Chapter Text
“Lucifer, mon étoile, are you coming back to bed?” Alastor had woken up to find the bed missing said fallen angel and was less than pleased. It was bad enough he was sleeping in this terrible duck bed (we do not need to discuss how ridiculously comfortable it is), the least Lucifer could do is not leave him alone in it.
It had been less than 48 hours since part one of their plan had finished and they were both still bruised and battered from dealing with that annoying picture box.
“Yeah, sorry sweetheart. Just responding to Bel, Bee and Oz. They are freaking out and Bel is threatening to show up unannounced. Again.” Lucifer ran a hand over his face and sighed as he sat his phone down and turned to face his husband. He was wearing nothing but a pair of soft cotton pajama pants, bandages covered his chest hiding new scars from his time in Vox’s machine and old ones from the fall that had never completely healed. Gold lines running over his chest and back that made Alastor think of kintsugi. Golden and ruby eyes, which normally looked at Alastor full of mischievousness and love, now just looked dull from exhaustion.
“She was just here yesterday to check on us. What does she think has happened since then?” Alastor sighed. Keeping this marriage a secret from all but a chosen few had been draining and the Sin of Sloth popping in randomly to check on them would only make it more difficult. Charlie might be oblivious to what is going on with her father, but her eagle-eyed paramour didn’t miss much.
“She’s just worried about us. I wasn’t the easiest to deal with in your absence, you can’t really blame her. They are also asking when we are going to tell Charlie.” Lucifer pulled back the covers to slide back into bed and pull Alastor to his chest, letting the comforting heat of his husband soothe the angelic steel wounds still littering his cold body.
“I can understand her worry, but that does not mean it is not irritating. Think they will agree to play along if we just pretend like we fell in love because of this whole mess?” Alastor felt more than heard the chuckle Lucifer let out at that.
“Bee and Ozzie would probably think that is hilarious. They would want to throw us the biggest wedding in Hell’s history just to pick at you. Bel would not approve and the others don’t know we’re married for a reason.”
Lucifer’s divorce from Lilith a few decades back had been messy, loud and destructive. Charlie naively still held out hope that her parents would reconcile, and she had mistaken the ring on his finger for being the old one he wore with Lilith. He hadn’t been able to correct her since moving into the hotel. He knew it was awful; he knew he was a terrible father, but just when they had been prepared to tell Charlie about him and the infamous Radio Demon, Alastor had vanished and Lucifer had become more of a hermit than usual. His depression and ADHD meant that Bel had almost pulled out all of her fur during that period in her worry over him. Unfortunately for the both of them, they had yet to find a medication that helped him for long as he either gained a tolerance to it annoyingly quick or it made him feel foggy and unfocused.
He had spent those years wallowing in bed or digging through all of the soul deals that had piled up in his office (yes, he is now aware of what a filing cabinet is, thank you) to find Alastor’s (do you have any idea how many soul contracts have Alastor’s name on them? Lucifer now does and it’s ridiculous) and even longer to find out exactly what Rosie had done to him. Freeing Alastor from her clutches was just step one in their plan. Pissing off Nox and watching Vespasienne rip his head off had just been a consolation prize.
As soon as Alastor had returned from his 7 years dissappearance, Lucifer had wasted no time in marrying his contrary sinner. It had taken some very clever wording on the marriage contract to keep it hidden from Rosie, whoever was pulling her strings (Lucifer had a bad feeling about who that was, he had yet to find that contract) and the rest of Hell, but with the help of his Hellish siblings, they had been able to keep things under wraps until they could figure out how to proceed.
“I am still upset you let all of Hell know you can’t hurt Sinners. We are going to have to rethink our whole plan.” Alastor sighed as he felt Lucifer’s nimble fingers start to find all the knots in his back and work them out.
“I know, but I lost it when Vaggi said Tox had been bad mouthing Charlie. It had been hard enough to pretending that I hate you and that I’m still in love with Lilith, that…I…I just..” Lucifer could feel the tears building.
“I know darling, it will just mean we have to be more careful moving forward. It did work out in the end though.”
“I hated you being kidnapped and in his clutches, I hated lying to Charlie, I hated lying to everyone. I’m not good at it and I’m surprised no one else has caught on.” Lucifer’s hands stopped kneading and instead pulled his husband closer to him, resting his cheek between Alastor’s antlers as he felt his control over his tears fail him.
“I think Husk has, but he will keep his mouth shut. Vaggi is the one we will need to watch out for. She is observant where Charlie is oblivious.” Niffty had figured it out early on since she cleaned the rooms and often found the two curled up together in one room or the other. Alastor didn’t want to think about what else she had observed when he had thought him and Lucifer were alone.
Alastor nuzzled into Lucifer’s neck and let his husband cry. He couldn’t bring himself to be mad at the man. Seven years separated against their will and then months of pretending to hate each other (and worse, Lucifer pretending he still loved that haughty bitch) had been hard enough. No need to fight over what couldn’t be changed.
“I’m so sorry.” Lucifer’s voice cracked as he clung tighter even though it made his wounds ache. He would gladly endure the pain if it meant that they were never separated again.
“What are you sorry for mon petit koala?” Alastor extracted himself from the Devil’s arms, carefully straddling his angels’ lap so he could cup his face in his red tipped claws and wipe away the tears that continued to fall. Tears did not suit Lucifer at all.
“That I didn’t find you sooner. That I let her use you like that. That I couldn’t stop her. That we have to hide us. That I can’t protect you. That I messed up our plan. That Box…touched you.” The tears were falling faster now, no end in sight.
“Shhh…it’s okay. We’ll figure it out. Together.” Alastor moved them so Lucifer could lay on his chest, blonde curls tucked under his chin and legs intertwined. His smile grew larger as he felt his husband’s tail wind its way around his leg. His possessive, needy, beautiful husband. The physical wounds would heal, the mental ones they would just have to endure and overcome together.
“Sleep now mon trésor. Things will be clearer in the morning.”