't you have better things to do?"
"Hm." Alastor looks over to the stand where one of the extra workers is stepping out from behind the booth to bring over two plates of pastries. Alastor holds out his hands and takes… both plates. "Oh, these look fantastic. Thank you."
Lucifer waits for Alastor to pass one of the funnel cakes to him but instead he starts walking away. "Hey!"
"Yes?" Alastor turns his head, but keeps the plates in front of him. Purposely out of Lucifer's reach, as if he would try to yank the plates out of his hold.
"One of those is mine."
Alastor looks at his plates and then at Lucifer, cocking his head in question. "I don't think so. I paid for both, no?"
Lucifer's jaw drops. "You son of a bitch…"
"You should get back in line if you want one of these delicious pastries. The fair is closing soon." Alastor winks at him before he turns back around and walks away with the only fair food Lucifer had been looking forward to all day.
He groans and steps back into line. His foot taps against the pavement in irritation, ignoring the half-glares thrown over shoulders by the people in front of him. By the time he gets to the counter, his money is already in hand. He grits out, "One please."
"Sorry, sir, but we just sold the last of our supply." The vendor gives him an apologetic look and gestures to the small basket of other items they have in stock. Would you like something to drink instead?"
Lucifer's eye twitches, but he forces himself to give the vendor a polite smile. "No, thank you."
He walks away and grumbles, slinging swear after curse at Alastor and the frustration he's put him through. Every leaf on the pavement that crunches under his feet fuels his anger further and he kicks at a small pile in his frustration.
A group of tourists look at him in confusion and pull their children closer to them as they begin walking on the opposite side of the footpath.
Alastor has hit a nerve that Lucifer didn't know existed. He should have trusted his first instinct of the man. He has never wanted to hit someone over a fried pastry before tonight.
Lucifer starts to head to the exit closest to his tower, in no mood to socialize further and hoping he can do so without any more encounters with Alastor. He'll have to apologize to Charlie for not giving her a proper goodbye some other time…
"You look like you could go for a reading," a woman sitting at a table inside of a tent calls to Lucifer as he passes. Her voice is so familiar that he stops in his tracks.
"Sera, is that you?" Lucifer pokes his head into the tent and gasps, "It is you! I can't believe it… How have you been?"
He steps further into the tent to hover by her table and part of his anger melts away at seeing an old friend from his apprenticeship days.
Sera brushes back pieces of her lavender hair away from her face and gestures to the chair. "Come now, Lucifer. You know how I hate catching up. Sit for a moment and let me read you."
Lucifer hesitantly pulls the chair away from the table, its metal legs scraping against the stone, and slides into it. He isn't that fond of fortunes and crystal balls; he's always found it to be a bit gimmicky. Not that he would tell Sera that, of course!
Instead, he watches her move her slender hands around her crystal ball, how it clouds up and flashes with images only she can interpret. "Hm… very interesting."
"Sera…" Lucifer grumbles, folding one of his legs over the other and fisting at his cape to keep his composure.
"Do not rush me," Sera warns as her fingers skirt over the crystal. Her brows pinch whenever she stops in the middle. "It's very dark out and the stars are bright in the sky. There is a man that I've never seen, but you seem quite happy sitting next to him…"
Lucifer straightens in his seat and tries to make sense of whatever she sees through the fog. "A man?"
"He's quite tall, a bit on the thin side… and a smile that looks a bit uncanny," Sera chuckles a little under her breath as she continues to run her fingers along her ball. "Uncanny, but he's happy. How strange."
It feels like a weight drops down into Lucifer's stomach. Surely she cannot mean… that's preposterous. It has to be somebody else.
"This man is of great irritation to you… for now. With some mending, this will transform into…" Sera jerks back from the ball, her fingers flexing as the fog in the crystal disappears. "Well, the ball has advised me to no longer share the details."
"Right," Lucifer huffs and stands from the chair, nearly knocking it over behind him. He doesn't believe any of this for a second. "Thank you, Sera. I need to… go. Have a night. Nice, ahem, a nice night."
Lucifer storms out of the tent, not registering her goodbye as he beelines straight for his tower.
Sera must have seen Alastor terrorizing him all evening and decided to play some sort of juvenile prank on him.
He knew it was a gimmick…
Three days after the fair (in which he spent the majority of his time having imaginary fights with Alastor— all of which he came out as the victor, thank you very much!) Lucifer finally decides to simply let it all go. He refuses to spend any more time and energy on that frustrating man.
He makes a nice breakfast to celebrate the turning of this new leaf; a cup of coffee and a stack of pancakes that is several high and drowning in syrup. Every bite is sweet and fluffy, doing wonders in elevating his mood.
Lucifer is halfway through his plate whenever there's a knock at his door. An obnoxious rhythm that causes him to jump and shake the mug raised up to his mouth. A few drops of coffee dribble down his chin and onto the front of his tunic shirt. He grumbles the entire way to the door, hoping that the coffee isn't too noticeable.
He cracks the door open and groans, slamming it shut the second he sees Alastor with his now signature sharp grin, a smudge of dirt on his face, and a belt of farming tools around his waist. A huff of laughter barely makes it through the thick wood of his front door before the obnoxious knocking starts up again.
"What?!" Lucifer hisses whenever he throws the door back open.
"Not a morning person, are you?" Alastor clicks his tongue and shakes his head in faux disappointment before he shrugs and starts to push a small sack into Lucifer's hands. "This is for you."
"What is it?" Lucifer holds the bag at arm's length and eyes it suspiciously, which makes Alastor's eyes gleam with amusement.
"Just a little gift for giving me such a warm welcome to Pride Town earlier this week. Even if it is two seasons late," Alastor grumbles the last bit under his breath, but his smile sharpens all the same.
Lucifer frowns, brows pinching as a sharp pain starts behind his eye. "You could have introduced yourself at any time."
Alastor waves him off and gestures to the bag. "Go on. Open it."
Lucifer rolls his eyes but opens the sack to look inside anyway. Inside, he finds common mushrooms and tree saplings. “What is this? What am I looking at?”
“The bounty of your own backyard!” Alastor exclaims with a showy wave of his dirt covered gloved hands. “Isn’t that nice? Such wonderful things only a few steps outside your door.”
Lucifer closes the bag and tosses it back to Alastor with an unamused look. “So you gave me trash.”
“Trash?” Alastor gasps dramatically, throwing a hand over his heart for added effect. “You wound me. All my hard work to–”
“Will you knock that off?” Lucifer groans as he rubs at his temples. “Why are you even giving me this anyway? We didn’t exactly get along the other night and I certainly would prefer never seeing you again if I can manage it.”
Alastor's posturing halts; his overexaggerated grin relaxes slightly and he sighs. "It's Mayor Charlie's idea. She seems to have put some kind of program together to 'encourage bonds within the community'." He puts air quotes around the end and rolls his eyes to really drive home his distaste for it.
"This concerns me how?"
"Are you not a member of said community?" Alastor adjusts one of the gardening tools on his belt and shifts his weight between his feet. "Mayor Charlie has a reward system in place for it all. Give small gifts to the townspeople on her list and she gives a variety of items in return. Most of which will make my life easier, so I agreed to partake."
Lucifer scoffs. While he believes that creating what is essentially a bribe based system to make pseudo- friends was not Charlie’s intention, that is exactly what he thinks some people– Alastor included– have taken away from it. "Again, how does this include me? Why would I help make your life easier?"
"It would make both of our lives easier, really," Alastor says while brushing at a spot of dirt on his shirt with his thumb, causing the bag Lucifer threw at him to swing in his hand as he does so.
"Right, it really benefits me to be gifted with weeds." Lucifer rolls his eyes. "Can't you just tell Charlie that you gave a gift instead of actually bothering me with these?"
Alastor gasps, all fake and for show. “You want me to lie to your little girl?”
Lucifer sighs and rubs at his temples again. Sure, he would prefer nobody lie to Charlie, but he also really really doesn’t want to see this horrible, annoying man more than he has to.
“Besides, I couldn’t lie if I wanted to. There’s some kind of enchantment on the books that she keeps records in. It refuses to let me fake the information. It’s rather annoying, really. Do you think I wanted to waste my time coming all the way here today?” Alastor gives him an unamused look.
Curse the light magic Charlie is able to perform, Lucifer thinks to himself as he briefly regrets teaching her what he was able to whenever she was a young girl. Even if he does feel terribly guilty for even thinking that.
“Fine,” Lucifer says through gritted teeth. “How often can I expect to be bothered by you and these horrible gifts?”
“Daily.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was. That I promise you.” And for the first time since Lucifer met him, he believes every word Alastor is saying.
~**~
"Good afternoon," Alastor says whenever Lucifer cracks the door open just enough for a hand to fit through. Alastor gestures to his hand and lets out a little amused laugh. "This is different."
Lucifer doesn't have the mental energy to deal with the smile and the back and forth today. He holds his hand out until Alastor puts whatever he needs to into it. A light burlap bag drops into his hand and he brings it inside.
"Goodbye," Lucifer says before shutting the door. Alastor chuckles behind the wood before leaving, his boots hitting the stone pathway getting quieter the further he gets away from the tower.
Lucifer looks at the bag and rolls his eyes as he pulls it open. Two eggs, a pinecone, and a small collection of sap.
He sighs and tosses it onto his kitchen table, causing the shell of the eggs inside to knock against the surface and crack horribly. A mess of yolk and egg whites seep out of the burlap and leaves a mess for him to clean up.
Even when Alastor isn’t in his presence he still somehow manages to annoy him.
~**~
"Good afternoon," Alastor greets Lucifer. He's standing further back from the door this time and whenever the door is opened further than the day before, his usual smile grows. "I see we have manners today."
Lucifer glares at the bag in his hand, remembering the goopy mess from yesterday. "No eggs this time."
"You didn't like them? My girls worked hard to make those." Alastor seems almost offended, his brows furrowing and his smile turning down ever so slightly. It could be Lucifer's imagination, but he thinks that he even sees Alastor's fingers curl around the burlap sack protectively.
Lucifer feels a bit bad. Not for hurting Alastor's feelings or anything, but he does feel awful at the thought of wasting the efforts of the chickens. "I'm— no, that's not… I accidentally broke them yesterday. I threw the bag down because I thought that it was going to be weeds again and wasn't expecting there to be something breakable inside."
"Mmmhmm," Alastor hums dramatically. "Well, do be more careful this time with where you put the bag and how hard you set it down. There are three large eggs in here."
Huh.
"Got it." Lucifer takes the bag and retreats back into the tower.
The eggs go unbroken.
That evening, he fries them up in a skillet over his small stove.
He hates that they are delicious.
~**~
It's been three days that Alastor has been going out of his way to walk south of his farm, wade through weeds, chop away at wood, break up stone, and climb the crumbling steps to give that ungrateful louse his daily 'friendship' gift. He personally doesn't understand why Lucifer had been so upset with the mushrooms that first day. The saplings, sure, he could understand being disappointed in receiving, but the mushrooms would have made a nice sauce to go over the leftover pasta that Alastor had in his fridge at the time.
Hell, if Lucifer could come down from his high horse for even a moment, he would be able to see that even though the saplings come from the wild, they could still be useful and made into quality items. Alastor is very thankful for the nutrition and energy boost that they provide while he’s in the middle of farming.
He has been trying to include a few higher quality items in the sack to make the trip worth it for both of them. According to Charlie, the more positive the reaction, the faster the friendship will grow.
Not that he really cares about that.
There's just a book of recipes in Charlie’s reward system that he's had his eye on is all. Not having a television in his farmhouse does have its downsides in this weird little town, it would seem.
This morning while Alastor does his routine foraging, he comes across multiple bushes at the bus stop that are ripe with berries. He fills his pack until every single pocket is overflowing and then loads up a small bag with what is left to take to Lucifer.
Alastor is sure Lucifer will complain about the berries being ‘from the outside’, but still he finds that he wants to share them anyhow.
Despite it being earlier than his usual visits, Alastor makes the trek up to Lucifer's tower. He knocks on the door with the same rhythmic knuckle tapping that he has done for the last three days and waits for Lucifer to answer.
Slowly, the door inches open until half of Lucifer’s face comes into view with his eyes squinting against the barely raised sun. The further the door opens, the more his disheveled form is revealed.
Lucifer's usual cape and hat are missing and his hair is sticking up in every direction. He's wearing an oversized tunic shirt and pajama pants with ducks printed on them. A fist comes up to his face to rub away the sleep in his eye and he talks through a yawn, "You're early."
A warm feeling spreads in Alastor’s chest and the moment his brain registers it, he nearly recoils. If not for the sleepy eyes on him, he would have.
“Yes, well, hard work calls for it,” Alastor quips with the same amount of attitude he’s been using with Lucifer since they first met. “You wouldn’t know much about that would you, hm?”
Lucifer rolls his eyes, lids barely open enough to see it, and that damn warm feeling spreads even more throughout Alastor when he mumbles, “You’re such an asshole.”
“Yes, well, this town was chock-full of reclusive bitch.”
Lucifer snorts and leans against the doorframe. “Are you going to give me your bag of bullshit sometime today or no?”
Alastor chucks the bag at Lucifer, finding much needed satisfaction in the oof he lets out when it hits his chest before hitting the ground. He grumbles and bends to pick it up, glaring at Alastor when he straightens.
Lucifer opens the bag and instead of looking pissed or annoyed, he looks pleasantly surprised. “Where did you find these?”
“The bushes lining the fencing by the bus stop,” Alastor shares easily, his words now missing that well crafted snark due to being so caught off guard by how pleased Lucifer looks with the berries.
“Huh.” Lucifer grabs one of the berries and looks at it under the bright morning sun. The purply-blue pops against his pale palm. “I’ll have to make a trip over there sometime.”
Then Lucifer is closing his door and leaving Alastor outside, confused and a bit uncomfortable with the warm feeling sitting heavy in his chest.
If Lucifer receives berries for the rest of the week, then it is purely out of coincidence.
There has always been one event that without fail Lucifer has not only attended, but has always made a major contribution towards. Spirit’s Eve, Halloween, Hallows' Eve— whatever one may call it, he has always been a fan. And for Pride Town's celebration, he has been in charge of the main attraction for the last two decades.
It started the first year Lucifer and Charlie moved into town. The mayor at the time was ecstatic over having, in his exact words, a ‘genuine wizard’ in their little town and thought that with Lucifer’s magic, he would be able to make the most terrifying haunted maze that Pride Town had ever seen. He wanted to put Lucifer's face and the tagline of the haunted maze being made with real magic on the advertisements.
It rubbed Lucifer the wrong way and he set out to prove to the mayor that he could make a maze completely magic free and still have it turn out to be haunting. With minimal trial and error, he managed to scare every resident of their town. Two decades later, he continues his spooky streak.
Absolutely no magic needed.
Lucifer had been able to create and pull off something horrifying with nothing more than plastic props and the cover of the night. After decades of his wizardry defining him, it was and continues to be quite rewarding.
The entire town gets roped off during the day and those who live in town are asked to occupy themselves inside their homes or elsewhere. "To keep the element of surprise!" Charlie had once said. Lucifer enjoys the solitude as he works his non-magic, setting up the hedges in a confusing maze and placing fake spiders and gravestones within them.
The sound of the crunchy leaves that are way more crisp than they had been during the fair as the season comes to a close and the cool breeze rustling through the ones still attached to the trees is all the magic he needs.
When the sun begins to set over the horizon, Lucifer has Charlie do a test run and when she comes out the other end looking paler than usual, he believes he has found success for yet another year.
"That was… You outdid yourself this year, Dad… heh." Charlie jumps and looks behind her whenever a leaf falls from a tree and flutters beside her ear.
Lucifer chuckles and puts a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Geez, Char-Char, I didn't think I made it that much scarier than last year. What got you— the giant spider? The bats? The cauldron that bubbles aggressively when you pass it?"
"Oh gosh, that one!" Charlie points at him and heaves a sigh. "I don't know why it got me. I'm used to your actual cauldron constantly bubbling, but I know you're strict about not using magic for this. I just wasn't expecting it!"
"You know I had to rig up a pulley system with the spider webs. When you walk through them, a handful of mints are deposited into a vat of carbonated beverage to create the bubbling effect. That took me hours to perfect!" Lucifer shares, excitedly gesturing with his hands to mimic mints falling into the soda.
Charlie follows his fingers with apprehension and when he stops, she sighs in relief. "I need to go help Husk put the rest of the food together. Will you send out the message that the event is open whenever you’re done here?"
"Absolutely I can. Have fun, sweetie!" Lucifer waves as she departs and a thrum of excitement goes through his veins.
He cannot wait to see everyone's reactions tonight.
~**~
The smell of roasted potatoes and various soups wafts up from the town to where Lucifer stands behind the cover of the hedges while he watches the townspeople venturing in and out of his maze. His stomach growls as he thinks about filling up on the food and the pumpkin wine he knows from previous years Husk has prepared. It has always been his celebratory tradition for another successful Spirit's Eve to overindulge once the last person has left the maze.
And Lucifer deserves every morsel for how well the maze has been working to send shivers up the spines of Pride Town's population tonight.
Angel and Cherri got so scared by a skeleton that flung down from a tree branch, leading to both of them throwing punches together until it fell to the ground. They fell into a fit of giggles as they finished the maze and Lucifer had to sneak back in to rig it back up.
Niffty became distracted by admiring the smaller spiders he had littered around in the grass that she wasn't prepared for the large, human sized spider to start glowing and hissing behind her. She scurried into a hedge and got wrapped into a bunch of fake webbing that she clawed her way out of before running out of the rest of the maze screeching.
Carmilla's daughters hung onto each other as they walked quickly through the maze, jumping at every scare, but thankfully not causing any damage that Lucifer had to sneak in behind to fix before the next person could come in.
Now, Lucifer watches in amusement as Alastor keeps getting turned around. He seems more frustrated with the false openings that become stops in the hedges than put on edge by the decorations and scares. Lucifer takes great joy in watching Alastor become aggravated and huffy.
"Where the… fuck…" Alastor mutters to himself after the tenth loop around the same section of the maze. Behind the hedges, Lucifer's grinning so hard that his cheeks ache. He has always taken pride in frightening the townsfolk and he's excitedly waiting to see if any part of his maze will be able to scare the man that has been the thorn in his side for the last couple of weeks.
Alastor pushes fake spider webs over a corner of one of the hedges aside, sighing with relief whenever he finally discovers the entrance to the next area of the maze. Lucifer slowly follows him from his side of the hedges in hopes of seeing his reactions to the rest of the maze.
He passes the zombified hands poking up out of the dirt without flinching, completely ignores the spiders, and steps over the pile of fake bones. Anticipation begins to bubble up in Lucifer’s chest when he realizes that one of his best props is coming up: a seven foot tall plastic skeleton of a dog. Surely this will terrify Alastor enough to wipe that stupid perma-smile off of his face– even if it will only be for a second.
Then something strange happens…
In less than a second after Alastor comes face-to-face with the very large plastic dog skeleton, he completely freezes in place. Lucifer watches with glee as his smile wobbles and drops away to a frown.
Lucifer expects Alastor’s smile to return after a few moments and for him to walk briskly out of the maze with that false bravado that he always has. Yet this doesn't happen. Perspiration starts to bead on his forehead as a tremor starts in his hands and his breathing noticeably quickens.
The anticipation twists sharply into something ugly in Lucifer’s stomach. This is far from the reaction he had been expecting from Alastor. He wanted to see him scared, not downright petrified. Lucifer gets closer to the hedges and clears his throat awkwardly.
“Follow my voice,” Lucifer calls out from behind the shrubbery, causing Alastor to yelp loudly. He waits for Alastor to scold him, but the only thing he does is start to very slowly walk backwards with his eyes still fixated on the plastic dog until he reaches the part of the hedges where Lucifer’s voice had come from.
"Now push the leaves to your right to the side to reveal the emergency exit." Lucifer holds open the leaves on the other side so that Alastor only has to focus on pulling the fake hedge leaves to his side and stepping through until he's standing in front of Lucifer. "And there we go."
Alastor's lips strain upwards as if he's trying to force that smile back on his face, but it looks painful and horribly unnatural with his clammy skin. "Yes, there… we go."
Alastor stares out at the rocky cliffside behind them and takes in a long, slow inhale of breath. It shudders on the exhale. Lucifer waits for him to walk away, but he stays rooted in place as he continues to take deep breaths. He wonders if he should walk away and give Alastor space, but whenever he turns his feet slightly in the leaves, Alastor's head jerks over to look at him with wide eyes.
"What was at the, um, the end of it?"
"The maze?"
Alastor nods and swallows thickly while running his shirt sleeve over his forehead to wipe away the beads of sweat. A little bit of color is coming back to his skin the more he breathes.
"A golden pumpkin," Lucifer says with a light chuckle. "Really just kitschy decor as a prize for completing the maze."
"So nothing of value then," Alastor snarks, his smile looking a bit more confident now, even with his fingers still trembling slightly at his sides.
"Asshole." Lucifer snorts. He hears a few people passing through the maze, yelling and laughing at the massive skeletal dog that lies behind those hedges. Alastor's jaw ticks despite his smile staying the same. He doesn't know if it's appropriate to ask Alastor about his own reaction to the horror decoration, so instead he tells him, "Husk usually pulls out a few bottles of pumpkin wine around this time. You should be able to snag one if Mimzy hasn't pilfered them all by now."
Alastor waves him off with a flick of his wrist and tries to put on a confident face that Lucifer sees right through. "I would love to, but I think I'll take my leave. Please thank Mayor Charlie for putting together another wonderful event."
Before Lucifer can even start to bid him farewell, Alastor has turned to walk quickly out of town, keeping a wide berth to the hedge maze on his way out.
A high pitch screech from inside the maze brings Lucifer out of the weird side-place he has been in while trying to calm down Alastor. He creeps closer to the hedges a few feet away from the emergency exit to watch Pentious claw at an animatronic hand poking out in front of one of the tombstones, the fingers clamped down on his shoe.
The moment Pentious is free, he scurries out of the maze with his eyes tightly shut and his arms wrapped protectively around his middle.
For a while, Alastor's panic fades from Lucifer's mind while he watches the rest of the townspeople, and repeat risk takers, venture in and out of the maze. It isn't until he's on his way back to his tower, belly full of Husk's pumpkin wine and all the roasted potatoes he could handle, that Alastor pops back into his head.
His first instinct is to blame the wine making his head all swimmy. He could have been thinking about anything; a fish, the collection of weeds growing by his tower that he needs to take care of, or the stars. Just because Alastor comes into his head doesn't have to mean anything.
Then Lucifer's boots hit the steps to his home and he still hasn't been able to stop thinking about Alastor's pale, terrified face.
He looks off in the direction of where Alastor's farm is and decides that he owes him an apology.
Right now.
In the middle of the night.
Lucifer starts down the worn path into Alastor’s farm and instantly stubs his toe on a large stone overlapping the entrance to the property. He curses and flips off the rock before continuing to walk through the pitch black farm. In his tipsy state, he just barely manages to prevent himself from running into a tree every couple of steps. He would have too if it hadn't been for the soft glow of light that’s coming from up the farm.
Lucifer follows the path to an area lit by torches leading up to a coop with the door still open. There, laying in front of the coop, is Alastor in a collapsed heap with a chicken resting on his backside. His cheek pillows on a pile of leaves with his mouth slightly parted. A blade of grass gets sucked into his mouth with every breath in and is spat back out with every soft snore laced exhale.
A loud, hearty laugh bubbles out of Lucifer and before he knows it, he’s doubling over at the waist and having to brace himself on his knees to keep upright. He keeps chuckling as he gets closer until his boots bump into Alastor’s leg. Still, Alastor does not stir for a second. The chicken on his back, however, cracks open an eye and ruffles its feathers in annoyance.
Lucifer looks around and spots Alastor’s house not too far from the coop. Did he decide to nap outside instead of going inside? Does he do this often? If so, he’d think Alastor would have chosen a better position.
He thinks about leaving Alastor where he is and coming back in the morning, but a cool breeze makes him shiver, convincing him to at least make an attempt to get Alastor inside.
“Okay, little… heh… chicken inside the coop you go,” Lucifer says through laughter while shooing the chicken off of Alastor and herding it into the coop with a flapping motion of his cape. He shuts the door to keep it safely inside for the night and then turns to figure out how he's going to pick up Alastor.
He’s never really cared about his height, but lifting a man with so much more of it than him is nothing short of awkward. He has to settle on a cross between a bridal carry and having Alastor’s arms and head flung over his shoulder so that he won't drop him.
Lucifer walks the short distance to Alastor’s house, climbs the steps up his porch, and very stiffly repositions Alastor enough to be able to turn the handle and push the door open. All while little giggles keep escaping him.
Once inside, Lucifer lets Alastor fall onto the bed that's pushed into the corner. The mattress bounces as his body meets it and he still doesn’t stir once. His snores continue as Lucifer pulls a blanket over him and tries to brush the bits of grass off of his face.
Lucifer is sure Alastor will give him shit for touching him while asleep but hopefully the lack of illness in the morning will be enough to get him to hold back a bit.
Lucifer decides that bringing Alastor inside makes up for scaring the shit out of him with the dog skeleton.
Hopefully Alastor sees it the same way.
The first thing that Alastor registers when he wakes up the next morning before his eyes even open, is the ache in his joints from being still for too long. It's a feeling that he's grown used to and that he's learned to associate with falling asleep outside.
Except… he can feel the cushion of his mattress under him instead of the hard ground and the warmth from the blanket that's been thrown over him instead of the autumn air.
Alastor realizes that someone must have moved him inside during the night and even worse, someone has been inside his home.
Alarm bells ring in his head and he jolts up in bed, instantly regretting it whenever a sharp pain zaps behind his eyes. He ignores it until he can look around his small home to ensure no stranger is still lurking in a corner. When he deems it clear, he falls back against his pillow and throws an arm over his eyes with a groan.
When Alastor stretches his legs to work out the stiffness in his knees, the mattress shakes slightly and there’s a soft thunk of something hitting the wood flooring by the bed. He removes his arm from his eyes and leans over the side of the bed to find the source of the noise.
There, right by his bedpost, is a small medallion lying face down. He reaches to pick it up and turns it over in his hand as he brings it closer for inspection. In the middle is the engraving of an apple that has a snake wrapped around it, its tail curving around the body of the apple while its head is angled towards the bottom edge.
Alastor realizes he knows exactly who this belongs to.
This medallion has been fastened to Lucifer's hat since the first day Alastor met him. Which means…
Lucifer must have moved him inside and Lucifer was inside of his home.
Without his knowledge.
This sort of thing would normally have Alastor raging over one of the townspeople traipsing through his home, but he finds that he is more uncomfortable than anything. Embarrassed.
His home isn't as tidy as he usually keeps it due to trying to wrap up his chores for the fall season while also trying to prepare for the upcoming winter. It's not horribly messy; a single dish in the sink, a basket of unfolded but clean clothing, and a bag of garbage that's just about full.
If Alastor were to have Lucifer of all people in his home, he would have preferred for all of those things to have been dealt with.
This on top of Lucifer seeing his reaction to that wretched decoration and how he had to help him find his way out of the maze like a child.
It's too much for him to handle.
In Alastor’s embarrassed and exhausted state, he decides that he can never show his face to Lucifer again.