Lucifer's Penthouse, Thursday

[my_own_advocate]

It had been days since Dad had announced His retirement and left. Lucifer supposed he should feel relieved by now, or elated. Dad was... vacating their lives for good. And there was no doubt who His successor would be: Amenadiel, who had trained for this for his entire long celestial life.

He could admit in the privacy of his own head that Amenadiel would make a far better God than their Father had ever been.

Not for the first time in the past... month? Had it been a month? Lucifer thought about how they should be headed home. To the Rouge, and its nostalgic sailor aesthetic that, again in the privacy of his own thoughts, Lucifer could admit he sort of missed.

Perhaps it was the matter of Daniel and his well-deserved revenge that kept his thoughts so messy and his feet firmly placed within the boundaries of Los Angeles county. That had to be it. No?

Lucifer poured himself another glass of scotch and leaned against the bar, contemplating the bottles. He did still like this apartment, he mused, so there was that.

[[ expecting one, but open for phone calls ]]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer knew that, didn't he? Why hadn't he tried harder?

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

[betterthanaplan]

“For what?” Duke said. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but was hoping Lucifer would surprise him.

[my_own_advocate]

"Putting you through all this," Lucifer said. He gave Duke's hand a gentle squeeze.

[betterthanaplan]

That was better than Duke had feared it would be.

“I’m sorry your dad’s putting you through it.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer snorted. "He has been doing that for a long time," he said.

[betterthanaplan]

“And I’m sorry for that, too,” Duke said. “Even if it is one of the things we bonded over.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed.

"I just don't want to be," he said slowly, "Whatever all those other people wound up being for you."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke hummed softly, shifting so he could look up at the ceiling without having to stop using Lucifer as a pillow.

“Okay,” he said. “So . . . don’t.”

[my_own_advocate]

Another snort.

"If it was that easy, we wouldn't be here, would we?"

[betterthanaplan]

“When did I say it would be easy?” Duke asked. “And when did you start backing down from a challenge?”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. He closed his eyes. Was silent for a while.

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah.” Duke flicked him a smile. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer's free hand slid up to settle against Duke's neck. He pressed a kiss to the top of Duke's head. "I don't actually want to lose you," he said quietly.

[betterthanaplan]

“Then don’t,” Duke said again. “Hasn’t ‘fuck you I do what I want’ always been your approach to your father?”

[my_own_advocate]

"It's not about that, and you know that," Lucifer said.

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah.” Duke was quiet for a long moment. Then said: “He never said he didn’t love you.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer snorted. "He said enough."

[betterthanaplan]

“Mmm. Or . . . maybe he’s as shitty at communicating as the rest of us.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Didn't you humans invent Occam's Razor for these types of situations?" Lucifer said. "What seems more likely, that Dad is a-- shitty communicator, or that he threw me into Hell, and let at least one of my siblings die, because he can't be arsed to care?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke picked his head up to look Lucifer in the eye.

“That he’s a shitty communicator.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer eyed him back. "Don't be naive."

He thought about Uriel's blood on his suit. "It's been this way all our lives. If He'd cared... Well, we wouldn't have this discussion now, would we?"

[betterthanaplan]

“How many people do you know who have totally blown up their lives because they couldn’t say what they mean?”

[my_own_advocate]

"None who just stood by while one of their children murdered another one of their siblings when they were perfectly bloody capable of interfering," Lucifer snapped, faster than he'd anticipated.

[betterthanaplan]

"Woah, hey, I'm not saying you have to forgive the jackass or anything. Just -- what if this wasn't the first time he lost control of his powers? Maybe he's never been as almighty as he liked to pretend."

[my_own_advocate]

"Duke," Lucifer said, reaching up to press his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "Stop."

It was that or getting up to stalk around to have a drink, and tempting as that was, he was also afraid to break this moment of relative peace entirely.