Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I do!" Lucifer told her adamantly. "I know that heaven crushes anyone who tries to improve down here, and what's more, they're right. The only thing in all of hell that is worth protecting is you!"

"Dad," Charlie shook her head, struggling to find the articulation of her argument, but her father plowed on, just as sure of what he was saying.

"No, Char-bear,” he said confidently, "I love that you want to see the best in people, but sinners are just the worst. Our people, Charlie, are awful! I don't want you to put yourself on the line for people like that."

The king ended his emphatic statement by throwing his arm out to the side to gesture at what was left of the destroyed wall, an assured vindication flooding off of him.

Charlie clenched her jaw, frustration visibly building, but her father didn't give her a chance to dispute the point.

"Charlie, sweetheart," his voice warmed and softened, "I love that you're still sheltered and innocent enough to think there's anything to save out there, but you are just going to be disappointed over and over again until you grow up enough to realize that sinners are psychopaths. It's not your fault you believe those delusions,” he rushed to assure, misreading the frustration mixed with sorrow on her face that Husk could easily see, and he exchanged disgruntled looks with the others watching the confrontation.

"It's my fault,” he told her reassuringly. "Your mother and I protected you and sheltered you maybe too much, and it means you haven't gotten to see the real hell. That's my fault, sweetheart, but I can't let you pay the price for that and let you strike out into hell on this delusional project when you're still so soft and defenseless."

Charlie shrank into herself in a way that hurt Husk's heart to see, and he looked to Vaggie, who also looked frustrated, but not quite bold enough to interrupt.

"Charlie," Lucifer ducked his head to catch Charlie's eyes again, gently tapping her nose with a smile, "I love how naïve you are. You don't need to grow up yet, I promise, there's plenty of time to be soft and hopeful before hell burns common sense into you, ducky."

"With all due respect, your majesty, who the fuck are you talking about?" Angel abruptly interjected, earning everyone's attention, but he kept his hard gaze focused on Lucifer as he walked closer, who blinked at him in confusion.

"Uh, my daughter, Charlie?" Lucifer answered, blatantly baffled at having to clarify, and Angel's expression hardened further as he stopped at Charlie's shoulder.

"In that case, are you even listening to yourself, then?" Angel bluntly demanded, and Husk didn't know if he was in awe of the spider's audacity or horrified by it. "If you actually believe any of that bullshit then you're an imbecile. You think Charlie hasn't seen the real hell? She lives in the real hell. When's the last time you saw the real hell, your royal reclusiveness?"

"You know I could kill you with a snap of my fingers," Lucifer growled, and Charlie edged to shift a shoulder in front of Angel in a blatantly protective gesture as Husk tensed, wondering if he should also try to shield the stupidly brave arachnid.

"Do it," Angel squared up instead of backing down, and Husk couldn't detect even a hint of bluff in the daring attitude. "If that's the consequence of standing up for your daughter, then do it. Charlie is worth dying for."

"I'm not going to hurt her," Lucifer spluttered, seeming taken aback even as his passionate frustration remained in the tone. "I'm just talking to her, I'm not going to hurt her! Why would you get involved and get yourself killed when I'm not even going to hurt her?"

"Because I know what it's like to take shit from someone who was supposed to love you," Angel hissed, not backing down, and Lucifer reared back as though slapped, and then puffed up again.

"I do love her!” he all but screamed, creating a jarring juxtaposition to Angel who steadily looked him in the eye and commanded a blunt, unimpressed, "Then act like it."

There was a beat of absolute silence as Angel let that sink in, but he continued before the confounded king could respond.

"If you love her, then fucking act like it, your majesty," Angel told him, eyes blazing with a protective fury. "If you love her then spend time with her, listen to her. If you ever bothered to actually spend time with her, you'd see that she is not the naïve little girl you remember her as. You say she's sheltered and clueless? She lives in hell, your majesty, down here with all of us sinners, not up in the castle with you."

Angel shifted to the side so he could gesture at Charlie, who was staring at him with a blatant adoration, and Husk could see Vaggie smiling proudly, but Lucifer continued gaping in flummoxed shock, allowing Angel to continue without interference.

 "Charlie is well aware how horrible hell can be," Angel told him, a protective fury rolling off of him as he glared at the king of all of hell, who could smite him with barely a thought if he so chose. "Today is not the first time that wall has blown up, she dealt with it. If you take three steps out that door, you'll see someone being eviscerated. She fucking lives here.

She went to a porn studio where my boss fucking licked her arm and then offered her a role before she had to watch the shoot, she knows full well how disgusting hell is, and she handled it. She is well aware it won't be all sunshine and rainbows, she's been putting up with my junky ass for almost six months now, and she's still trying because she can be strong and kind at the same time, which I personally think is something all of us would do well to learn, yourself included, your majesty."

Angel glared down at the gobsmacked king, more real and honest than Husk had ever seen him -even including the night they had finally gotten over their differences and become friends- and a stray thought noted how absurdly attractive the spider was before he cut off that line of thinking and forced himself to refocus.

"If you actually think she's the only thing that matters down here, then protect her!" Angel demanded with a righteous wrath. "Protect her, not because she's weak, but because you are her fucking father and she is worth protecting! If you're not going to do that, though, don't you dare tell her she's not strong enough to thrive on her own. Your daughter has been living down here in the chaos, and she is doing a-fucking-mazing, which you would know if you ever visited or called her to do things other than errands for you."

"I don't just send her on errands!" Lucifer spluttered, looking offended, but Angel only crossed both sets of his extended arms and cocked an unimpressed eyebrow.

"What was the last thing you called your daughter about?" Angel asked with the pointed tone of already knowing the answer.

"Uh… to meet with Adam," Lucifer admitted.

"Uh huh," Angel drawled. "And what about before that? When's the last time you've seen your daughter in person, sire?"

Lucifer opened his mouth, shut it with a heartbroken look on his face, and then turned to Charlie with huge, apologetic eyes.

"Charlie, is that -, do you think -?” he couldn't quite manage the question he wanted to ask, but everyone in the room heard it anyway.

Charlie shrugged, obviously trying for casual, but not managing much more than deeply hurt as she almost meekly answered, "I mean… yeah. You never visit and you don't really listen to me when we talk."

"I do listen to you,” he told her earnestly, but Angel interjected with a judgmental, "She had to explain to you what the hotel was, sire, despite having lived and breathed only it for at least a year."

Lucifer's anger flared again, glaring fiercely at Angel who met his eyes squarely, but then the rage drained away, leaving him looking dejected and contrite.

"I'm sorry, duckling,” he told her earnestly. "I haven't handled it well since your mom… it's not an excuse, and I'm sorry, but I promise I love you."

Charlie's eyes filled with tears, but she managed a sincere, "I love you, too, dad," through her tremulous smile without letting them fall.

Lucifer sent her a wet smile but didn't seem to know what to say in response, but Angel stepped in before his floundering turned awkward.

"Maybe you two could take that tour again, and you could do your best to hear what she's trying to tell you," Angel suggested, far warmer and more friendly than his previous tone.

"I'd like that," the king sent Charlie a small, hopeful smile that had her own face brightening.

"Ok," she agreed immediately, swiping a hand across her face to erase the evidence of the tears that hadn't fallen and perking up. She paused, sent Angel a soft, adoring smile with a quiet, "Thank you, Angel," waiting until she earned a fond, "Every time, doll-face," before she swung back to her father with an excited energy.

"Since we've already spent a lot of time in the lobby, how about we start from the top and work our way down," Charlie suggested. "You've already seen most of it, so it probably won't take long, but I would like to show you."

Lucifer nodded, flicking a hand at the wall that was in shambles, reforming it as though nothing had happened, earning a delighted look from Charlie and a scowl from Alastor.

"Then I'd like to see," Lucifer turned to her with a genuine smile, and Charlie almost floated up the stairs, her father and Alastor close on her heels, leaving the lobby in a resounding silence in their wake.

"Holy shit, Angel," someone said, and it took Husk a moment to realize it had been himself.

"That was fantastic," Vaggie agreed emphatically from his side, and Angel sent them both an endearingly shy smile, looking surprised, but pleased, by their assessments.

"You yelled at the king, you were a bad boy," Niffty broke the moment, her salacious tone sending Angel rearing back, raising all four of his extended arms in a panicked-looking surrender.

"Sorry, tiny, I really only swing the guy route unless I'm getting paid a fuckton to fake it," Angel told her, a real edge of apology under his alarmed awkwardness, and she sighed dramatically, but brightened again to announce, "That's ok, I need bad boy friends, too!" before hugging his leg and then scurrying off into a hallway and out of sight.

Everyone left in the room blinked at the remnants of the little hurricane full of psychotic chaos that was Niffty, but Angel broke the resulting stillness by slumping in what looked like relief and whispering an emphatic, "Oh, thank fuck," that had Husk laughing before he could stop himself. 

His laughter only took a moment to spread, and it took a long minute for the four of them to quiet.

"I ssshould go check on my eggs, but that was very impressssive," Pentious congratulated, earning a bright smile from Angel before he slithered out of the room.

"Do you think I should have gone with them?" Angel asked, sobering from his previous mirth, looking worried, but Vaggie shook her head.

"Nah," she refuted, "I think you set them on the right path, Angel, but they're going to have to figure out how to bond even when you're not around if it's going to actually bring them together."

"…. I guess….," Angel eventually agreed, looking distinctly less sure, shifting his weight as though he were about to follow their exit, but Husk stopped him with a chuckle, capturing one of Angel's hands and using it to tug him over the couch and sit next to him.

"They will be fine," Husk reassured, momentarily distracted by how soft Angel's hand was before Angel sighing dramatically and dropping his head to Husk's shoulder thoroughly stole his focus.

"Fiiiiiiine," the spider whined, shifting so he was cuddled into Husk's hold, and he hadn't even registered bringing his arms up, but apparently he had at some point. The realization left him sitting in a flummoxed confusion for several long seconds until he hesitantly let his cheek rest against Angel's hair, and why the fuck was his hair so soft and fluffy?

A soft snort made him look up, finding that Vaggie was watching him specifically with a knowing smirk on her face that he didn't like or understand. Not having a clue as to why she was sending him the look did not stop him from scowling at her, though it was almost definitely not as fierce as his glares usually were as his cheeks were blushing with his embarrassment, which he did not appreciate in the slightest.

Thankfully Angel didn't notice the byplay, and therefore couldn’t add his verbal ribbings to Vaggie's silent taunts, instead sighing dramatically and bringing one hand up to worry at Husk's button on his shirt, not seemingly entirely aware he was displaying the anxious gesture.

"You're sure?" he asked, more genuinely, and Vaggie finally dropped her mocking look and sat on Angel's other side, leaning into him and promising, "I'm sure. Give them half an hour and if they're not back by then you can go searching."

"Ok," Angel agreed, playing up sounding put-upon, though he didn't need much convincing to huddle closer into Husk and relax more of his weight into the arms Husk was still inexplicably holding him with.

They all halfheartedly speculated reasons why the wall-destroyers of the day had done it, but the discussion was nowhere near as passionately emphatic as it would have been had they not been keeping a large portion of their attention on the door they were waiting for Charlie and her father to enter through.

Charlie and Lucifer returned just as Angel was deciding he should investigate, both of them looking pleased, and the three that had been waiting breathed subtle sighs of relief as they stood to greet them.

"Well, Char-bear, I'll let you know when it's ready," Lucifer told her, sending her a bright smile before he all but skipped off toward the kitchen.

Husk raised his eyebrow at the doorway the king had disappeared through for a long second before he swung his questioning look to Charlie, who was still beaming from ear to ear.

"What's he doing?" Husk broke the silence, peripherally noticing the other two also looking to Charlie for an answer.

"He's going to make dinner," Charlie told them gleefully, sounding as though all of her dreams had just come true, and Husk couldn't help softening despite himself.

"So, the tour went well, then?" Angel asked, openly fond.

"Yes!" Charlie squealed, jolting forward to squeeze him in a tight hug for a moment before she shot back again so she could happily bounce in place as she answered. "It went so, so, so, so well, thank you, Angel! He even agreed to stay the night and watch lessons tomorrow! We got him a room, and showed him the rest of the hotel, and it was so great!"

"I'm glad, toots," Angel told her, his voice filled with affection, and Husk couldn't help staring at the spider, taken aback by the way his eyes shown with a protective warmth, not a hint of his plastic happy-porn-star mask in sight. Instead of the fake-bullshit-Angel that Husk had seen far less of since they had become friends, there was instead a genuine, caring spider that Husk couldn't seem to tear his focus away from until Vaggie chimed in.

"That's great, babe!" Vaggie's congratulation was jarring, leaving Husk feeling like he had just been jolted out of a daze, but he shook his head, dispelling the confusing reaction and nodded his agreement to their words.

"What did you say he was making us?" Husk asked, forcing himself to stare only at Charlie so whatever weird thing about Angel that had distracted him didn't strike again.

"Spaghetti," she chirped, smiling wider than he had ever seen her smile before, which was an impressive feat.

"… So, can he cook?" Angel asked, and Charlie opened her mouth with a confident nod before she paused, biting her lip and considering before admitting, "I'm not actually sure," a delayed moment later.

"We should go supervise, just in case, then," Angel chuckled, gesturing at the hallway with a questioning look, waiting until Charlie laughed and nodded before he made his way out of the room.

Husk followed the others in trailing him, unable to deny he was incredibly curious to see if the king of the realm could cook. Even if he couldn't, though, the present evening promised to be far better than it would have been if Angel hadn't intervened, and Husk looked forward to what shenanigans dinner would bring from the ridiculous spider. 

Chapter Text

Lucifer picked his bundle of pasta up, ready to snap it in half and drop it into the boiling water when Angel's voice stopped him.

"With all due respect, your highness, that is not how you make pasta," Angel told him, teasing and serious in equal measure, and Lucifer snorted as he turned to glance at the group behind him, finding that in addition to the spider, the snake, cat, and maid were gathered behind Charlie and her girlfriend.

"You know, Angel," Lucifer grinned, incredibly bemused by the sinner, "just because you say 'with all due respect' it doesn't mean your statement is respectful."

"Oh, really? What a shocking and unprecedented piece of information," Angel played up his mocking act of being shocked as he walked forward a few steps while bringing one set of hands to his cheeks, earning laughter from everyone in the kitchen that he waited to quiet before he dropped his arms and went on. "Let me rephrase, sire. With all due respect, which in this case is none, that is not how you make a pasta dish. My nona would fly down from heaven to smack me for crimes against Italy if I let that go unprotested."

Angel crossed his arms, looking remarkably serious, but he only earned another wave of hilarity for his efforts.

"I guess you'll just have to show him how it's done," the bartender interjected with a grin, and Lucifer was confused to see an eager excitement growing in the rest of the group as well.

"Last time I cooked my sublime cuisine for you, the review I got from your ungrateful ass was, 'It's alright, I guess'," Angel informed him, raising an eyebrow as he transferred his judgmental displeasure to the cat who sent him a playful smirk and a shrug.

"And yet he ate everything and went back for more," Maggie muttered to Charlie, who giggled and nodded.

"Just trying to let you improve, that's kind of the point of the hotel, you know?" Husk commented airily, completely ignoring the side conversation, and Angel snorted, shaking his head with a fond grin on his face.

"I don't want to steal the king's thunder,” he argued lightly, sounding sincere, "I just wanted to stop him from making a grievous mistake and committing horrendous crimes against pasta."

"Oh, no," Lucifer chuckled, waving a hand toward the stove, "by all means, show me how it's done."

"Well, first," Angel stepped forward with a playful persona of educating a troublesome student, "you don't break the pasta, you get a bigger pot."

He bent, dug around in one of the many cabinets, and pulled out a taller pot than Lucifer had, transferring the hot water into it and placing it on the burner before holding out one of his hands for the pasta Lucifer was still holding.

"You were attempting to make spaghetti, correct?” he checked as he accepted the pasta and dropped it in the pot.

Lucifer nodded, unable to keep his entertained expression off his face, but Angel ignored it and continued to lecture him.

"Breaking the noodles can be acceptable sometimes, like if you are making a soup or something, but not for anything where you're going to want to twirl your fork around to grab a bite. Shorter noodles fall off and make a mess everywhere, and they don't drag through the sauce as long, so then you get bites with entirely too much sauce, and some bites without any. With a long noodle, it's all spread throughout, and when you pick it up with your fork it slides through the assorted deliciousness and delivers it to your mouth like it's supposed to."

Lucifer couldn't help but laugh at his exasperation even as he did mentally take notes, which earned him an unimpressed glance from the spider before he continued, expounding at length on the necessity of using the strained pasta water to create the sauce so it would actually stick to the noodles and the ratio of spices needed for each step of the process.

By the time the food was ready Lucifer's sides ached from laughter at the ongoing sassy quips and phrasings Angel taught with, which was not helped by the teasing comments the others heckled the spider with that he always had a snappy response for without a second's pause.  As they finally sat down to eat the delicious smelling meal, Lucifer couldn't remember a time in recent memory he'd had such a wonderful afternoon, and even the appearance of the irritating radio wanna-be wasn't enough to dampen his mood.

Well, it wasn't until after the dinner -which was full of laughter, recountings, and fond needling from the cat over the quality of the food despite finishing three plates full- when Charlie turned to the walking and talking manifestation of tackiness instead of her own father and asked, "Alastor, do you still have time to help me with that thing tonight?"

"Of course I am available for you, as always, my dear," the annoying headache answered, looking past Charlie to smirk at Lucifer.

"I could help you, Char-bear," Lucifer offered, trying to keep his frustration out of his voice.

Charlie turned to flash him a quick smile, but shook her head with a, "Oh, that's ok, dad. Alastor can help me," that popped the happiness balloon that had been building in Lucifer's chest.

He tried not to slump in defeat or burst into tears as she, her girlfriend, and the red annoyance left the room without even inviting him along. He realized he had thankfully kept his face blank as he remembered there were other people in the room, and he glanced their way to find that the maid, the cat, the snake, and the odd egg creatures had continued cleaning the kitchen as though nothing had happened, though Angel was watching him with a contemplative expression.

"Well, I think I'm going to call it a night," Lucifer announced to no one in particular in a pointedly cheery voice, giving a friendly wave to the kitchen as a whole and then excusing himself out the door and into the safety of the solitude in the hallway.

Once in the quiet he realized that he had no plan beyond escaping witnesses, and he desperately wanted to flee back to his castle, but he had promised Charlie he would stay the night and watch her activities the following day.

She had graciously offered him a room, but he couldn't make himself go back to the shabby, rundown bedroom yet, and instead cast his mind for somewhere else he could go where he could be alone, eventually deciding on the roof. He made his way through the winding halls, distantly mapping out how he would have constructed the building if it had been up to him, and eventually found the access hatch to the roof rather than the balcony overlooking the city he had previously visited, deciding it would still feel too public even though he doubted anyone was watching the hotel.

Instead, he let himself up onto the flat patch of roof that was tucked behind the tall ledge that held up the lattice supporting the sign of the insipid name that the usurper had come up with and mandated.

Lucifer meandered to the edge, propping his arms on the chest-high ledge and looked out at the city, but didn't have long to stew before the sound of the access hatch alerted him to the fact that someone else had arrived.

He glanced over his shoulder, both surprised and not to find Angel walking toward him. He didn't seem particularly nervous, but he did look like he was mulling over how to say something, and they stood in silence for a long minute after the spider joined him in staring out over the pride ring.

Angel was the one to break the silence, earning Lucifer's attention when he lightly cleared his throat.

"If you would accept just a little more unsolicited advice…?" Angel trailed off questioningly with a rueful smile on his lips.

Lucifer chuffed a vaguely amused breath, but obligingly waved a hand for Angel to go on.

"Your daughter adores you," Angel told him bluntly, and Lucifer clenched his jaw shut at his rising reaction. "She loves you so much, your majesty. It might seem like she doesn't want to spend time with you to you, but that's not it. From what I can see, she wants your approval more than anything, and since she doesn't know how to get it from you, she only wants to spend time with you when she is sure she has something impressive to show you. It's not that she likes Alastor more than you, it's that not only is his opinion not as important to her as yours, but she has also failed around him, and he still came back to be his creepy self all the same."

Beyond the epiphany dawning in his head Lucifer was both impressed and worried by how completely Angel understood the issue dragging down his mood even from the subtle interaction he had witnessed.

Angel paused, letting the revelation his words were causing sink in before he almost gently went on.

"He doesn't have to be a rival, sire, because he's not real competition," the spider told him in the reassuring, but blunt, way Lucifer had never encountered before. "She wants his attention and approval, sure, but he's nothing compared to you. She's scared to show you the parts of her that aren't succeeding because she thinks you won't be proud of her anymore, but she does need help, so she asks Alastor. He's not a rival, he's a substitute."

"How do I prove to her she doesn't need a substitute anymore?" Lucifer asked, more of his vulnerable fear showing through than he would have liked, but the peculiar sinner did nothing to comment on it or use it against him.

"Just show up," the spider told him with a bracing smile and assuring confidence. "That's all she wants from you, your majesty. She wants you to show up, and pay attention to her, and not judge her. That's it. She just wants to feel like she matters to you, that she's important in your life. She wants to feel seen, not as the child she was before, but as your child as she is now."

Lucifer stared at him, struggling to explain how that sounded so simple, yet so difficult, and he had no idea what actionable items that meant for him to actually do.

Angel apparently read the issue off his face and softened further.

"Look,” he tried again, tone soothing and oddly protective. "I understand that running all of a realm has to be a lot of work, and there have to be pressures we can't see from here. I can see you love her, more than anything, but the only problem is that she can't. She would love it if you could make time to get lunch with her once a week so she can tell you about her life. As long as you don't judge her when she tells you something, she'll keep telling you things, and if you react well to the little things, she'll eventually tell you the big things."

"You make it sound so easy," Lucifer commented, torn between feeling like he could handle that and that it couldn't possibly be that simple.

"It is that easy," Angel shrugged nonchalantly. "Almost all of what children want from their parents is their attention without their judgement. Show up and don't look down on her, it's that easy."

Huh. He could... he could maybe do that.

"Were you a parent on earth?" Lucifer asked, studying the fascinating sinner, whose eyes widened in surprise before he scoffed and shook his head with a grin, as though amused by the thought.

"Nah,” he flapped his hand in a vague gesticulation, "I just had a sister that I couldn't stand to see be crushed by the world. Mom died having us, we were twins, and dad would rather run the mafia than be a parent. When dad promised to watch her play and didn't show up, I brought her roses. When dad promised her a day out and blew her off, I cleared my schedule. When dad forgot her birthday, I made her a cake. She loved me, even though I'm enough of a piece of shit that I ended up in hell, because I showed up and I never judged her."

Lucifer hummed thoughtfully, finding himself thinking for the first time in centuries that maybe not all of the sinners in his realm deserved their fates.

"Did your father ever show up for your events?" Lucifer asked.

"Nah," Angel shook his head with an expression of hurt that had long-since calloused over into apathy. "But I always knew he hated me, I was nothing of what a son was supposed to be, especially compared to my perfect older brother. Molly was dad's little princess, though, so she still desperately wanted his attention."

"Your father is who you spoke of when you said you knew what it was like to get shit from someone who should love you?" Lucifer pondered, surprisingly invested in the sinner before him.

"Oh," Angel looked taken aback, "I mean, I guess him too, but I was talking about.... um... this guy, Valentino."

"Valentino?" Lucifer invited an answer, and Angel bit his lip, hunching into himself as his arms wrapped around his own torso in a hug, but finally answered, "He... I thought he loved me, but he didn't and... and now he owns me."

For the first time in Lucifer's recent memory, he felt a stab of sympathy for a soul.

"Is he forcing you to be here, like the tacky walkie-talkie is doing to the cat?" Lucifer asked, suddenly wondering if there was another overlord wandering around that he hadn't met.

"Uh, no," Angel weakly chuckled, unable to meet Lucifer's eyes and looking small, and fragile, and nothing like the bold, brash man that had squared up to the king of hell for his lapse in parenting.

"No," Angel's arms wrapped tighter around himself, "no, I'm at the hotel to get away from him, actually. I still have to work for him, but... but it's so much better at the hotel than it was living with Val. He... he... He'd ruin my stuff when he got mad at me, threaten my pet, take me whenever he wanted, made me work even longer shifts in the studio if he thought I told him no about something..."

"Work?" Lucifer prompted, and Angel gave a barely susceptible wince before he offered an awkward, "I work in porn, and -, and -, sometimes it's fine, I actually do like sex, but sometimes... sometimes it's not. If I make Val mad, or if he's just in a bad mood, it's... it's not ... it's not super great."

Lucifer was taken aback by the wave of protective fury that rose in him as his mind automatically supplied the thought, 'I'm going to kill him.'

"How long until your contract is up?" Lucifer asked, a note of his concern slipping into his voice.

Angel curled even further inward, but answered with a failed attempt at nonchalant casualness.

"It doesn't expire,” he answered, pointedly not looking at Lucifer. "I was a fucking idiot that signed my soul away forever. He told me that he needed at least one signature or his other two business partners were going to tear him to pieces and I was so stupid in love with him that I believed him."

Lucifer clenched his jaw, struggling for what to say in response, but Angel spoke again before he could.

"I think I messed things up for Charlie, too,” he whispered, biting his lip before he explained in a slightly louder voice. "I... I'm owned. My soul isn't mine. If... even if redemption is possible, how can I redeem something that isn't mine anymore?"

Oh. Oh, shit. That was something that had never even once crossed Lucifer's mind in the entirety of his time at the hotel.

"I figure at least I can help Pen and whoever comes after," Angel said, his voice small, and he somehow managed to look remarkably like a hurt child despite existing for decades and towering over Lucifer. "I... I tried to tell Charlie a few weeks ago, but I waited too long and now she's all attached, convinced she can save me if she just tries hard enough. She... she can't, but at least I can get Pen up to heaven and prove that her idea wasn't wrong, she just picked the wrong sinner to experiment on for the first round."

 Lucifer was struck with a heartbreaking thought that Angel may be right about his assessment, because it seemed like anyone that protective and selfless should have already long since risen out of the pit he called a realm.

He had never really concerned himself with soul contracts before, but he promised himself he would look into what it took to break one, then turned his attention to the spider that was still staring out at the city with a defeated expression on his face.

"I don't know what it takes to be redeemed," Lucifer admitted, "but I can see why Charlie would pick you as her first attempt. I don't even know what someone has to be to get into heaven in the first place since I was kicked out before we really got into the admitting new members part of things, but I do know that you have to be well on your way, Angel. You're brave, and good, and honestly, you're making me question what I told Charlie earlier about sinners. The more time I spend with you, the more I think she might be right about there being people in hell that could be worth saving."

Angel's eyes flooded with tears, but he didn't let any fall, sniffling before responding and swallowing hard.

"Really?” he asked, voice so small and full of a disbelieving hope that Lucifer almost couldn't breathe around the heartbroken protectiveness that surged in his chest.

"Really,” he confirmed with a bracing smile, easing forward to lightly bump his shoulder. "Besides Charlie of course, if anyone I've met down here deserves to be in heaven, it'd be you, Angel."

A few of Angel's tears did escape, but he was quick to brush them away with one of his many hands.

"I want to see Molly again so badly,” he admitted in what sounded more like a confession than a statement. "And my mama. Everyone always talked about how kind and gentle and wonderful she was, even though her family married her off to the head of the mafia... I never knew her, but... she wouldn't have been proud of me on earth. Every time dad wanted Molly to do something for the family business I did it for her. I killed people, robbed people, worked smear campaigns. I... I didn't like it, but I couldn't stand Molly having to live with herself after doing it, and... and I was pretty terrible by the time life was done with me. I don't think mama would want to meet me even if she could."

"Bullshit," Lucifer told him, a firm, unrelenting surety in his voice. "If she was even half the person that everyone told you she was than she would have thanked you for protecting her daughter and she would have told you that you did not deserve a father that treated you that way."

More tears escaped Angel's eyes, and Lucifer had visions of a far younger Charlie crying after a nightmare while also staring at Lucifer in wonder-filled and unquestioning belief when he promised he would protect her.

In the back of his mind, he added another item to the running list of things he needed to think about: Consider being alarmed by how protective he was growing over Angel. He already had one child that he couldn't properly parent, he didn't need another.

"Thanks," Angel whispered, sniffling as he stemmed his tears and wiped away the evidence from his cheeks.

A jarring barrage of gunshots from somewhere at the base of the hill the hotel was perched on broke the moment, both of them glancing over the edge to assess and then deeming that the situation was not a threat to the hotel.

"On that note," Lucifer huffed with a lopsided grin, "it's probably time for us to head in."

"Yeah, Cha-cha will have us up early tomorrow," Angel rolled his eyes with a fond exasperation on his face. "Probably earlier than usual, which I consider your fault, by the way, sire. I'm sure that by now she has a whole day planned to try to impress you."

"Well, I better make sure I get some sleep so I can show up to all of it, then," Lucifer told him with a growing smile that was sincere under the teasing edge.

Angel snorted a laugh, but also nodded approvingly and confirmed, "Yeah, I guess you'd betta," as he followed Lucifer inside, his accent seeming to thicken in his growing exhaustion.

Lucifer watched with an alarming amount of affection as Angel yawned widely, a set of hands rubbing at his eyes while another limb raised to halfheartedly cover his open mouth, looking so much like a toddler that Lucifer almost offered to read him a bedtime story, though he thankfully clamped down on the urge before he had to deal with the awkwardness of releasing that statement into the world.

"Night, Angel," Lucifer bid, pausing as they came to the door to the room Charlie had given him for the night.

"Night, ya highness," Angel returned through another yawn, raising one hand to wave tiredly as he continued down the hall to his own room.

Chapter Text

Angel was right about Charlie waking everyone up early the following day, though Lucifer was feeling oddly energized by the mission Angel had tasked him with and the hopeful optimism that he was capable of fulfilling the task laid out.

She arrived at his door to summon him for breakfast, thrumming with excitement and almost skipping through the doorway of the kitchen that was already filled with everyone else in the hotel.

“Good morning, your majesty,” Maggie greeted brightly, her words echoed by, “Good morning,” from Husk, “Hello, sire!” from the maid, and “Ssssssalutations, your majessssty,” from the snake.

The eggs mumbled nondescript greetings while the overlord at the stove ignored him completely, but the action wasn’t enough to spark his annoyance as his attention was captured by Angel who glowered sleepily at him, playfully grumbled a tired, “Mornin, ya highness,” and flipped him off with all four of his hands, making Lucifer snort, Alastor smirk, and everyone else turn to Angel with varying degrees of aghast shock.

“Angel, what the fuck?” Maggie hissed, her scolding clear, and Angel transferred his heavy-lidded gaze full of annoyance to her instead.

“That fucker is the reason I’m up at dawn on my only day off this week,” he told her unrepentantly. “I’m not going to be happy to see him until at least nine when my brain actually wakes the fuck up.”

Maggie spluttered wordlessly at him, but Lucifer chuckled and stepped forward before she found a response, teasingly poking the spider in the forehead and sending a controlled wave of energy at him, pulling his hand back when he was done and grinning as he took in the reaction.

Angel blinked dumbly at him for a long second -the kitchen silent as they watched to see what would happen- and then asked a dazed, “What the fuck was that?”

“I gave you a shot of energy,” Lucifer shrugged, continually entertained by the spider’s antics.

 "You sure as fuck did," Angel agreed, still sounding bewildered.

He shook his head like a dog flinging off water and then returned a much more awake gaze to Lucifer, a broad smile on his face.

"That is amazing,” he said, earnest and excited. "Can you bottle that? That is effective as fuck."

Lucifer chuckled, moving past him to take a seat as he answered, "I haven’t tried before, Angel, but I'll experiment with the concept next time I'm bored."

"Please do," Angel nodded eagerly, Charlie and the other residents also looking amazed and excited, and Lucifer decided it was going to be a good day.

They ate breakfast amongst the smiles, laughter, and storytelling, cleaned up the meal, and then relocated to a large room tucked further down the hallway that was filled with long tables and comfortable chairs, almost like a relaxed looking meeting room.

Throughout it all, Lucifer could suddenly see what Angel had informed him of. His daughter hesitated over releasing details in stories, surreptitiously glancing at him to gauge his reaction, and then seeming relieved when he nodded to prove he was listening and prodded her onward. She had bloomed under his continued attention, and after the first hesitant recounting of an exercise gone wrong that did not have him criticizing the hotel and trying to dissuade her from continuing, she graced him with more of their misadventures, looking rueful as his sides split with laughter.

By the time they walked into their activity area, she had a bounce in her step and a beaming smile on her lips, happily chirping, "Alright, all. Today we'll be drawing, so set up your stations with pencils, crayons, markers, or whatever your favorite thing to draw with is, and I'll go grab the paper that I forgot in the storage room."

With that pronouncement she swept one more arm toward the mountain of art supplies in the corner and then skipped out of the room.

"Well," Angel clapped both sets of his hands, "let's get to it. I call dibs on the colored pencils."

Announcement delivered, he walked over to the table, breaking the stillness, and the others followed his lead, circling around the art supplies as they decided what they would use.

The little egg creatures immediately went for the crayons, bickering in low voices as they fought over who got to keep them at their station before they eventually migrated across the room to share a spot.

The snake chose a box of charcoal sticks, while the tiny little maid hoisted herself onto the table, giggling maniacally as she peered over the supplies and then darted hands out to grab things, seemingly at random.

Maggie chose a pencil and a set of markers, then eased back to lean against the wall and grin at the show the remaining two were putting on.

Angel was very carefully studying each of the various supplies that Charlie had provided, studiously considering his choices before selecting something and turning his attention to the other options, which was made more difficult by the bartender watching with a grin and then shooting a hand out to attempt to grab whatever item Angel was reaching for before the spider could close his fingers around it, turning every decision into a small scuffle that the cat eventually allowed Angel to win.

Each victory was followed by a few seconds of Angel haughtily sniffing and grumbling obscenities at the cat, who only chuckled and looked immensely pleased with himself before it started again when Angel contemplated what other supplies he needed, winning the battles for several sketching pencils, an eraser, a pack of fine tipped tracing markers, and an additional set of colored pencils with more color options.

Once done, he sniped at the cat to actually choose his own things and then raised his nose in the air with a haughty huff and marched over to the table to claim a spot, though Lucifer noticed he snagged a nearby chair and pulled it closer, obviously leaving a spot for the bartender to sit near him.

Husk unceremoniously grabbed a pack of thick markers that was on top of the pile of remaining supplies and plopped himself next to Angel, bumping his chair jokingly while he sat down and regaining the spider’s attention as Angel playfully scolded him and peppered him with dire threats of what would happen to him if the bartender bumped the chair while Angel was creating his masterpieces.

"I am so pleased that the residents are enjoying the supplies that I could provide," the annoyance known as Alastor observed pointedly, looking straight at Lucifer with a daring smugness.

Lucifer's frustration surged, but before he could release it Angel stood, interrupting the brewing argument.

“Come on, smiles, it’s too early for this and Charlie isn’t even in the room to watch your little dad-measuring contest,” Angel groaned, rolling his eyes. “The king changed his mind, he’s not trying to get Charlie to quit and leave anymore, and now that he’s onboard with the hotel I’m sure he’s sorry he called the name you came up with stupid. Can you just get along already?”

Lucifer didn’t know if he was grateful or affronted, though no one else in the room seemed conflicted. The other residents snorted in muffled amusement while Alastor slowly turned to face the exasperated spider.

"Or," the radio demon countered, his voice dropping lower to become more sinister as a staticky radio played underneath, "I could always play your screams on my broadcast while I eat you."

Lucifer scowled, ready to step in to defend the brazen sinner as the room darkened, the annoying overlord growing in size while shadows slithered out of the corner to add to the menacing effect. The cat, snake, eggs, and even Maggie shrank back, looking intimidated, but Angel only fixed him with a deeply unimpressed look and crossed his arms over his chest and stomach.

"Al, cut that shit out,” he commanded, a dry disapproval in the tone. "Yeah, yeah, we all know you're creepy as fuck, stow the attitude. Behave, or Charlie's going to make you participate in lessons today."

Those, evidently, were the magic words, because Alastor immediately reverted to his usual form, chuckling a strained laugh and brushing off his growing tantrum with a dismissive, "Merely a joke, my effeminate fellow, merely a joke."

"Uh huh," Angel drawled. "Maybe work on the humor part of jokes, hmm?"

"Yes, yes,” he waved off, striding toward the door, "I'll just go do that now, shall I?" and left without waiting for anyone's response.

Lucifer turned back to Angel with a grin on his face, his estimation of the spider raising several more notches, and was amused to see the others watching him with a tinge of awe that he didn't appear to register as he finished setting up his little station.

"You have a spine of fucking steel," Husk told him, his tone earnest and a little awed, which had the spider sending him a pleased smile, and Lucifer was amused to see a light blush painting his cheeks.

"Yeah," Maggie agreed, sounding impressed. "That was awesome, Angel."

"Thanks," Angel preened happily under the praise, but Lucifer was intrigued to note that her compliment did not earn the shy blushing that the cat had received.

"Impressssive," the snake announced with wide eyes, and Angel flashed him a warm smile, but was interrupted before he could say anything by Charlie coming in with a stack of paper so high she could barely see over it.

All of the residents exchanged bemused glances, but no one commented on the excess, letting Charlie set it down on the supplies table, pluck a much smaller section off the top, and then circle the room to deposit several sheets in front of each of her pupils.

"We spend a lot of time talking about the things we shouldn't do. We've talked about temptation, and addition, and how our actions impact others,” she started, spreading her attention across each of them, and Lucifer couldn't help but notice what an impressive public speaker she was, making everyone in her audience feel seen despite the fact they were scattered throughout the room.

Her students nodded in an agreement that was mostly to show they were paying attention, and she brightened even further.

"All of those lessons are key. It is important to stay away from our own vices and bad decisions,” she continued seriously "but in addition to what we should not do, we should also focus on what we should do. We all need to identify what kind of things are good behavior and recognize each other for the good things we do as we improve. We are not only striving to avoid the bad, we are also striving to become the good. Role models can be a key inspiration, because they give us examples of what we should do, instead of just a list of what we shouldn't, so for today's lesson I would like you to choose someone you admire, someone that you would consider a good role model, and draw them. When everyone is done, we'll talk about who you chose and why."

Lucifer was impressed, the lesson more well thought out than he had thought it would be. When he had heard Charlie was going to be teaching sinners to be better, he thought it would consist of role-playing skits to tell them not to sell drugs to children, or something equally as unhelpful, but he had to admit that there was actually some substance to the day, especially if it sparked a discussion later when they revealed who they had drawn.

Her students nodded, looking thoughtful, and apparently understood their cue to begin as Charlie beamed brightly at them but gave no other direction while she began walking a circuit of the room to check in with each individual person.

The eggs squabbled amongst themselves, but everyone else started without taking much time to consider, bending over their papers and diligently getting to work. As per usual, the resident that immediately caught Lucifer's attention was Angel, watching in amazement as he was able to independently use all four of his arms at once, the decision to pick up four identical sketching pencils suddenly making sense as each of his hands worked on a quadrant of his artwork. Lucifer casually hoisted himself up onto one of the taller tables against the wall, which gave him enough of a boost that he could see the table without hovering over everyone’s shoulders, and further indulged his curiosity.

From his new vantage point he watched Angel work, the sketch lines quickly turning to the recognizable form of the cat beside him in the amount of time that it had taken the bartender to draw a single swooping section across the top of his page that Lucifer had the sneaking suspicion was the hair of the spider sitting next to him.

Not even a minute later Angel had finished the sketch, traced the desired line with a bold black tracing pen -carefully going back across the entire page with an eraser to clean up the overabundance of lines-, and then opened the pack of color pencils to get to work finishing the drawing.

Lucifer was barely successful in containing his snort of amusement as he watched the cat look over, opening his mouth with a teasing remark obviously on his lips before he registered what the spider was so focused on drawing. His jaw snapped shut while he blushed deeply, looking immensely pleased to see his own face on Angel’s paper.

The spider continued, producing a completed drawing before anyone else in the room even had the shape of the head finished. He picked up his artwork, carefully studying it, which gave Lucifer a clear view of the incredible drawing, glad that no one noticed him openly gaping at how skilled of an artist Angel was. The depiction was so detailed it could have been a photo, though the expression depicted was vastly different from any Lucifer had seen the cat wear.

He had only known the bartender for a day and some change, but in that time he had only ever seen the cat stare with a blank disinterest or glower in mostly fond annoyance, except for when he was looking at Angel, in which his face was usually filled with an impish smirk.

The spider had drawn an expression Lucifer hadn't seen in person, though he could easily imagine the cat looking at Angel with the face from the artwork.

On the paper his eyes were warm and soft, his lips twisted in a barely perceptible smile that was somehow extremely obvious at the same time. His hat sat ever so slightly crooked on his head, ears both pointing the same direction, as though he were intently listening to someone.

Angel ended Lucifer's study of his work by laying the paper down again, shamelessly stealing one of the cat's thick markers and writing for several long seconds before lifting it to study again.

When he did so, Lucifer could see that the top of the page had the words "I admire his...", while the words 'honesty', 'bravery', 'bartending skills', listening', 'alcohol tolerance', 'wit', caring', 'perspective', and 'advice' had been artfully arranged around the unused space.

 Angel grinned with a pleased nod as he sat it aside, making a point to place it face down and out of reach of his neighbor, as though the cat hadn't spent several seconds of the last few minutes staring in an adoring awe when Angel was too focused to notice.

Rather than turn to harass the cat into paying attention to him, as Lucifer had thought Angel would do when finished, he instead plucked another piece of paper from the small mountain Charlie had given him and got back to work.

Lucifer was astounded as Angel held up another finished piece barely five minutes later, a breathtaking image of Lucifer's own daughter, and he wondered if he could convince the sinner to let him keep it. She was smiling brightly, her eyes joyful, her smile wide enough to light the room around her, looking like she had just achieved every dream she had ever had. Lucifer stared at it, promising himself that he'd see that same look on her face one day in person.

Like the previous, Angel had written in the unused space. "I admire her..." sat at the top, and he had filled the area around Charlie with the words, 'optimism,' 'kindness', 'joy', 'resilience', 'hopefulness', 'leadership', and 'forgiveness'.

Lucifer wasn't overly surprised, then, when Angel set that paper aside and pulled another off the stack to begin again. The next drawing was revealed a few minutes later to be Maggie. The depiction was as spectacular as the ones before it, the woman looking out of the paper with a soft smile playing at her lips, managing to look gentle, and fond, and fierce all at the same time. The words around her were 'Protectiveness,' 'Loyalty,' 'Strength,' 'Fierceness,' 'Love,' and 'Bravery,' and Lucifer made a mental note to himself that he wanted to get to know her even beyond just because he wanted to know more about Charlie's life.

With a small, satisfied nod from Angel that drawing joined the others in the growing pile, and a fresh sheet of paper was retrieved that he began a new masterpiece on, and Lucifer huffed a silent chuckle at the fervor with which the spider was producing artwork.

His thoughts were interrupted by his daughter concluding her mediation between the eggs and moving along to Husk. Lucifer could only just see the page from the angle he was at, but the glimpse he could see made it clear that the cat was drawing the man beside him, and Charlie sent him a warm, knowing smile that the cat studiously refused to acknowledge, though his cheeks did flush slightly.

Charlie made no comment, though, eyebrows raising as she stepped to the side to watch Angel's four pencils skate across the paper, surely almost done with the initial sketch after working on it for several minutes.

She glanced between it and the pile next to him with a questioning look, asking a quiet, "May I?" and receiving a nod from Angel before picking up the top paper.

Charlie gaped in amazement as she stared at the picture of her girlfriend, one finger raising to lightly trace over her hair, and Lucifer suspected he wasn't the only one that was going to ask the man for his drawing, and he promised himself that he would reach the spider before Charlie's girlfriend did, knowing she would undoubtedly be equally as entranced by the drawing of her partner as Charlie was of the depiction of Maggie.

"Angel, this is incredible," Charlie told him, an awed sincerity in her voice, and from across the room Maggie looked up, catching sight of the art in Charlie's hand, and then flushing a deep red as she stared at it, a pleased, shy smile on her lips before she buried her head over her own work.

"Thanks!" Angel chirped, bright and cheerful, looking up from whoever he was drawing on the new sheet to send her a wide, beaming smile.

Charlie returned it, carefully setting the paper back down on the pile, and then made her way over to her girlfriend to pull her own pencil and crayons closer to start the project, apparently intending to participate in the resulting discussion after the activity.

Lucifer let his eyes drift around the room, but Angel regained his attention a few minutes later, after he had switched out his sketching pencils for colored pencils and markers, by holding up another breathtaking piece, this time of the snake that Charlie had either called Serpantis or Sir Pinches. Lucifer was decently sure it was Serpantis, but either way he had avoided using his name ever since.

Regardless of what the man was called, though, Angel had drawn him with an inviting smile on his face, his eyes alight with excitement and just a hint of mischief. Unlike the other drawings, though, the image was not only from the torso up, instead the snake stood, tail coiling around his content-looking egg creatures, the hold oddly protective and paternal. Maybe Lucifer should actually ask what the deal with those odd little simpletons was, because it appeared that they may be more than he had originally assumed.

Around the sinner, the words 'Creativity,' ‘Devotion’, 'Ingenuity,' 'Courage,' 'Determination,' and 'Confidence' decorated the free space, Angel's elegant writing a flowing calligraphy that Lucifer was tempted to ask to learn.

With another pleased nod, Angel added it to his growing stack and pulled another clean sheet toward himself, getting to work on his fifth drawing before anyone else had even finished their first. Lucifer sat, thoroughly entertained watching the spider work. A few minutes later Angel held up a drawing of the maid, surrounded by the words 'Cheerfulness,' 'Dedication', 'Friendliness', 'Style’, and 'Sheer Unbridled Chaos,' which Lucifer couldn't help but agree with.

As per usual, Angel didn't stay idle, starting on another drawing almost immediately, and Lucifer sincerely hoped it would not be of the busboy. Thankfully, it turned out the spider had more sense than that.

Angel was halfway through sketching a demon that Lucifer did not recognize, another cyclops, though it was obvious she was not the maid even without taking into account the t-shirt and ponytail she was sporting in the drawing. Angel’s phone buzzed softly, which would have hardly even been noticeable if not for the way tension shot through his frame as he set his pencils down to pick it up.

Angel read the message, grimaced, and then glanced over at Husk, who had his eyes focused on his own paper. The sight was evidently enough to remind Angel that there were other people in the room, and Lucifer watched, fascinated, as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, blatantly forcing his body to relax into a simile of the easy grace he had moved with before.

With his posture corrected he glanced down at the phone again, biting his lip before moving to text back, though he pointedly, but subtly, kept the screen tipped away from Husk so the cat wouldn't have been able to read what he was typing even if he had taken that moment to look up at him.

Angel stared down at the phone, the tightness slipping back into his shoulders while his fingers nervously tapped, watching with a discreet anxiousness until the phone screen lit again with an incoming message that he physically flinched at.

He texted something else and apparently sent it on its way, watching the screen for another long minute before he eventually put it down beside him and almost hesitantly picked up the pencils to continue. His mind was obviously still on the messages, though, because his eyes glanced at the phone every few seconds, and his excitement had transformed into an underlying anxiety.

Lucifer cocked his head, wondering what he should do about the situation, and glanced to the others to see what they had made of it.

The snake was preoccupied by growling commands to behave at his bickering egg creatures, and the little maid was feverishly scribbling away on her project, but Husk, Charlie, and Maggie were all periodically glancing at Angel with concerned frowns.

He had just added the words ‘Loyalty’, ‘Kindness’, ‘Independence’, ‘Bravery’, and ‘Unrepentant Badassery’ to the completed artwork when his phone lit again, and he swallowed hard, looking at it like it may physically attack him.

With a deep, bracing breath he laid the paper on top of all of his other completed pieces and picked up the phone with shaking hands, reading the message quickly with a hitch of breath, visibly terrified for a moment before he remembered to cover his reaction.

"I’ll, uh, be right back," Angel announced, sounding anxious before he pasted a smile over his scared expression. "I already did the assignment, just gonna stretch my legs, I'll be back soon." 

"Ok," Charlie allowed, studying him with obvious confusion, apparently having picked up on the fact that the spider was not as casual as he was playing.

Angel sent her a grateful look and then left the room with the distinct air of someone who was trying to look like he wasn't rushing.

Lucifer’s brow furrowed in confusion, and he glanced back to see what the others were making of it. The psychotic, but oddly endearing, maid paid no mind, scribbling away at what looked like a drawing of the walkie-talkie that had Lucifer immediately questioning her taste.

Charlie's girlfriend watched Angel go, continuing to stare at the empty doorway for several long seconds before she bit her lip and looked down at her unfinished drawing, apparently deciding she needed to complete the exercise first and begin drawing far faster than she had been previously.

The bartender also looked torn, staring after Angel as he decided what to do, his work also unfinished, though there was enough drawing on the paper for Lucifer to see that he had depicted a surprisingly good rendition of Angel. His abilities were nowhere near the breathtaking creations Angel could produce, but he was still skilled enough that it was immediately apparent he had drawn Angel, though -similar to how the spider had drawn the cat- the expression on his face was one Lucifer hadn't seen before.

The Angel on the paper was smiling, soft and real and truly happy, his eyes warm and glittering with an innate joy while his hair sat as perfectly sculpted as always, giving off a true, earnest affection as an almost physical force, and Lucifer wondered how many times the cat had seen the expression to be able to convey it so well.

Lucifer stored that thought away and looked back to his daughter, who was glancing between the doorway and her other students, her indecision clear.

"Well, Charlie," he broke the silence, "if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna chat with Angel while you all finish up."

His daughter sent him a grateful look and he smiled back at her before he left the room in the direction Angel had gone.

The sound of two voices caught his attention in the hall, and he hurried forward, concern spiking for reasons he couldn't quite decipher. One of the voices was hushed and frantic, and he recognized it as Angel’s, while the other was incensed, and one Lucifer couldn’t place.

"You think I actually bought that excuse?" the unknown man demanded. “As if! That excuse was pathetic, Angel-cakes, and you will be paying for that in the studio, mark my words."

Oh, the studio? Was the new voice Angel’s boss?

"Val, it wasn't a lie, and it's not an excuse," Angel's voice was pleading and desperate, and his panic was easy to decipher even though he kept his voice low, obviously trying not to be overheard.

Lucifer’s worry flared, wondering how bad of a boss a demon had to be to scare the sinner that had fearlessly squared up to the king of hell to tell him off.

"I'm sorry I can't come in today," Angel continued making his case, "I'll work doubles for a week, I promise. The King is here, Val, and he declared we were all participating today."

"And why would the king care about a shithole like this, armorcito?" Valentino asked with a mocking edge as Lucifer slid out of the hallway and leaned subtly against the wall, not in either man's direct line of sight, scowling at the moth's description of the hotel that he abruptly realized he'd grown quite fond of.

“His daughter is running it," Angel spoke as though he was reminding him, an urgency thrumming in the tone. "He's here because she wanted to show him what she's been working on I promise I'm not lying to you, Val, and I'll make up the time, I swear.”

Lucifer had been about to step out of the shadows and end the whole discussion, but he was distracted as he felt more people arriving behind him, glancing over his shoulder to find Charlie, Maggie, and Husk looking concerned and sliding into the room to stand next to him without either of the other two noticing.

"Oh, I see how it is," the moth declared in a dangerously soft voice, prowling forward another step and looming over Angel, who shrank back, looking terrified, "this is you trying to remind me that you’re friends with royalty. This is just like that studio visit."

Angel’s eyes went even wider as he frantically shook his head.

"I swear I didn't tell her to come, Val," Angel pleaded desperately, "I wasn't trying to get out of work!"

"Because you’d think after the night I put you through to pay for that little mistake, you'd have been smart enough not to try it again,” Valentino continued as though Angel hadn’t spoken, “but I guess no one could ever accuse you of being smart, could they, toy?"

Lucifer's lips twisted, and he peripherally noticed the expression being echoed on the faces of the other people watching, but Valentino went on, distracting them.

"I thought after you were so desperate to save that little princessa you would know better than to try this shit again," Valentino said, his voice a dangerous growl, and Angel’s desperation visibly surged.

"No, Val,” he stepped forward to beg, rather than away. "She didn't do nothin, this was my fault."

“I seem to remember that I warned you what would happen if she ever interfered with my business again," Valentino drawled, a lethal threat in his voice and Lucifer glanced to Charlie, who was watching with wide eyes.

"No, Val, don't hurt her," Angel did nothing to cover the fact that he was openly begging. "No, Val, I'll do anything, please don't hurt her."

Lucifer’s fury truly started to build, a pounding drumbeat in his ears that was growing louder by the second, and for once he didn't think Charlie would have any qualms about him smiting a sinner.

"Did you think that I allowed her to go last time without skinning her because I am intimidated by her status?" Valentino spat. “I'm not afraid of that little bitch, and I will not hesitate to teach her a lesson before you learn yours."

“No, I don't think that! Charlie didn't do nothin, she wasn't trying to get me out of work, really, Val," Angel shrank into himself when his boss stalked another step closer but didn't actually retreat.

"Do you remember what I did to you last time in exchange for letting her leave without harm?” Valentino asked and Angel looked like he may be sick as he mutely nodded, his eyes enormous.

"Do you remember how long it took you to be able to put yourself back together? How long it took you to find all your pieces?" Valentino closed the last of the gap between them, glaring fiercely down at Angel who stared up at him with obvious terror. "What is it worth to you for me to spare her this time?"

Angel’s voice was thready and panicked, but he obviously meant it when he looked up at his boss and promised, “Anything, Val. I'll do anything, just please don't hurt her."

Valentino hummed, barely audible around Lucifer’s planning of a murder, the moth studying Angel before he sneered. "You should've thought of that before trying to get out of work, puta. I will make that punishment look like a reward, but I think it's time I remove the root cause as well. I hope you said goodbye to the little princess."

"No!" Angel protested, receiving a backhand to the face for his efforts.

Lucifer stared, not having expected the situation to turn to violence so quickly, but Angel did not seem at all surprised, brushing off the blow with alarming ease and surging back to his feet to put himself between Valentino and Charlie.

"Don't hurt her, Val, I'll do anything,” he pleaded, but Valentino only shot in arm out to grab him -able to almost fully wrap his hand around Angel's waist-, pluck him off the ground, and then throw him into the nearby wall with a sickening crack.

If he hadn't been scheduled to die before, the moth had just signed his own death certificate, and Lucifer surged out of the shadows to do what he should have done as soon as he realized who the intruder was.

Then several things happened at once. Husk and Maggie both moved, the bartender to cover Angel and Maggie to cover Charlie, who's hair was blowing around her while her horns started to peek upward. Lucifer strode toward the moth, who glanced over at the movement and scuttled backward in blatant panic while Angel tried to push himself up only to fall back down with a whimper.

Before Lucifer could reach his destination, though, a dark blur seemed to shoot down from the ceiling and encompassed Valentino's face, halting everyone except the moth as they stared in confusion, trying to decipher what was happening.

There was a chaotic whirl of motion, paired with agonized screams from Valentino, and Lucifer finally understood that the cat he had gotten for his daughter all those years ago had launched off of the overhead banister and was attacking the moth’s face with vicious claws and bites.

Valentino’s many hands rose to try to pull KeeKee off, but she merely considered them more targets and shredded any body part that approached her. Valentino howled in pain, stumbling backward and falling, landing with a crash that was just heard over his wailing screams. KeeKee’s attack redoubled once he was horizontal and she no longer had to also hold herself up, and Lucifer couldn’t help but gape as he watched the small cat decimate the moth that had stood at almost twice Lucifer’s height.

He finally shook himself and managed to glance around the room, finding that Charlie had transformed to her demon form, but was staring in confounded shock as her sweet little cat destroyed the threat. Her girlfriend stood at her side, spear pointing at the downed moth, but she was also watching in flummoxed surprise.

Past the whirl of claws and blood, the bartender had stationed himself in front of Angel, his wings spread in a protective gesture, leaving just enough of the spider visible to see that his face looked pained, but he was also staring with wide eyes as his boss was eviscerated.

 Lucifer glanced back at the growing mess on the floor, finding that Valentino had stopped screaming and gone still, but KeeKee continued her decimation for another long minute before she eventually drew back, seemingly pleased with her work. She studied him for a moment, taking in the way he wasn’t breathing, and very little of him was still recognizable as anything but gory viscera and then daintily got to her feet and pranced over to Angel, who had been shifted to curl into the bartender’s chest while Husk held him close with one arm while his other braced Angel’s side.

KeeKee sniffed the spider worriedly and then affectionately bumped her head against his sternum, leaving a bloodstain on the light fluff.

“Thanks, KeeKee,” Angel breathed, amazed, though Lucifer could still hear the pain threading through the tone, and it freed his feet from his previous frozen bewilderment, striding across the room and dropping to his knee in front of the spider.

Husk looked up in surprise, a fierce glare on his face before he registered who had arrived, and the cat’s hackles lowered while Angel blinked at him with enormous eyes that made him look incredibly young, and Lucifer’s mind couldn’t help flashing to memories of how Charlie had looked when she was a toddler.

“Let’s get you feeling better,” Lucifer said with a warm, bracing smile, slowly reaching out a hand to rest it in Angel’s incredibly soft hair, carding through it once before letting his hand fall still while he focused a wave of power through his fingertips.

Angel let out a soft gasp, and Husk tensed, but he relaxed the clear threat in his posture when Angel slumped back into him with a sigh of relief, the spider curling his face further into the bartender’s shoulder as he burrowed in closer and breathed deeply in a way his ribs hadn’t allowed the moment before.

Lucifer left his hand in Angel’s hair for one more moment, sending a far smaller tendril of power out to clean the blood and dirt off him, and then eased back, grinning at the way Angel stared at him with an awed disbelief.

Lucifer chuckled as KeeKee immediately tried to rub her head against Angel again, reaching out a finger to poke her side and clean her fur before she could cover the spider in blood stains again.

Angel’s arms reached down to cuddle her into his chest, another set of hands petting her as she purred happily, but his confounded expression of potent gratitude stayed on Lucifer.

“Thank you, sire,” Angel breathed, almost reverently, and far more respectful than Lucifer had ever heard him.

“You’re welcome, Angel,” he grinned, “thank you for protecting Charlie as often as you do.”

His expression turned more serious, glancing back at the pile of blood and cuts behind him, face hardening as he remembered what Valentino had said before he had met his end.

Before he could quiz Angel over what his boss had meant he was interrupted by Charlie rushing forward, evidently shaking off her shock, and diving at Angel to pull him into a hug, KeeKee making a muffled sound of displeasure at being squished between them, but not doing anything to extract herself.

“Angel, oh, gosh, Angel,” she fretted over him, "are you alright?"

"Yeah,” he nodded, "your dad fixed me up. Good as new, better than new, actually. This is the first time in a decade where nothing hurts."

Lucifer's chest clenched, and he made a note to contemplate whether or not all of the sinners in his realm truly deserved the comeuppance they received.

"What made you decide it was a good idea to go off on your own without telling anyone where you went?" Maggie asked, a clear reprimand in her voice and on her face as she watched Angel with a raised eyebrow.

The spider winced, shooting her an apologetic look that was incredibly endearing, and she began to soften even before he made his case.

"I thought I could convince him I wasn't lying about the king being here," Angel explained meekly. "I thought I could convince him and make it up later, but I didn't want anyone else on his radar if he decided to throw a fit."

".. And..?” she drawled, grazing an eyebrow expectantly at him and he bit his lip as he studied her face, blatantly looking for clues.

"And what, Vaggie?” he asked hesitantly.

Lucifer blinked, mentally re-labeling the woman as Vaggie in his head.

"And if something like this were to happen again, what have we learned about whether or not you should confront angry, dangerous demons by yourself?” she asked, and the answer to her question was clear to Lucifer, though Angel did not seem to have the same clarity.

"And I learned... that I should try not to let it derail lessons?” he asked far more than he answered, and he received a put-upon groan from the cat that was still holding Angel in his lap, a heavy sigh from Charlie, and a fierce glare from Vaggie.

"No,” she scolded, dropping to her knee so she could look him in the eye with a fierce protectiveness. "We learned that if you are being hurt, you should tell us."

"Oh, please,” he scoffed dismissively, obviously not absorbing her point, "he's been hurting me for seventy years, that's not news, toots."

Vaggie's lips pursed, looking displeased and heartbroken in equal measure, but it was the bartender that responded.

"And you didn't say anything?" Husk cocked an eyebrow with the question that Lucifer felt was extremely valid, though Angel clearly did not agree, twisting in his hold to scowl at the cat that was leveling him with a deeply unimpressed look.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that if Alastor was giving you trouble you would do group therapy about it," Angel demanded with an underlying scorn, but Husk merely huffed a breath, offering a placid, “Do as I say, not as I do,” that had the spider dramatically rolling his eyes and putting on a show of how much he did not approve of the answer.

When he was finished with his dramatics Angel bristled, obviously gearing up to turn the statement into a fight, but Lucifer noted with an interested curiosity that he did nothing to remove himself from the other man's arms.

"Well," Charlie broke in before Angel could spit anything back, "I do believe we found the topics of the lessons we will be covering next week. We can all take turns talking about anyone who is currently hurting us, or who has hurt us in the past, and then as a group we can discuss if there is anything to be done about it."

"Shit," the cat muttered, visibly dreading the upcoming sessions, and Angel twisted in Husk's arms again to send him a dark glower.

"Look what you did, now we have to do caring and sharing," Angel accused in an undertone, obviously only meant for Husk's ears, but the words were more than audible in the quiet room. Lucifer couldn't help a bemused huff, noticing that Vaggie and Charlie's lips were twitching upward as well.

Their amusement only grew when Husk bit back a quiet -but truly indignant-, “Me? You're the idiot that is so bad at communication you looped all of us into story time because you're allergic to opening up of your own accord."

"I'm a soul-owned porn-star in hell, Husk," Angel informed him with a tone as dry as a desert, "it's not a huge deductive leap to figure out it's not always a great time. I didn't figure I needed to actually say it when I stopped wearing my makeup home and you could see all the bruises. Besides that, what were you supposed to do about that? Piss off smiles and make two incredibly powerful enemies by killing my boss?"

"Maybe I would have," Husk informed him, though the tone came out far more petulant than Lucifer suspected he had meant it to be, and Angel's face softened into a blatant fondness.

"I do believe you woulda given it a shot, but the hotel's other kitty-cat already beat you to it," Angel told him, the tone warm and teasing.

"I'm not a cat," the bartender blatantly lied. "I have wings."

"You purr like a cat," Angel smirked with a playful lilt in his voice.

"I do not," Husk gasped, staring at Angel with an aghast betrayal that only had the other man grinning wider, a pithy retort visibly on his lips while the cat steadily blushed a deeper and deeper red.

"Alright," Charlie clapped, startling the two bickering men that seemed to have completely forgotten there were others in the room, and a faint pink dusted Angel's cheeks as well when he turned to look at Charlie with wide, surprised eyes, though he did a far better job of covering his embarrassment than the cat.

"Before we get to the lessons, we need to decide how we are going to be taking out the trash,” she gestured with a cold displeasure at the mauled mess of blood and viscera, and everyone in the room blinked at her.

"… did you just call Val trash?" Angel asked for the group, sounding flummoxed by the turn of events of Charlie not trying to remind them that violence wasn't the answer.

"He hurt you, horribly and continually and unapologetically, he is trash. I was prepared to get rid of him when I visited the studio before you stopped me,” she told him, calm and absolutely sure of the words she was saying while Angel gaped at her.

"I -, I stopped you because I thought he would hurt you, but now I'm thinkin' I made the wrong choice and I should have let you smoke his ass," Angel told her, still sounding confounded, though a glee was also growing in his voice, and she softened a bit to send him an affectionate smile.

"I may not like violence or being mean to people, but you are very important to me, Angel,” she told him with an earnest sincerity that was almost tangible. "If someone is hurting you, I want to protect you, even if it might get a little violent. You are more than worth it, and I want to protect you."

Angel's eyes flooded with tears, but he pressed his lips together and didn't actually let any of them fall, taking a deep breath after a moment and whispering a wet, "Thanks, Cha."

Lucifer almost couldn't breathe around how proud of her he was, which was not helped by the way she warmed even further, her reassuring smile appearing in full force.

"I love you, Angel, and I want to protect you,” she told him. "Please tell me next time someone hurts you."

The spider looked conflicted, but she didn't force him to answer, instead expanding her focus to the rest of the group.

"So, taking out the trash, we should -," Charlie was interrupted by the sound of multiple people entering the room, and Lucifer glanced over to find that the little cyclops, the snake, and the eggs had all walked in with questioning looks on their faces.

"Is -, is -, was that sssomeone?" the snake asked, looking back and forth between the pile of Valentino and the group huddled around Angel, who was still being held protectively by Husk.

"That was the shitstain that owned Angel," the cat volunteered, and the scared disapproval immediately evaporated from the snake's face as he nodded his acceptance.

"Ah,” he nodded again, "good work. Sssssshall I have my eggs remove him before he reforms?"

"He won't reform," Lucifer told him confidently. "Keekee scratched him to death. Before I came up with Razzle and Dazzle to keep Charlie safe, I infused her claws with angelic steel. The moth is fully dead."

"Oh," his eyebrows rose, "well-, uh-, good, sssire. Brilliant, my liege. That wasss good thinking, your majessssty."

"Thank you," Lucifer accepted graciously, bemused by how ludicrously respectful the snake was at all times, making him the exact opposite of Angel.

"Oh!" the little maid squealed excitedly as she finally edged completely around the snake to see what was being discussed, breaking the moment. "Perfect for my collection!"

With a manic cackle she gathered what was left of the remains of fur and then went scurrying off into a hallway, and Lucifer continued staring in vaguely intimidated shock for several seconds after she disappeared from view before he finally turned back to the others.

"Her collection of what?” he questioned, not sure if he actually wanted to know the answer.

"You know, we're all too afraid to ask..." Angel told him, cementing in Lucifer's mind that he did not want to know. If Angel, who only seemed to be scared of the -newly dead obscenely horrific- moth, was afraid of the answer then anyone with even a modicum of sense should be as well.

She had quickly and efficiently collected all scraps of fur, but the blood, intestines, and mangled shreds of his outfit were still soaking into the floor, and Lucifer reminded himself he had been planning to do something about that.

He magically gathered and raised what wasn't collected by the intimidating maid, grimacing at the shapeless gore around the shredded outfit the moth had worn that somehow seemed even more gruesome when gathered together at eye level.

"I'm just going to take the trash out then,” he announced to the room, flicking his finger at the grotesque stain on the floor, erasing all evidence of the blood spilled.

"I'll be back in a bit,” he informed them as he turned to leave, pausing when Angel asked, "You're leaving, not just magicking him away?"

"Yes," Lucifer told him, facing him more directly. "I'm just going to remind my subjects that my daughter and all of her people are off limits."

He sent him a grin but stopped again as he turned to leave to look back at Angel.

"Actually, where did you say your work building is? I should do it there,” he decided.

"He had partners, they won't be happy," Angel sounded worried, but Lucifer didn't feel the same.

"Good,” he nodded approvingly. "They'll be the ones that most need the warning not to start anything else."

"They're dangerous," Angel warned him with wide, earnest eyes that Lucifer couldn't help but find ridiculously adorable.

"I can handle them, I promise,” he swore, but Angel bit his lip anxiously and didn't answer.

"The huge tower with the Vs on it," Vaggie volunteered, earning everyone's attention. "The partners are Vox, the television demon Alastor hates more than hell itself, and Velvette, the fashion demon. They're crafty, and powerful enough to have their eyes on becoming overlords."

"Vaggie!" Angel reprimanded, his pitch jumping higher in his panic that she did not seem to share.

"Yes?” she drawled blithely, and his wide eyes narrowed.

"What the fuck?” he spat. "Did you notice how I didn't tell him? Why did you tell him?"

"Because he can handle them,” she told him confidently, and Lucifer grinned, feeling oddly proud of himself for her unquestioning surety.

"But what if they hurt him?" Angel demanded again, flailing wildly. "What if he gets hurt? Why the fuck would you tell him?"

"Because he won't get hurt,” she told him calmly, "and you are worth protecting."

Angel's mouth snapped shut and his eyes glistened with a sudden sheen of tears, but he swallowed them before they could fall.

"No, I'm not,” he argued, sounding incredibly sure of himself considering how monumentally wrong he was. "I got myself into this mess, and I need to deal with it, not drag other people into my shit and get them hurt."

"You are worth protecting,” she informed him, blunt and stern. "You are, Angel. You are important to this hotel, and you are important to me. I'm sorry I didn't understand what a horrific boss he was, but just because we didn't know doesn't mean you deserved it, and it doesn't mean that you aren't worth protecting."

Angel's eyes were wet again, and his throat visibly bobbed as he attempted to swallow his reaction, so she continued without forcing him to speak.

"The king is powerful, and more than badass enough to take Vox and Velvette without a problem,” she said, a soothing undertone to his voice that did seem to help Angel's shoulders relax slightly. "Besides, the other option is that Alastor takes the chance to go stir shit up in his continued rivalry with Vox, so either way they are going to know, but the king can actually take care of the problem, and we are going to let him."

"We are?" Angel asked, his voice small and hesitant, but it was Charlie that answered him.

"We are,” she said, gentle and firm in equal measure. "You are worth protecting, that was never in question, Angel, and besides, dad actually wants to go protect the hotel, unlike last time someone attacked. We are going to let him, this is so much progress!"

Angel watched her with enormous eyes but eventually gave a hesitant nod that had Charlie beaming at him.

"I'll be back soon," Lucifer repeated, sending them all a smile and then letting himself out the front door, the off-putting viscera floating beside him.

He spread his wings, ready to fly, but then reconsidered, and instead magically rearranged the gore until the recognizable glasses the moth had worn sat atop the most salvageable portion of his coat, making it clear to whoever had known him who it was that had been eviscerated.

With that done Lucifer set off, stalking angrily through the streets, letting his power extend out to crackle dangerously through the air, and the passerby's took notice, gasping and cowering despite him making no move toward them. Good.

By the time he was a block away from the hotel he peripherally noticed a news drone following him. Even better.

With such an extensive audience he put on more of a show, letting his power flow out still more potently while his rage legitimately picked up as he thought about what little Angel had told him of the horrors the moth had put him through. The air around him filled with hellfire, which didn’t burn him, but did apparently look incredibly intimidating as demons screamed and ran in terror.

Lucifer didn’t change his pace, steadily stalking down the populated streets of hell until he found himself standing in front of the cursed building, the news cameras overhead with a crowd growing as demons hid behind signs and doorways, their curiosity over what was happening warring with their fear.

Lucifer growled a dark, deadly sound, extending his powers to search through the complex, seeking out the two sinners inside that held the most soul-contracts and dragging them out to stand before him in the blink of an eye.

“What the everloving f-!” the man that had to be Vox -he deemed from the television doubling as his head- shouted with a self-righteous rage until he caught sight of the seething king before him, his mouth immediately snapping shut while his eyes went wide with terror, the fashionista beside him looking the same.

“The remaining two Vs, I take it,” Lucifer drawled, his voice a dark parody of friendliness.

He waited until they jerked small, panicky nods of confirmation before he used his magic to drop the pile of blood and gore that had been their third partner at their feet, feeling a grim satisfaction when the viscera splattered off the sidewalk and painted their clothes.

With a hesitant slowness they both looked down, their movements almost audibly proclaiming their dread. They stared in horror for several long seconds until he broke the silence, his voice sharp and dangerous.

“This shitstain,” he borrowed Husk’s description, finding it incredibly apt, “threatened my daughter. I didn’t think I needed to actually lay out the only rule of hell, but it would seem your former partner held the title of most anencephalic sinner hell has ever known. If one demon can be so monumentally idiotic, it stands to reason that more could be that colossally stupid, so now I have to say it.”

He waited a beat, holding both of their gazes as he let hellfire visibly burn in his eyes while his power flared.

“Do – not – ever – say, - do, - or – even - fucking – think – anything – that – might – harm – my – daughter,” he growled, more than loud enough for everyone around him to hear, infusing his voice with a depth of his rage that had several nearby eavesdroppers fainting from fear.

“Do you understand?” Lucifer asked in a soft, lethal whisper that he ensured was overly audible.

“Y-y-yes,” they stuttered out together.

“Good,” he let his acknowledgement present as a threat. “If anyone else dares to do anything to harm my daughter or any of the residents under her care at the hotel they will answer to me, and I will make what I did to this simpleton look like mercy. Am I understood?”

The two looked entirely incapable of speech, but they nodded frantically, and Lucifer finally let his murderous gaze slide away from them to the crowd, who also desperately nodded their understanding.

“Good,” he growled, abruptly transforming to a flea and taking to the sky, pleased to see that the news cameras didn’t seem to have caught the method he had disappeared with as they stayed trained on the place he had just been.

He flew far above them and shifted to a bird instead, crossing the distance to the hotel far faster, deciding he was pleased with his split second decision to make a dramatic exit rather than stalk back through the streets, hoping to plant the idea in the heads of sinners around hell that he could be anywhere, appearing and disappearing in an instant, and nowhere would be safe from him if they dared touch one hair on Charlie’s head.

When he made it to the front door he reverted back to human form, taking a deep breath to let go of his boiling anger before he pushed the door open with a jaunty bounce in his step.

“The problem has been taken care of,” he announced cheerfully, earning the attention of the room that appeared to be filled with everyone but Husk and Angel.

“Oh, thank you, dad!” Charlie gushed, beaming from the small mountain of pillows and blankets that appeared to have migrated to the lobby since he had left it.

“Are we preparing to hibernate?” he asked, glancing at the sheer number of covers around his daughter, earning chuckles from everyone but the annoying persona of tackiness.

“We’re going to have a board game night,” Vaggie told him, gesturing at the coffee table standing in the sea of fluff. “It’s easiest to just sit on the floor where we can all reach.”

“Ah,” Lucifer nodded his understanding, smile growing at the prospect. “You seem to be missing two.”

“They’re cleaning up the activity room,” Charlie told him easily as she turned her attention back to arranging the various pillows, “could you go check on them?”

Lucifer didn’t understand why Vaggie was smirking when no one else seemed to find anything about the words out of the ordinary, but he nodded and allowed an easy, “Of course, ducky,” as he strolled out of the room.

He retraced his route down the hallway, around the corner, and a few doors further, swinging the door open as he strode in. A bright, “Need any help?” was on his lips, but it never escaped as he froze in shock at what he saw.

The room was, indeed, almost completely cleaned up, but the pair appeared to have become distracted by passionately making out with each other, neither of them noticing in the slightest that someone else had unsubtly entered the room.

It took several long seconds for his mind to slowly creak back into motion and explain what he was seeing, but when thoughts finally began flowing again he was met with an instantaneous urge to rip Angel away and frantically inform him that he wasn’t allowed to date for at least another century, which abruptly undid all progress Lucifer had made as he was almost bowled over by another confounding realization that he had apparently already mentally adopted Angel and there was nothing left for him to do about it.

The new thought left him in a flummoxed surprise for long enough for reason to tentatively reassert itself and remind him that Angel was an adult who could choose who he dated, and the cat truly did seem to care about him. Despite the fact that if he had his way, neither of his children would even consider dating for at least another millennium, he had to admit that both of them seemed to have chosen amazing partners, from what Lucifer had seen in the short time he’d known them.

Husk had been doing whatever it took to gain Angel’s attention since the moment Lucifer had arrived, and he did continually look at him with hearts in his eyes and dive over the spider when he had been in danger, so Lucifer granted him the unprecedented mercy of giving him a chance to prove he was good enough for the son that Lucifer had abruptly found himself a parent of, whether Angel knew it or not.

The fact that Lucifer had accidentally mentally adopted him would undoubtedly be a lot to handle, and it unquestionably would not go smoother by Lucifer bursting in and attempting to make the spider break up with his… boyfriend? Lover?... cat, break up with his cat, so Lucifer quietly stepped back into the hall and slid the door shut without either of them noticing.

He walked back to the room, still mentally off-kilter as he announced, “They’re finishing up,” and something of his feelings must have shown on his face because Vaggie’s smirk widened, her eye shining with victory, and he belatedly connected that she must have guessed why it was taking the other two so long to tidy up the mess.

Lucifer shook himself, mentally promising he was done thinking about the pair for the moment, stepping forward to help his daughter and the others set up.

“Well, that’s everything,” Vaggie surveyed the set up approvingly. “I’ll go grab the other two, and then we’ll get started.”

“Sounds good!” Charlie chirped happily, taking a seat and patting the ground next to her with a hopeful look at Lucifer that he was overjoyed to accept, dropping to the fluffy pile next to her and immediately sinking into the warmth.

The others got settled, leaving a spot next to Charlie that was obviously for Vaggie, and two spots together for the remaining pair, as they settled into their chosen locations and Lucifer was so caught up in his overwhelming happiness that he wasn’t even bothered by the irritating nuisance sitting across from him with a hard glint in his eyes.

The missing trio returned before the walkie-talkie could ruin the atmosphere, Vaggie leading the group, utterly unperturbed by the way she was being stared down by the blushing pair behind her.

Vaggie dropped into the seat beside Charlie without having to consider her options, leaving the remaining duo to fill in the last gap in the circle around the coffee-table-turned-game-table.

"Hey babe,” she sent the duo a devilish grin before returning her attention to Charlie, "remind me to tell you something over breakfast."

"Vagatha, I will crush you so badly at this game that you won't dare ever speak again," Angel promised, not that she was at all intimidated by his dark glare.

"Doubt it,” she told him lightly, openly laughing as the spider steamed, but Angel nevertheless continued to subtly hold the blushing bartender's hand even as they glowered at the smirking woman.

Lucifer couldn’t help the bright laugh he let out at their posturing, looking forward to an amazing night in the hotel that he could not be more proud of his daughter for creating.