Archive of Our Own ^beta

In a world where people had the names of their soulmate permanently imprinted on their wrist either when they are born or when their soulmates were born, you were one of the few who's soulmate had quite the unique name.

After all, who named their kid Lucifer Morningstar nowadays? You were slightly worried your soulmate may be someone who was in a cult or something, or maybe their parents may be in a cult. You didn't really believe in things you don't see for yourself, so you often joke to other people that you'll just believe it when you end up in either heaven or hell.

Provided those actually exist

From what you know, you've had the name on your wrist since you were born meaning your soulmate was at least older than you. Well, you did have a thing for slightly older people so at least you know there was some merit to this whole soulmate business.

You just hope they don't give you up just as soon as your parents did.

Just as soon as the thought crossed your mind you shook your head to banish the thoughts from your mind.

You didn't need to be reminded of your no good parents. Nor that you had become the successful person that you are without them. Screw them for all you care; they are already dead, wherever they are.

With all your musings, you had already arrived at work. One of the most prestigious hospitals in all of Europe. You were proud to call yourself one of the best surgeons in the hospital.

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Soulmates. They were one of the things no one knew much about aside from the fact that the name a person had on their wrists was the person they would no doubt be a perfect match with.

Lucifer has always found himself frowning at mere talks about it, even back when he was still in heaven. He didn't have a name on his wrist after all. Hell, even his ex-wife Lilith didn't have a name on her wrist! So it made sense that they were meant to be.

He loved her, she loved his creativity, wonder, and dreams. He loved her independence, wit, and beauty. Plus, both of them didn't have a soulmate! At least…that's what he thought until 23 years before he and Lilith split up, he had a name appear on his wrist.

He knew of course, what that implied, the fact that his soulmate was a sinner, one who must also be a sinner in the future. The idea of his soulmate being a sinner, one who had wasted his gift of free will in life disgusted him.

He hid it from Lilith of course, he couldn't bear to tell her, no matter what some name on his wrist said, he would love her and only her always.

Then it turned out Lilith had a soulmate too, he thought that maybe just like him, Lilith could simply ignore it too. But Lilith left him, disappeared for 7 years and going. The only thing she left behind being memories of her, and a neatly prepared and signed divorce paper, her signature glaring straight at him and a note.

He couldn't deny her requests, he loves her. Immensely so, so even if the letter contained words that hurt and shattered his heart, he signed the papers and made the divorce official. It's what his Lili wanted. So he provided.

Nowadays, after having reconnected with his daughter Charlie, Lucifer would sometimes find himself pushing his sleeve up and staring at the name that circled his wrist.

Ocyris Sterle

Very mystical sounding name. There are times that hed glare down in anger at it, blaming the writing and even the person who owned it for Lilith leaving him. Sometimes, he'd stare at it hopelessly, hoping that maybe, since whoever the name's owner was his soulmate, they'd be perfect for him and would love him forever like what the term soulmate implied

He didn't really know how he was gonna deal with meeting his soulmate. If he meets his soulmate in the first place, after all, not many people meet their soulmates now that the population of both heaven and hell has grown a lot compared to the old times. But if he does meet his soulmate, then hopefully he'd at least get the chance to know them before he gets toosed aside.

For now? He'll support Charlie's dreams and whatever laid in store for it.

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Finishing another good day in the hospital, you worked on 2 surgeries today and both were successful. You've always loved seeing the families of patients get relieved when they here that their loved ones were gonna be alright.

You waved goodbye to your colleagues, giving a polite smile to the staff that you passed by, they wave back and greet you a good evening in return.

As you entered the parking area of the hospital, you got into your car and drove out, setting out gor home.

That's right, it was a good day.

If only you didn't take your eyes off the road for a brief moment to check the message notif that beeps on your phone.

If only there were more areas to turn the car when you realize there was a child running into the road, their mother crying in dread as they saw that you were heading straight for the child.

If only your first instinct was to hit the brakes and not swivle to the left.

As your body lurches forward, the air bag activating upon impact to the sturdy cement wall that divided the road, you felt the glass in front of your shatter as the large impact put your car on fire.

"Is the…kid okay..?" You rasp out, your throat blocked and tight from the smoke that you breathed in.

As you see from the front mirror that the kid gets hugged by their mom, you couldn't help but sigh in relief when your vision fades to black.

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You felt floaty before you fall and land on something hard, you can see something bright from beyond your eyelids as you slowly opened your eyes, strangely pain free despite the car crash.

As you adjusted to the light and see a large gold gate, a luxurious city beyond it, yoy couldn't help the curse that comes out of your mouth.

"Oh shit."

Guess Heaven DOES exist. And the fact your soulmate's name was a certain person as well. Your willing to bet hell does to.

Crap.

"Oh hello there! Can I get your name?" You hear someone ask you, you look a little to the right of the gate and see an angel with a book smiling brightly at you.

"...St. Peter?" You wonder out loud, you may not be religious but you knew a little bit about it from your religious friends.

You obviously get it right as the angel, St. Peter nods happily at you with a resounding "That's right! You know your stuff!"

"Yeah, well, some things are common knowledge." You reply, you get up and pat yourself down as if examining for injuries. You find none, honestly…did you think you'd keep the injuries up here? Course not.

As you examine yourself you notice your vision is a lot wider than usual, and somehow you could see stuff even behind you. You get whiplash as you turn around only to weirdly still have a little bit of 360 vision while your forward vision seems to be really wide.

"Woah there! No need to fret, new friend! Your deeds alive have determined your form in the afterlife! From what I can see right now, you were probably a REALLY good person alive." St. Peter explains as he notices your confusion.

"So I'm like what, a biblically accurate angel?" You ask with a raised brow.

"Well, kind of, you retained a very human-like form, 3 pairs of wings too, very rare, the tail is new though!" The angel in front of you says cheerily as he got off his podium and flew around examining you.

You didn't even notice you had wings, they were surprisingly light. You true to extend a wing, surprisingly, you were able to control your new appendages quite fine.

Until eyes suddenly open on your wings and you flinch so hard you fall back on your arse. St. Peter reaches out a hand for you to hold.

"Very unusual…" he comments as he now went from cheery to curious. "Anyway, as I asked earlier- what's your name new friend?"

You grabbed his hand as he asked you once again what your name was. The eyes on your wings disappeared, you closed them and allowed them to just sit on your back as you stood back up.

"Oh um…Ocyris…Ocyris Sterle." You finally answer the question.

St. Peter whizzed past you, back on his podium as he flips through a thick book mumbling names as he scans for your name. Finally, after a while, you see his eyes widen in surprise before he smiles.

"Wow! I don't think this has ever happened before! What did you do when you were alive?" St. Peter asked, his eyes filled with wonder as he looked at you.

You subconsciously grab your arm unsure what exactly he saw in the book for him to react like that. Especially since the book only really had names on it from what you can tell.

"I was a surgeon. Did my best to save as many lives as I could." You answered honestly.

"Hm, great but not that special…how did you die?" St. Peter inquires once again.

"Car crash, I swerved my car into the road barricade thingies to avoid hitting this kid that ran into the road."

"A noble sacrifice! Quite good of you! Well…I don't decide these kinds of things, but according to my book here, YOU are the first mortal seraphim! Congratulations!" St. Peter cheers, with a clap of his hands, the gates to heaven opened and he flies over to you tugging you along.

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St. Peter showed you around heaven and all the nice places, he talked about how you no longer needed to worry as heaven was the reward for your good life. After giving you a tour of the place, he leads you to a very large building, apparently you should meet the two other seraphims of heaven, and so, after he brings you in and knocks on the door to the room in which you assume the two seraphims were currently residing. He told you a little bit about the statuses in heaven.

After a brief moment, the door opens revealing a tall angel with dark skin and light grayish hair that gradiented to a darker gray.

"Ah welcome, you must be the new seraphim. I must say, a winner- a mortal soul reforming as a seraphim upon death is quite unheard of. Still, divine judgment has deemed you to be such, and we will accept you with open arms."

You couldn't help but cringe internally at how the angel talked, still, you wanted to be polite so you nod your head at her and give her a polite smile.

You were about to introduce yourself when a shorter and much more cheerful seraphim peaks from around the taller one and smiles widely.

"Oh my gosh hi! You're the new seraph right? My name is Emily, but you can call me Em!..Emie…Ei…anything you want, I go by whatever!" you were drawn into an enthusiastic handshake by Emily as you found yourself smiling as if infected by her bubbly personality.

"Hi, my name is Ocyris, it's nice to meet you Emily."

Emily makes a happy noise before the taller seraph speaks up as well.

"Yes, my name is Sera, I'm the head Seraphim, I don't have an idea yet of what you can do as the new Seraphim, but I assure you that I'm sure you can handle whatever it is."

You nod your head at Sera to imply you understood. St. Peter tells you that since you are now acquainted with your fellow seraphims that he had to go back to his post at the front of the gate.

After bidding him goodbye, Sera urges you to join them inside the room. There you find another person inside, a snake like figure, his color theme white  yellow, and orange, with hints of red.

"Oh hellllllo there new persssson!" The stranger greeted you. You wave your hand awkwardly in return.

Sera and Emily begin talking with the snake stranger, something about a "Hazbin Hotel" being mentioned a lot. Sitting on a chair nearby, you fiddle with your lowest set of wings, making yourself shiver as you hold onto the joint with slight pressure, making you involuntarily let go of your wing.

Being given a moment to gather your bearings, the reality of your situation began to sink in.

You were dead. Dead and in heaven. Apparently you were sorta a big shot now cause you were now a…Seraphim? Is that like a high standing angel or something? Well whatever it is, you sure didn't like having 360 vision. You're surprised you haven't gotten a headache yet…at least the eyes on your wings haven't opened again, it was quite weird seeing yourself, that's for sure.

With all your musins, Sera's frustrated sigh draws your attention back into the conversation that was happening.

Lucifer's….daughter? Oh wow, now that was something not mentioned in Religious mythology. You put to and to together and realized that if Lucifer had a daughter then surely he had a wife.

How would that work then? You certainly weren't a home wrecker, that's for sure. Still, the fact you ended up in heaven and not in hell already makes it even more strange that Lucifer was your soulmate.

Would he be like the stories told of him? If so you didn't think you could get along with someone mean and cruel.

"Since it's proven that Charlie's hotel works, why don't we send some people to help? Maybe if someone from heaven helps them out, a lot more sinners can be redeemed!" Emily suggests. Sera looks at her with a sad smile.

"Emily, as much as that idea does have some merit, I don't think anyone, much less people, would volunteer to go down to hell and mingle with demons."

"But…" Emily looks down with sadness, you could tell from her face that she was trying to think of another idea.

"Does it have to be someone who knows a lot of heaven?" You find yourself asking. All three people in the room turn to you.

"Well…no, but it would have to be someone who can hold their own in hell as well as have some knowledge with dealing with people, like a therapist, or-"

"A doctor..?" You cut Sera off with a raised brow.

"Yes that would be fine, sure hell has therapists and doctors too. But a lot of them aren't really trustworthy. It would be counterproductive if a demon therapist simply made those who want redemption simply fall further down."

"I'll look for someone Sera! Charlie's hotel is possible. And it's BETTER than exterminating human souls!" Emily gives Sera a harsh glare at that which causes the older Seraph to look down in shame.

Your eyes narrow at the words. "Extermination? You can die again?"

Emily quickly turns to you with a sheepish smile, "Yes, you can die again…only if you are killed with a holy weapon though, otherwise you are invisible!"

You couldn't help but frown, "Then why won't anyone want to volunteer to help this uh…hotel?"

"Because no one wants to go down to hell. The people there are chaotic, dangerous, and so much more." Sera says sternly as she gives Emily a slightly stern look.

"BUT not all of them are that way, look at Mr Pentious here!" Emily gestures at Pentious who waves his finger and smiles awkwardly unsure what to do.

You took a glance at your clothed wrist, did you want to meet your soulmate? You're honestly not sure, you didn't really mind if you met them or not, most people don't as they simply wait until the names on their wrist one day dim from a deep black to a light grey.

Besides, what if he was exactly like how he is described to be in the stories? Not to mention he clearly already has a family.

Still…his daughter seems to be a sweetheart who wanted to give corrupted souls a second chance. You admired that resolve. Besides, you didn't wanna be some bigshit twiddling their thu.bs doing nothing. You've worked hard in life to become great, to become someone who can give back to the world when no one was able to give you in your time of need

Heaven was paradise after all, you doubted your skills would be needed much. But in hell?

You made your decision.

"What if…I volunteered?"

The conversation after you volunteered took a serious tone, with Sera asking you if you were sure and Emily telling you about how nice you were.

You told Sera that you had been a Surgeon in life, and you were a top Brain surgeon but you took a little bit of things related to psychology and psychiatry. She gave you a skeptical look.

"Heaven is as you say, a paradise. If what I think is true, I can't help people like I wanted to in life when there's no helping to be done. You protect the Winners, Emily makes them happy. If I am to help in some way, then perhaps it's healing the souls of those broken down by the harsh world of earth. Maybe it's me helping sinners finally get their break after suffering for what is essentially eternity."

Sera's gaze softens at that. Emily gives you an admiring gaze as she pulls you into a hug.

The talks get easier after that, with setting a date for when you go down to hell. As well as details on what exactly you will be doing.

You were allowed at any time to go back to heaven, as such, Sera deemed it necessary you first be taught to use your new abilities in your current form before heading down. That way, not only can you more effectively perform your duties, but also be able to defend yourself should the more unsavory of demons try to harm you.

"Uh…that includes a flying lesson right?" You ask sheepishly, Emily giggles at the question as she offers to teach you.

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It's been a month since you first got to heaven. Sera would often comment on you being a fast learner with how quick you picked things up.

"I didn't become a top surgeon at 30 for nothing." You had proudly stated, earning an amused huff from Sera before you continued to practice your abilities.

You had learned how to control the 4 floating eyes on both sides of your head, as well as the eyes you had on your crown like halo.

That had been a relief as you were blessed with the sight that you were used to.

The flying? Now that…you sucked at…badly.

In the span of a week, you're pretty sure you had already crashed into every part of heaven. You just couldn't seem to get all 3 pairs of wings to do as you wanted.

You could glide and such, so at least you couldn't die or get gravely injured from falling off a high place. But aside from slightly lifting yourself off the ground for a second to maybe reach that were barely out of your reach.

You were basically flightless.

One time, in your frustration, a myriad of eyes opened and appeared on your first and last set of wings. The sudden change and widening of your vision gave you immense whiplash and Pentious, who you had grown close to rather quickly, came over to check if you were okay, somehow stopping in place before you made a joke about them losing their tongue and he proceeded to try and rip his tongue out.

Wasn't that a tragedy in the making.

Thankfully you telling him to stop made him stop.

Things were pretty much boring aside from that. You practiced magic and your new powers, failing at flying, learning more about heaven. You spent a lot of time with Sir Pentious, he would often tell you stories about his time in hell and the hotel. Mostly the hotel.

From the way he spoke and the look on his face as he told you stories of his time there, it seemed like a really nice place.

Once you get along with the residents and staff there of course.

Sir Pentious bids you good luck as well as hands you a letter addressed to the hotel. You promised him you'll deliver it straight to their hands. Soon enough, an hour from now you will be going down to help in redeeming sinners.

You'll just have to do your best.

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"Okay everyone! We have got to make sure everything is amazing! Someone from heaven is coming soon-"

"We still don't know what they're gonna be here for toots-"

"-and we have to make sure we leave a good impression!" Charlie instructs her friends and basically family. Lucifer had received news of heaven sending someone down to hell as a representative of sorts.

To do what? They weren't told, but Charlie was determined to make sure they felt welcomed and wowed at the hotel. Who knows? Maybe whoever they send is like Emily, that nice angel believed in her dream too!

Lucifer was skeptical, he had complicated feelings with the people of heaven. Most specifically with the heaven born and the higher angels. Unfortunately, he doubted that heaven would send a Winner as their representative, no matter what heaven has planned with this little representative of theirs. He just hoped that whoever they sent was decent enough and someone who also believed in his daughter's cause.

If they weren't…well he won't hesitate to beat the crap out of them like he did Adam.

The clock soon ticked down close to the time of which the representative will arrive. Charlie and the rest of the hazbin crew all gathered in the center of the lobby waiting for the portal to heaven to open, Charlie basically vibrates in both excitement and nervousness as she watches the seconds tick by. Lucifer places a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder and reassures you that no matter what happens, he'll be with her all the way.

"Don't worry suga’ if they act mean, we'll just blow their heads off!" Angel exclaims, shooting Charlie a determined grin.

"Let's not forget you have me here dear!" Alastor pipes in from the opposite side.

Lucifer grumbles under his breath at that. "As if you were any help during the extermination." Lucifer thought to himself before the glimmer and shine of the portal forming garners his attention.

It's showtime.

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Emily waves you goodbye as you go through the portal, said portal closing behind you as you go in. As you adjust to the slight discomfort of suddenly being from one place to another, you see the group of people in front of you gathered together. Just as you were about to greet them, one of the demons, a girl wearing a red tuxedo, runs up to you clasping both of her hands around yours and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Hi! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel! I'm Charlie Morningstar!" Charlie eagerly introduced herself. The rest of the crew observed the interaction both with fondness and cautions as they essentially looked you up and down.

Lucifer especially was the most cautious, he squinted at you as if he would see some underlying danger from you that could harm his daughter.

You found it both endearing and sad at the same time.

"Bad first impression to a soulmate huh?"

Still, the fact he seemed to care a lot about Charlie showed that he wasn't all bad. Maybe the stories weren't true.

"Um- hi there! My name is Cyrel, I was sent by heaven to help out with the hotel." You introduce yourself. You had already decided to keep your real name a secret, you didn't wanna risk Lucifer thinking you were here to barge into his family or life just because you were his soulmate.

"Help the hotel? Really?!" Charlie beamed, she let go of your hands and turned to the rest of her friends, she looked at them with the happiest expression imaginable.

"Um yes-"

"Why?" Lucifer cuts you off with an untrusting expression on his face. It looks oddly unthreatheting with his short stature.

"Why uh…why what?" Your wings slump a little at the slight tinge of animosity in his voice.

"Why is heaven just now, deciding to help Charlie with her redemption idea? They weren't exactly very forthcoming when my daughter first pitched it." He clarifies.

Charlie turns to berate her dad on his frank questions but you wave her a dismissive hand and a smile.

"That's because the hotel had been proven to work."

"It…has?" Charlie whispered audibly in surprise. Her eyes widened in surprise as tears slowly welled up in them. Her friends seemed to have a similar reaction except instead of crying, Lucifer spun his daughter around and pulled her into a hug.

"You did it Charlie!" He exclaimed, his own eyes tearing up at how proud he was of his daughter.

The rest of the hotel residents said their own congratulations. You watched as a gray skinned girl gave her a peck on the cheek as soon Lucifer breaks the hug he had with Charlie.

You couldn't help the soft smile that made its way on your face as you watched the scene in front of you. You haven't been here long and you still didn't really know much about heaven and hell, but you could tell that this was a big thing that was to be celebrated.

Charlie wipes the tear in her eye as she turns back to you, "Thank you for telling us Sir Pentious is alright. You said you're down here to help?"

"That's right, I was a top surgeon up top. But I also know a lot about psychology and psychiatry. I also took on a job as a therapist for a brief time so although I don't specialize in it, I'm sure I could be of help in some way." You say confidently.

"That…would actually help a lot." Vaggie admits, she seemed to be less cautious of you but you can tell she still didn't trust you at all.

"Heh! Right? Someone actually qualified for this sh*t!" Angel laughs as he nudges Husk and gives him a joking wink.

"Haha, funny. It's the truth though, someone actually equipped for that might the hotel's chances even better than it already is." Husk comments back with a thoughtful look.

Lucifer silently walks up to you, he eyes you up and down through his short stature, his eyes flicking over to your 3 pairs of wings.

"A seraphim? I don't think I've seen you before." Lucifer says out loud, although his gaze on you didn't have that tinge of animosity anymore, you could tell that he was still a little apprehensive about your presence. Especially since he hasn't known of you before.

"Um yes- I uh just arrived a month ago-"

"A month ago? How are you already grown if you were only born a month ago?" He interrupts you. His question was more curious in tone now as he looked at you as if he was solving a puzzle.

"I'm a special case. I uh…was human." You say awkwardly, you didn't really know how to interact with Lucifer. You knew he was your soulmate, but you also know that he has a family of his own. One that you can't just barge into. Adding the fact that you could see him wearing a ring so that must mean he was still with his wife right?

Lucifer's eyes go wide, so do some of the people in the hotel who had more knowledge on angels like Vaggie, Charlie, and Alastor.

"A mortal seraphim? How?" Vaggie asked in shock.

"I don't know either. I just woke up at the gates of heaven like this. Six winged and all creepy floating eye thingies all around me." You made emphasis by opening one side of your wings briefly before allowing your extra eyes to appear and open.

Lucifer hummed as he circled around you,  not even bothering to respect your personal space as he looked more thoroughly. You just stood there semi frozen, you see Charlie give you an apologetic grin, probably for her dad.

Once Lucifer was finished looking all over you– you felt as if he was giving you some weird practical test that you needed to pass -he backs away and smiles. "Well then, I suppose if sinners can be redeemed, mortals can be seraphims right?" He tosses you a charming polite smile that has you feeling relieved as if you just passed some unspoken test.

"Um uh sure right…yeah." You reply confused at the sudden shift of attitude.

"Well…he certainly isn't what I imagined, that's for sure." You mused to yourself.

"Lucifer Morningstar! Pleasure to meet you new staff!" He greets enthusiastically, he passes his cane over to his other hand and extends the hand that was previously holding it, out for you to shake.

"Right, um, nice to meet you sir, I'm Cyrel…but uh- I already said that…Ahahaha…" You chuckle awkwardly as you grasp his hand, he shakes it firmly and energetically before letting it go.

"Oh my GOSH you are gonna love it here!" Charlie cheers happily as she pulls you away from her dad asking you if you wanted a tour.

You were about to say yes when you remembered something.

"Oh right! Wait a moment-" you snapped your fingers, a swirl of gold circles next to you like a portal as you reached your hand in to look for something.

It takes a couple seconds but you pull out 2 letters. "This one's for you, Sir Pentious asked me to deliver it." You handed Charlie an envelope, Charlie squeals in joy as she opens it.

"And uhh…is someone named Cherry Bomb here?" You glance at the other inhabitants of the room.

"Sorry suga’ Cherry doesn't stay at the hotel. I'll tell her to come by later though if you have to deliver it ya’ self." Angel walks up to you with a grin. As he came close, you had to look up at him.

"Oh uh thanks, that would be appreciated, uh…"

"Angel Dust, nice to meet ‘cha goodie two shoes." He introduces himself, you shake one of his hands on his lower set before you feel something climbing up you as you look down in mild alarm to see a small one-eyed sinner.

"Hi! I'm Nifty! I clean!" She says enthusiastically as she invades your personal space and gets up in your face. You were surprised you didn't go cross-eyed at her being so close to you.

"Oh! Ahahaha, yes, pleasure to meet you Nifty." You greet back with an awkward, slightly uncomfortable smile.

She giggles creepily before jumping off you, the motion makes you stagger slightly as you instinctively spread your wings as if in an attempt to keep balance. It almost works but you tip over.

You were expecting to fall, embarrassing yourself within the first hour you were here when you felt a hand grab onto your wrist, stopping your backwards descent as the hand then pulled you upright.

"Woah there! Can't have you getting hurt after just arriving right? Pardon the small lady, she can be quite…"

"Unhinged?" You finished for Lucifer as you sent him a thankful nod, a smile on your face as you fixed up your clothing as it was slightly ruffled by Nifty.

Vaggie walks up to you as she looks at your wings, then to you. "Might wanna hide those. You may be able to pass them off if you only had one pair, but you are quite obviously a Seraphim with them out."

"Uh…" you sounded dumbfoundedly.

Vaggie sighs, "You one of those angels who are so narcissistic about their wings and being an angel? Because trust me, you are better off hiding them."

"You can hide them?" You ask surprised. Vaggie's stern expression softens at your words as she realized you genuinely had no idea you could do that.

"Yes actually! Very handy for those of us who have 3 pairs of them I'd say! I can teach you if you wish?" Lucifer offers politely, a playful grin on his face as you find there was a curious glint in his eyes.

"That would be helpful, if you really don't mind helping sir, I'm sure your very b-"

"Nonsense! Please, call me Lucifer, you're gonna be helping out with my daughter's hotel. Means your already much better than most of the folks up top." Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he mentioned people from heaven. You didn't really know much aside from Emily, Sera, Peter, and Pentious, so you didn't really have much frame of reference for how you could have been much better than some people.

"Um alright then si- Lucifer, guess I'll just have to thank you in advance."

Lucifer smiled wider, Charlie came up next to Vaggie, the two sharing a soft look with one another before she asked if she was interrupting your and Lucifer's conversation.

Lucifer reassures her that he was simply offering his help to you and Charlie smiles brightly at hearing that her father is actively trying to interact and get along with more people other than her now.

Charlie then asks if you would like the tour now, the hotel being much larger as she tells you the sooner you can start learning about the place, the sooner you can settle into one of the hotel rooms Charlie had prepared for your stay.

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It took 3 hours for Charlie to finish giving you the tour. You found yourself drawn in by her energetic and bubbly descriptions, how she creatively weaved her future plans with some of the rooms that were still empty, waiting for it to be turned into another part of the hotel that could help in redeeming sinners.

She told you that she'll have her father use his magic to turn one of the rooms into your office where you can conduct your treatment and activities with sinners. You were grateful for both her and Lucifer's help, and reassured her that you'll do your best so that more sinners can have their rest in heaven.

After the tour, Charlie led you to your room. It was located on the highest floor. She said something about you rooming there because it's high and that she hoped it could make you feel at home as if you were back in heaven. You chuckle at her logic and thank her for the thought.

Charlie allows you to get settled in after a tiring day, you stretch out your wings after having them just folded closed throughout the day. They were a bit of a hassle, especially since they were mostly just for display. Hopefully, you get around to that lesson Lucifer offered you. You still didn't know how to act around the man, he was your soulmate, but only you knew that.

"At the very least I can be friends with him." You thought to yourself as you snap your fingers, making all your things appear in a heap of suitcases.

You got started with fixing your things, organizing them into the closet already provided by the hotel.

After you finished fixing and organizing your possessions, you walked over to the window and out to hell. It looked dreary, very red. The occasional explosion and screams can be heard here and there.

It looked like earth if people didn't create laws.

You pry your gaze from the window walking over to your bed as you plop down on it. Many thoughts run through your mind, you recall your life alive, the experiences you had. The hard work you had put into to become successful, only for it to be ripped away from you at the early age of 30 by death.

You turned over, staring blankly at the wall. You had originally busied yourself with learning new things about your abilities, and your duties for when you were gonna go to the hotel. But now that you were actually here, you didn't know where to start with your goal.

After a couple more minutes of contemplation, you decided to get up and take a walk. A walk where? You didn't know. All you knew was that you had to get moving or else you'll get too deep into your own head.

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You looked around the hall, the silence loud in your ears as you assumed everyone was already asleep at this hour. You made your way to the stairs that Charlie had told you led to the roof.

Opening the door to the roof, you take a deep breath, grimacing at the state of air in hell.

If it wasn't for the fact you technically couldn't be affected by Hell's state of pollution and chaos, you would've feared catching the flu or something.

You approached the railings that protected people from just falling of the roof, leaning heavily on it with no fear of falling as you stared blankly at hell.

The view wasn't much different from when you were looking through the window, the only difference was that now, you could feel the atmosphere.

You were supposed to help these souls attain redemption, should they seek it in this hotel.

Briefly, you pondered if some of your patients in life have ended up here. You had a good number of criminal patients and death row convicts. You remember this particular one, he was a death row inmate whose liver was failing. The other surgeons seemed very unmotivated to help him despite the prisoner having insurance to get operated on.

No one would take him, you thought them to be disgusting, they made an oath to help people. They shouldn't discriminate.

You took on the case, the patient seemed to be very surprised that someone did.

It was a success of course. If there was one thing you were sure of, it were your skills.

Everyone deserves help. You out of everyone knew that the best. Abandoned and unwanted by your parents and the world, you forged your own path. Made an imprint on the world, on the people, no matter how small it was.

Now, all you could do was continue on that purpose. You didn't have any other purpose aside from this after all.

Lucifer being your soulmate was just an excuse to yourself. You knew that it would remain unrequited for the rest of your afterlife. You knew that even if your paths aligned, the best case scenario would be that you become good friends. So the next best thing was that you were able to continue what you did best.

You shift your sleeve up to reveal the name on it. In great fancy cursive writing as its deep black color swallows your gaze as if you were looking into the abyss.

Click

The sound makes you instinctively shove your sleeve back down as you turn around to see who was entering the roof area with you.

It was Lucifer.

Lucifer and you meet eyes, the other man's eyes widening at realizing the area was occupied.

"O-oh! Hi there! Didn't know someone was uh here!" Lucifer said awkwardly. He moved to backtrack and leave the area.

"Wait!" You instinctively exclaim, Lucifer stopping as he turns back to you with an inquisitive brow.

"Uhh…you can join me…if you want. Or I could uh- leave too," you said with a polite yet tense smile. You could practically feel the awkwardness.

Lucifer takes a moment, you thought he was gonna continue to leave at first but he simply closes the door behind him and walks over to where you were at by the railing.

"So!...what uh…what are you doing out here this late at night?" Lucifer asks you with a curious gaze. You turned back to look at the scene in front of you.

"Enjoying the scenery." You reply. From the corner of your eye, you could see Lucifer quirk a disbelieving look at you.

You turn to look at him with a snort as you clarified, "Fine, I was looking at what I had to work with."

Lucifer's expression shifts to amusement. "The verdict Mr. Seraphim?"

"I got my work cut out for me," you state with an overly dramatic sigh. Lucifer laughs at this.

He really wasn't like how you thought he'd be. Especially when one thought of the devil himself.

"This is kind of fitting in a way." You thought to yourself as you found yourself smiling at Lucifer's laughter.

"I can understand that, not every sinner are as nice and tame as the ones already in the hotel." Lucifer agrees, a fond smile on his lips as he stares down at his hands that grasped his cane, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yes, well, some people can be total trash. Others? They just deal with deeper things." You explain, you look back out into the city.

"You want to help them even if they don't want your help?" Lucifer asks, his head tilted slightly to the side as he looks at you as if you were an enigma.

"No, I want to help them because they want to help themselves." You reply, your mouth pulled into a frown as you think about the bad things that happen to both the people that try to help and the people that are being helped, especially when they didn't want help in the first place.

"But if they want my help, then that's just a bonus."

"What if they don't make any progress even after you help them?"

"There's no such thing as no progress." You turn to face Lucifer completely.

"It's either they get worse or they get better, and no one gets better before falling first." You say with a serious expression. It almost seemed like you were speaking about personal experience.

Lucifer felt like you were looking deep into him, like you could read him like an open book.

He didn't like that feeling one bit.

Clearing his throat, Lucifer shrugs as he spins his cane and sends you a smirk. "Well then, having pride on ones skills is good but too much pride can be bad you know~"

You huff amused, "It's not pride, it's confidence. Besides, aren't you one to talk, Mister King of Pride?"

"Ah ya got me! For someone new to the afterlife you sure know your stuff, were you religious in life by any chance?" Lucifer exclaims making a show as if he got shot.

"No, didn't really believe in the afterlife until I just found myself at heaven's doorstep. Emily gave me a brief overview of things though."

"Ah Emily, that's the Seraphim that helped my daughter out during the meeting, yes? Glad that some people up there aren't so closed-minded."

You hum lightly, "Hmm, I'd say not many people are closed minded…only if you're counting the winners."

Lucifer shrugged at your words as he shifted to lean on the railing, cane clutched firmly in one of his hands.

"Hmm, perhaps. It's not enough if the powers in heaven are though."

"I wouldn't know. Haven't been up there long, I don't really plan on going there very often either. Seems like a boring time."

"HAH! Something we both agree on! Glad someone finally sees it!" Lucifer cheered, you laugh at his enthusiasm.

The two of you spend the evening talking about various things, although Lucifer didn't seem to be affected on your brief time in heaven, you made sure not to ask anything of him about his own experiences, should it be a touchy subject.

You've read it of course, Emily had a copy of the book that told the beginning of Hell. It was probably a no topic for Lucifer, who was the main character of said story.

You talked until it was really late, Lucifer seemed to like stories of your life as well as the wonders and creativity that humans now had thanks to the gift of free will. You catch him smiling softly as he stares off, obviously glad that there truly was something good that came out of his actions.

Waking up the next morning in a room unfamiliar to you gave you a very panicked start to the day. It didn't help that after your memories of the previous day came back to you and checked the time, you found out that it was still 5 in the morning. How you managed to wake up at 5 in the morning despite heading to bed at around 2 the previous day is something unknown to you, but you didn't feel too bad, and the bags under your eyes were only barely noticeable that you can hide them with a little foundation.

You highly doubted anyone was up that early, debating whether to just try to go back to sleep or head down to maybe make yourself a nice cup of coffee– surgeon's best friend honestly –you ended up putting on some casual clothing and heading down to where you remember the kitchen.

Thankfully you didn't get lost on the way to your destination, and soon enough you were scrolling on your venphone as you waited for the water to boil.

"My aren't you quite the early bird!" A voice grabbed your attention, he was one of the people in the lobby the previous day. "Alastor was it?" You wondered as you gave him a nod and a polite smile.

"This is pretty late actually, for my standards anyway, can't exactly choose when a patient on death’s door chooses to arrive. Most critical cases happen either in the evening or in the very early mornings."

"Hmm…I see the logic in your words, nonetheless, Good morning good fellow, how was your first night in our hotel?" He asked with a tilt of his head. His smile had a creepy factor to it, but you found it more mysterious and intriguing if anything.

You hear the click of the boiler indicating that your water is boiled. Pouring the hot water into your already prepared cup filled with coffee powder and milk in it, you reply, "It was fine, the room was comfortable and the view spectacular."

"Isn’t it? I do quite enjoy seeing the screams and bloodshed right out my window, quality entertainment right at my fingertips if I do say so myself!" He laughed enthusiastically, his voice was very interesting, especially the fact that it sounded as if it was coming straight out of a radio.

"I would love to agree but those things usually indicate I've got my job cut out for me." You chuckle softly.

Alastor's eyes narrowed at you in intrigue, "I must say you are quite interesting company. A mortal soul who has reformed as a Seraphim upon death."

"So?" You raise an eyebrow at that, the conversation going off to a more ominous path as Alastor looked at you, his smile growing ever so wide.

"So…" Just as you thought Alastor was gonna go another level of creepy, he stops narrowing his eyes as he suddenly appears next to you with a playful expression on his face. "So you must be quite the ‘ goody-two-shoes as Angel called you for you to have been granted such power and status in heaven."

You nearly spilled all your coffee on you when  Alastor essentially teleported next to you, fortunately you knew how to use your powers to a degree and were able to make any spilt coffee float back into your mug. "Yes, well whatever good I did that did so, I don't know. I wasn't a Saint, farthest thing from it if anything, I help people through my job, something I do for that purpose exactly…but I can't say I was anyone particularly saviorly for me to have reformed this way."

You took a good step back away from Alastor. Unlike Nifty, you found it a lot more uncomfortable when he invaded your personal space. "Well, anyway, I've got my coffee now, good sir, so I will be going back to my room and reviewing some things I need before I officially start with my new role in the hotel."

You didn't wait for Alastor to reply, simply just tossing him a wave and a polite smile before exiting the kitchen. You were too busy looking back at the entrance to the kitchen with an anticipatory expression as if waiting for Alastor to come follow you out when you felt something solid hit your chest making you actually spill your coffee in surprise.

A yelp of pain draws you to red eyes and a pained frowned with an ever familiar redish circle that decorated white cheeks.

"Wha- OH oh my gosh, I'm soooo sorry Lucifer sir," You hurriedly fuss over him, snapping your fingers as a wave of gold circles him removing any sign coffee was spilled on him in the first place. You didn't even think much about your actions before you were giving Lucifer a full assessment, firing off questions if anything stings without waiting for his answers and doing him a once over as you examined for any burns.

Lucifer clearing your throat grabs your attention. You realize you had essentially been feeling him up with how you were basically manhandling him into various medical positions to easier see if he had any burns. Meeting his eyes you can see the tension on his face as he no doubt held back from outwardly admitting you had made him uncomfortable with your sudden breach of personal space.

"So much for always asking for consent." You grimaced at realizing your own actions, the embarrassment of the situation causing you to flush slightly pink.

"Damn it! I am SO sorry Lucifer, sir. I sho-"

"It's uh- quite alright Cyrel. You didn't mean anything bad. I know I'm short but I'm not so short you wouldn't see me hm?" Lucifer reassured you with a little joke. You cracked a smile, glad that he seems to forgive you even though he didn't say so explicitly.

"Uh, yes, sorry again," You found yourself apologizing.

Lucifer shakes his head, the awkward tension he had on his face has eased up a bit but it was still there, still…he didn't seem to want to put much more thought into it.

"Again, it's fine, but I do have to ask. What made you so transfixed in the kitchen entrance that you didn't see me?" Lucifer tilted his head to peek at the kitchen behind you.

"Alastor," You simply say. The moment the name exited your lips, Lucifer seemed to snarl slightly before a pleasant smile returned shortly after.

"Well, I can sure get that. I don't believe I got burned, so you don't need to fret."

You nod in response, you didn't really have much coffee now and you looked down to your half empty mug with a frown. Lucifer obviously noticed as with a snap of his finger, your cup was once again filled with steaming hot coffee. Your eyes widened in awe and you nod your head at him in thanks. Sure you had your own magic, but Sera mostly taught you things related to attacking, defending, and some slightly useful abilities that tended to be more common to powerful angels.

"Can I uh…make it up to you somehow? I can't in good conscience just not make it up to you somehow." You twiddle your thumbs apprehensive as you smiled tensely at Lucifer.

Lucifer seemed surprised for a moment before he puts a hand to his mouth in a thinking pose before he grins. "You know what? Sure! I actually have an errand later today. Some company might make it better."

"An errand? What is it?" You tilt your head curiously.

"Shopping of course! Charlie has told me the hotel needs some more furniture for some of the rooms, and she told me that some things need to be restocked, like food, water, alcohol and the like." Lucifer smiled brightly, he seemed to get this burst of true joy whenever he talked about Charlie. The enthusiasm he exuded was infectious as you found yourself somehow motivated by the prospect of shopping. Something you never thought you'd find yourself looking forward to as you preferred to shop for anything you needed online.

What can you say? You were a pretty huge workaholic, if it wasn't to go to the hospital and do your job, you usually spent your time expanding your knowledge, resting, or scanning through memes like a teenager on a late school night.

"Alright then, what time are we gonna be heading out?" You ask, you take out your phone to set an alarm so you don't forget.

Lucifer smirks as he grabs your phone out of your hand in one fell swoop. "Wh-" you blinked dumbfoundedly, the situation not sinking in until your mind finally caught up. "HEY! I need that!"

For someone who was shorter than you, it was quite hard to get your phone back as Lucifer somehow dodges you at every swipe of your hand. He laughs, a childish and playful grin on his face as he seemingly did something on your phone while still dodging you at every attempt you made for your phone.

He seems to finish whatever it was he was doing though, as he stops dodging you, allowing you to finally take your phone back from his hand.

"What did you"

"There! I'll just send you a text when it's time to head out." Lucifer said cheerfully, he held up his own phone which now displayed your contact under the name "Mr. Seraphim".

When seeing his phone, you look back onto your own phone to see a new contact on it "The Best One". You look back to Lucifer with an unamused expression, "You could have just said you wanted my number your highness." You say with an amused shake of your head. Forget about him being even remotely like what the stories on earth say. He is a literal man child. A goofy cute dork.

You stilled at the thought. "Wait…cute?"

You shake your head as if it would get the thoughts out of your head, you roll your eyes before telling Lucifer you'll see him later. You had left your coffee floating, suspended in the air when you tried to get your phone back, and by now, it was lukewarm at best. Lucifer noticed this and waved a hand over the cup, once again turning your lukewarm coffee, steaming hot. You thank Lucifer for it and head back to your room to drink your coffee and properly get ready for the day.

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You and Lucifer walked side by side through hell on the way to your destination. Charlie made the request to her dad that the both of you walk to do said errand, that way you could get some idea of hell's layout even if just for one or two locations. You appreciate her thoughtfulness about your lack of knowledge on the place.

So now here you are, Lucifer nudging and pulling you aside with his cane as debris, corpses, or even just blood splatter occasionally come your way. You were thankful for his skilled and quick maneuvers in pulling you out of harm's way, even if the method was a bit disorienting being yanked and pushed aside by his cane. You were half tempted to say something sarcastic about it but decided to keep it to yourself. You weren't stupid after all. For all the cheerful and goofy actions and personality that Lucifer seemed to do and have, he was still the King of Hell. You had no doubt he could probably disintegrate you into nothing or something.

Wouldn't that be tragic? Killed by your own soulmate by irritating them with sarcasm.

"So uh… How long do you think this is gonna take us?" You ask, you didn't like being in the company of others in silence, it just felt awkward. You have heard about comfortable silence but you just didn't see how two people can feel comfortable in each other's company, no matter how close they were, and just not have a conversation going?

Lucifer notices your awkward attempt at a conversation, "Not long hopefully, I prefer not to be out too long."

"Why not?" You ask curiously, "Not that uhhh you have to answer that of course!"

Lucifer chuckles at your attempts to not cross any lines, "It's fine, I just don't go out much anymore. My uh…ex-wife, after she left, everything just started to look uh…darker?"

You grimace at his answer, "Sorry… well, on the brightside, it seems you've got such a good relationship with Charlie right?"

"Yes, she's…she's really the best. She's grown so much, and I didn't even notice how much she took after me." Lucifer had a very proud smile on his face, expression soft as he no doubt thought about Charlie.

"I can see that, even if no one told me some basics on hell, I would have immediately figured out Charlie was your daughter just based on how she and you are." You chuckle, you remember how welcoming, bright, and enthusiastic Charlie was. Sure at first, Lucifer seemed to be very on guard against you, but once you had shown that you were truly there to help, he seems to have shifted to a more receptive attitude.

"I know right! She's the best! Oh right- sorry…by the way..for uh- the intense glaring and stuff." Lucifer chuckled awkwardly. He turns to face you, sending you an apologetic smile.

You wave a hand at him, "No need for that, let's just call us even. I spilled my coffee on you, you glared at me realllll hard. I'll be honest, it looked more adorable than threatening," you teased as you sent him a cheeky grin.

Lucifer gasped dramatically. "Stop this instant! You're gonna ruin my credibility! I'll have you know I am VERY scary when I want to be."

"So you didn't want to be, yesterday?" You smirk, flashing him a toothy grin. You didn't know why but for some reason you found it easy to be around Lucifer, easy to interact with him once you actually got started to do so.

"I- hey now- that was- I was just toning it down you know?! Like by a lot! Charlie wouldn't have wanted me to scare the pants off you!"

"You wanted to scare the pants off me? Damn Lucifer, didn't know your were that kind of person~"

Lucifer sputters at your words, his face red at your teasing, "You- aren't you supposed to be a Seraphim? One would expect you to be less crass you know."

"Not my decision to be one, still don't know why I am one, I'll act how I want to act, thank you." You say sassily, cocking your hips to the side as you imitated a rebellious teenager. Lucifer laughs at your imitation, he shoots you a look that implies he won't forget about your teasing but he changes the topic to some facts about hell that you should know. You listen to his very expressive and enthusiastic explanations and grand gestures while he talked on the way to the mall where you were to buy the things Charlie requested.

As the two of you got to the mall, the both of you checked out some furniture and equipment and the like, you asked him why he couldn't just poof whatever furniture needed into existence. Lucifer blinked dumbfoundedly before sputtering flustered words at you as he dragged you out the store, heading for the supermarket instead

You didn't even know why you were so awkward with Lucifer to begin with as you laughed the entire time you shopped for what you needed.

You push the doors to the hotel open, laughing heartily at a joke Lucifer makes just right behind you. He too, laughs at his own joke, and that in of itself makes you laugh harder, finding the melodious sound of his joy infectious.

"What's got you two's in a happy mood?" You hear someone ask, turning to look, only to find Angel sprawled on one of the lobby couches.

"This and that," You reply with a polite smile. The tall spider looks between the two of you then smirks, "Oh, I see how it is~"

You quirked an eyebrow at Angel, the door closes behind you courtesy of Lucifer as he tells you he was gonna put in the things you bought into the kitchen. "I'll follow you in a sec, I have to put the stuff I have there too."

Lucifer sends you a grin as he heads to the kitchen, you look at Angel with an inquisitive expression. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh you know~"

"Uh no…I don't, actually." You replied, expression confused as he huffs and slumps down further into the couch.

"Geez do I have ta’ spell it out to ya toots? Don't think I don't see this little thing you and big dick in charge have!" Angel jutted a finger at you, then to the kitchen. He gives you a suggestive look to top it all off.

Your eyes widened at finally getting it, "I just met the guy! Besides! He's not my soulmate, and last I remember, he had a wife, he has a kid!"

"DILFs are hot though."

"I- you know full well that's not what I meant!" You splutter, your cheeks tinged with red as Angel got under your skin. He sends you a smug grin, "Sure hot cakes, sureee."

You briskly head to the kitchen before Angel could add anything else. Lucifer was in the middle of putting in what seemed to be the 3rd box of pancake mix into one of the shelves when you came in.

"Good to finally have you join me! I thought I was gonna have to put in all the stuff we bought by myself!" Lucifer jokes, he lifted 3 more boxes from the bags, making them levitate in the air and float to the shelves in place.

"As if you'd need any help anyway. Bet you could just poof all of the things into the proper places."

"And be lazy? Who am I? Belphegor?" Lucifer replies with mock offense. You laugh at his theatrics.

"I suppose not, too prideful to be anything other than the sin of Pride."

"Eeeeexactly!" Lucifer said. He made quick work of one bag of supplies. As you waved a portal into existence making the contents of it float out and go into their proper place. It didn't take long with both you working on putting everything into the proper places.

"Welp, I suppose that's that." You say as you look out the now full shelves in the kitchen, snapping your finger to close all the shelving doors.

Lucifer turns to you with a grin, "You know, I don't actually have anything to do right now. What do you say I teach you how to hide those feathery appendages of yours?" He points a finger at your wings, sending you a playful grin as he did so.

"If you're sure you aren't busy."

"Perfect! Let's go to my room!" Lucifer jovially exclaims, he quickly erases the space between you as enters your personal bubble, grabbing you by the wrist as he pulls you in the direction of the elevator.

Guess your time with him wasn't over.

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The elevator chimed as you arrived at the top floor. Lucifer continued to lead you to his room, which, as you continued to follow him, you realized was in the same direction as your room.

Eventually he stops in front of a very decorated door, a door that although you haven't seen in the bright light, was still familiar as you had seen it in passing when Charlie showed you to your own room.

You stared blankly at his door with surprise, your expression doesn't go unnoticed as Lucifer raises a confused brow at your reaction. "Something surprising about my door?"

"Huh? Oh- no it's just uh…I didn't realize this was your room. That's my room right there," you pointed to the door across from his door. The door frame, a bright gold, whether real gold or not you didn't know, the door itself had a galactic feel as it was designed in a way that reminded you of the night sky. When the door became that way, you didn't know, but it seemed like Charlie liked to make the doors match their owners in some way, and your name had a lot of symbols for stars and such.

"Woah! We're literal neighbor's! I should give you a welcome basket or something!" Lucifer says with a surprised yet pleased grin. "Well, that's good to know, for now though why don't you come in?" Lucifer added, he opens his own door and enters, he keeps the door open as he waits for you to enter.

"Well, if you insist…"

You enter the door, you hear Lucifer close it behind you as you take the time to look at his room. It was really aesthetic in your opinion. A lot wider than yours too. Probably because he's Charlie's dad, you supposed. You noticed there were bins filled with rubber duckies and had you no self-control, you might have grabbed one to take a closer look at.

Unfortunately or perhaps…fortunately, Lucifer notices you staring at his rubber duckies and immediately makes an attempt to divert your attention from them, a slightly nervous, albeit awkward and embarrassed grin on his face. "O-oh! HA Ha…don't uh- mind those-"

"How'd you get so many?" You unintentionally cut him off, you gaze still staring at the duckies. You lose your self-control fairly quickly as you pick one up with childish wonder. Honestly with how you stared at the rubber duckies, one would think you haven't seen or had one befo-

"This is embarrassing but…this is probably the first time I've held or touched an actual rubber duckie." You admitted with a sheepish grin.

Lucifer's eyes widened in disbelief, "Wait really? Never?" He asked, his embarrassment and awkwardness turning to surprise.

You shook your hand no, noticing you had lost your composure. "You're a grown up for goodness sake!" You internally berate yourself.

After the surprise wears off, Lucifer gains a thoughtful expression before a large grin takes over. "Well then! Rubber Duckies are my specialty! Don't worry, I'll make you one!"

You raised an eyebrow, "You made all of these?"

Lucifer chuckled awkwardly at how that sounded, "Uh…yes? It's not weird- YOU are weird if you think it's weird!" He deflects instead, his antics made you laugh heartily.

"No, I guess I just realized something." You said with a serene smile. "I'll take you up on your offer, duck man. Wing hiding lesson first though." You fluffed your wings out briefly to for emphasis. Lucifer sputters at the nickname, he seemed to have wanted to say something but decides to give you the stink eye instead.

"WELL just know, it's gonna be the BEST rubber duckie you will ever have the pleasure of seeing and owning in your life, just you wait!"

"Whatever you say duck man."

A duckie plush hits you squarely in the face in retaliation. Lucifer, grinning like a cheeky brat at you, his expression smug.

"Oh so this is how you were gonna play."

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An hour later, a lot of items are thrown at each other, the two of you finally stop once you and Lucifer realize the mess you made in the room. Duckies haphazardly scattered everywhere, pillows on the floor, feathers scattered and littering almost every inch of the place. You felt quite guilty once you realized the mess you made, your mature side kicking in once you actually processed the magnitude of your actions.

"Ah shit. Sorry for the mess Lucifer."

Lucifer quirks a confused brow, "You do know the mess was a combined effort?" He grins, expression like a satisfied cat who had just finished knocking over everything off a shelf.

"But uh- I probably shouldn't have gotten way into it," you grimaced. Lucifer lets out an amused huff.

"It was all in good fun! Don't worry about it! BESIDES!" Lucifer waves his hand, his power wafting across the room in a plum of red tinged with gold. "Not like it can't be cleaned up, see?"

Lucifer held a smug grin on his face as he gestured at the now clean room, you smiled at his attempt at telling you it was okay. You couldn't help the unsure tenseness your mouth held though at losing your composure. You were here for a job after all, a job of helping the sinners. You weren't supposed to be making a mess out of Lucifer's room when you were in there to learn how to hide your wings.

How did you even get so comfortable in the first place? You have never just lost your composure like that throughout your whole life. You had lost your wonder, imagination, and awe since your parents abandoned you. Left you to fend for yourself in the harsh world. Such childish pleasantries would just bring you despair in the end. Good things always come to an end after all.

"REALLY Cyrel, it's fine. It was some good fun, and I must admit I haven't had such genuine fun with another person aside from Charlie in like…well since my wife and I split up." Lucifer's voice drew you out of your musings, his voice held a nostalgic yet melancholic aspect to it as he looked at the family portrait in the room with a longing expression, his hand running over the ring he still wore on his other hand.

You felt your heartache at the expression Lucifer had. You wanted to comfort him somehow but that's not something you really knew how to do as no one really comforted you before in your living life. You learned to suck it up and move forward or else you'd just be set back. You got so good at it that despite knowing it was unhealthy, you found yourself masking your emotions at times just to get by. Very ironic considering now you had to literally help sinners to not do that along with a whole lot of things.

So as you stood next to him awkwardly, your gaze also on the picture, you hoped your presence helped, even if a little. You've only really known him for like a day technically since today was your only proper interaction with him but you subconsciously found yourself not wanting to leave him to wallow and long for something of the past by himself. At the very least, you knew from your profession that although space is good, sometimes, what a person needs is to just have someone be there.

Throughout your career as you climbed to your current job as a top surgeon, you were used to just sitting next to a patient during your time as a fledgling nurse. You didn't offer reassuring or comforting words, no, there was no use in such obscure things when you yourself didn't know of the whole situation. So whenever your patient would be down, you simply pulled out a chair and sat by them, a presence to ground them and make sure they remained afloat even if the boat holding them above from drowning was broken, chipped and worn. If they talked, you'd listen, you never really said anything back, simply allowing them to let it out and vent to you.

You just hoped it still worked that way in hell.

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You didn't know how long you just ended up sitting there next to Lucifer. The situation made you hyper aware of him as you can feel warmth radiate from being next to him. He almost seemed like he was in his own world, eyes slightly glassy as he looked at the large family portrait.

It was beautiful. Their family. You could see how happy Lucifer and Lilith were together, Charlie in their midst, a bubbly child just like the bubbly adult she has become today. You vaguely wonder how such a happy family could have broken apart, even if only for a brief moment.

Lilith looked absolutely beautiful, you can understand how Lucifer fell in love with her. She seemed like a great woman.

You felt your heart ache a bit at the thought.

"No…I'm here to do a job, if I can be friends with the people here…then that's a bonus."

Shaking your head in an attempt to clear your thoughts, you began to find the silence overbearing. "She uh-...she's really beautiful." You cringed at your very much awkward attempt at…comforting him? You didn't even know at this point, for someone meant to act as a pseudo therapist for the hotel, you sure were failing spectacularly in comforting someone, even if they weren't a resident.

"I…yes, she was. The most beautiful woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing." Lucifer spoke, his voice lacked its usual sparkle and enthusiastic intonation.

You didn't know what you disliked more, your jealousy over someone you had only met the previous day– soulmate or not –or the lack of bright awe and wonder that seemed to usually radiate from Lucifer in his words and actions.

"I wouldn't say that…" You said, Lucifer's incredulous gaze focuses on you, the sheer absurdity of your words shaking the sad longing moment from his as he essentially looked at you with surprise and slight offense.

"Yeah, I mean there's Charlie right? A mix of you and her," you gestured at Lilith in the painting. "And wouldn't you say that such a combination would create not only the most beautiful lady, but the prettiest as well?"

The affronted look leaves his face as he lets out a laugh, the sound making you feel warm and fluttery, your soulmate bond could never be fulfilled, but at least you were able to help Lucifer out of his slump.

"Of course! Charlie is the best daughter a father could ever ask for!" Lucifer brags, his pride for Charlie showing just why he was the Sin of Pride. "Glad someone other than me and Vaggie noticed!" He throws you a playful wink, the gesture bringing a chuckle out of you as you were glad the dark cloud that seems to plague him left him, even if it was only for now.

The smile slips off his face for a moment, a somber expression replacing it, "Thanks for uh…yeah…"

He switches from somber to absolutely jovial in expression so quickly that you were surprised YOU didn't get whiplash from watching him switch up in mood and facial expressions so quickly. Still, you simply nod your head to show that you got what he meant as he smiles wider and proceeds to walk over to the center of the room.

"Now, enough with the dreary atmosphere! You came here to learn how to hide your wings! I'll have you know I'm an EXCELLENT teacher-" His wings appear, spreading wide in a grand gesture, he was a showman through and through.

"-I'll have you hiding your wings IN no time!"

You let out an amused huff, a light smile on your face as you nod your head, ready for the lesson.

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Lucifer was right. He WAS a great teacher.

Not even 30 minutes passed and you were already able to hide your wings. They still came out when you were startled or when you felt extreme bouts of emotion but they were hidden and it not only felt even lighter but also easier as you didn't have to mind accidentally waking someone with your wings.

Lucifer would sometimes scare you or make you jump to test whether or not you can keep them hidden even when surprised, and you could tell he was enjoying the expressions you made as he did so more than what was necessary.

"Okay I think you're just doing it for the sake of making me jump at this point."

Lucifer gives you a cheeky grin, "I don't know what you're talking about! I'm just doing my best to help a new friend out with their wing issues." He says, his eyebrows crease after a few moments, his charade falling slightly as he smiles tensely at you.

"Uh, we are…friends…right?" He asks, face unsure as he holds a nervous smile up, whether to seem brave or try to keep up his charming persona? You didn't know.

"Huh? Oh! Um, yes, we are uh…" You awkwardly stammered, damn why were you like this? With how tense you suddenly got, the mood once again becoming awkward, you didn't realize your 2 sets of eyes, 4 eyes in each set on both sides of your head, make themselves known. The eyes moving along with your main ones on your face as you avoided Lucifer's gaze for fear he would see you as an awkward mess.

"Man, that's a lot of eyes. I don't think even Sera has that many." Lucifer says, you turn to face him as he looks at you with a curious gaze. Awkward atmosphere around him being replaced with wonder and curiosity.

"Uh yeah..it's uh, annoying." You squinted, the myriad of eyes mimicking the action As your vision has indeed expanded once again. "Disorienting actually," you added.

Lucifer snorts, "Hey at least you're not seeing your own ass everytime yours appears. I don't even know how mine appear on my clothes! Couldn't have even been on my hat like Sir Pentious, no no, it HAD to be on my tail coat!"

You found yourself cracking a smile at the mental image, you couldn't help cringing right after though, "I did NOT need that image."

"Make sure your image is that my ass is amazing." Lucifer winks at you as you wrinkled your nose in distaste.

"Jesus stop-"

"Wrong name but go on-"

"I did not need to hear that. I have a meeting with Charlie tomorrow for goodness sake!" You say between laughs, Lucifer leant back against his seat with a smug expression.

"I'm sure you can keep the image out of your mind during it, new friend." Lucifer hikes his eyebrow up and down with a playful grin.

"Yeah don't worry, in fact its already gone," you quip back in retaliation.

Lucifer gasps feighning hurt, "Wha- RUDE!" he crosses his arms to enunciate his theatrics despite his smile betraying his charade.

You simply arched an eyebrow, your expression amused as you make no effort to make him feel "better".

Your response to his antics make him exaggerate his mock offense as he basically sprawls on the floor like a damsel in distress. The sight has you tearing up in laughter at the sheer absurdity of the fact he was the King of Hell, and how he could be as playful and childish as he was. You find it absolutely adorable-

Yes, you'll admit it, it's adorable.

-and it was only too late for you to stop yourself from bending over laughing as the combination of your sudden movement and the fact you still had your many eyes out, had you stumbling slightly as you felt your head spin due to the unusual vision you still weren't used to.

Lucifer's eyes widened as he instinctively rolled out of the way, essentially allowing you to face plant on the floor.

Now it was Lucifer's turn to laugh.

"Augh…so not funny!" You said, rubbing your nose and your fore head, your eyebrows pinched together as you wince lightly at your blunder

"No, it isn't," Lucifer grins wide and toothy, "It's hilarious!" He laughs loudly at your expense. You wack him with your wing in retaliation.

He didn't stop laughing, and pretty soon you end up cracking up in laughter again too.

It was official, you needed a break. You have been working nonstop for an entire week, after Charlie and Vaggie set out some flyers and Lucifer used his own connections to spread the word about the new development of his daughter's hotel, more sinners actually began coming in to check in. Mostly sinners who have had it rough in hell, unable to fend for themselves from stronger demons. Still, Charlie seemed ecstatic, and you were sorta glad you finally had something to do.

Unfortunately, even though sinners were human once, it has become apparent that normal living world therapy isn't gonna cut it. Especially since not only 3 sinners in and someone has already attempted to stab you, choke you, and your personal favorite not the excessive graphic threatening on your life.

Is it too late to just hire a demon therapist? Cause it seems like the majority of the violence stems from them using the fact you were an angel as an excuse to not talk about their problems.

As if you didn't explicitly say, "Tell me anything you want. Worries, stories, rants, whatever you wanna talk about and expand upon." Just before every session. You weren't forcing anyone to say anything they weren't ready to say, but somehow they end up accusing you of being a stuck up prick who probably just came down to rub their worthlessness to their faces.

Stuck up prick? Yeah that checks out in some instances, but honestly it was getting ridiculous, and that's saying a lot considering you were one of the biggest workaholics around. When taking nursing for a pre-medicine course, they basically drill the importance of rapport with one's patient. You can very much say there is ZERO rapport between you and the sinners checked into the hotel aside from the original crew.

Thank goodness you had immense patience or you don't know what you would have done by now. Nonetheless, you were done for the morning and you had 3 hours to just laze around until you began the afternoon sessions.

"Why hello there dear! Why, I must say you look absolutely horrid!" You hear a voice exclaim jovially, you could already tell who it was just judging by the staticy quality to it.

"Good day to you too, Alastor." You remark unenthusiastically, your voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Now now dear, no need for such blatant sarcasm! Smile! You know you're never fully dressed without one~ I'm sure your patient would appreciate it more too!"

"I smile in my sessions, Alastor. It's tiring but good work. People don't progress in a linear line, I get it. I'm just gonna go take a break." You sighed only to let out a yelp when Alastor suddenly pulled you to his side with a grand gesture of stretching out his hand.

"Why, I know just the thing to help you replenish your energy! How about you come join me on my errand today?"

You arch a brow, "Which is…?"

"No need to look sour dear, you seemed quite enthused to join his majesty on his errand last week. I'm sure the same could be said once we set out ourselves!"

"I went out as a favor since I spilled coffee on him. The fact it became fun was just a natural progression." You deadpan.

Alastor let go of you, "Hmm, indeed, quite the natural progression indeed." Alastor sends you look as if telling you he knew something that you didn't.

"What?"

"Nothing, my dear! Just glad to know that your…friendship with the dear old king of hell proceeds…naturally. With your angelic status and purpose here, I just worry some people might…mistake such natural friendship as you trying to get close to his majesty for nefarious reasons!" Alastor makes a show of turning his back to you, he gazes at you as he looks back at you with his ever present grin. His grin takes a sinister tone for half a second and you couldn't help but question whether it actually happened in the first place.

"Righhhht." You reply with an unaffected bored look on your face, you find yourself feeling a little smug when you see Alastor's eye twitch and his grin stretch ever so slightly in irritation at your lackluster reaction to his obvious taunt.

"Well then Alastor, it has been QUITE a pleasure to have this chat with you, but I do need to report to Charlie about a general outline of how this morning's line of session went," you threw him a casual wave as you turned around to head to Charlie's office. "Without compromising patient confidentiality of course," You added after a step.

"I'll be glad to join you to meet this Rosie person I've heard around though, I've been meeting to meet her too. Till then though!"

You didn't wait for a reply from the deer demon, making quick steps to the elevator and pressing the desired floor number. The elevator stops after 5 floors, someone pressing the button on said floor. You look up from your tired gaze on the floor  to see who it was only for your lips to quirk up as if on instinct as you saw who it was.

"Lucifer, what were you doing on this floor?"

Lucifer beams grins brightly at realizing it was you as well, honestly you haven't really seen him much throughout the week since your impromptu wing hiding lessons in his room. "I was arranging furniture! I started from the top and was working my way to the bottom! How about you? I haven’t seen much of you in a while."

"Oh you know, having sessions with sinners, doing my job. Usual things."

Lucifer gives you a once over with an inquisitive expression before he finally settles on your face, "Hmm sorry to be blunt but you look…"

You snort at his attempt at finding a nicer word for your current state, "Like crap? trust me I know."

"Now, now, you don't look THAT bad!" Lucifer tries to reassure you.

"It's fine Lucifer, I know and feel like crap." The door closes behind Lucifer as he turns to click the button he wished to go to only to see it was already pressed. "Oh! Seems like we're both heading to the same floor! Are you seeing Charlie too?"

You simply nod, too tired to bother verbally answering. As the elevator went up floor by floor, you found your eyelids drooping.

"Careful there, you might tip over!" Lucifer's voice jostles you out of dozing off, just in time for the elevator to chime as you had arrived on the wanted floor. You send him a thankful smile, not realizing that as you leave the elevator and head in the direction of Charlie's office, Lucifer had chosen to remain really close to your side and just half a step behind as if he intended to catch you should you indeed pass out from how tired you were.

"Please tell me you plan to take a break after you report to Charlie?" Lucifer's smooth velvety voice draws your attention once again. The sound made your head feel heavier with exhaustion as you took a glance at him, seeing his stern expression.

"Yes Dad." You remarked sassily, a playful grin on your lips. Lucifer simply chuckles, grin getting wider as he replies with a, "Good," not even paying mind to your tone.

Entering Charlie's office you see her deeply focused on whatever it was that she was scribbling on the piece of paper she had in front of her. her brows creased in concentration and her tongue sticking out in a cute manner.

"Charlie!" Lucifer called out enthusiastically, Charlie looked up and immediately smiled wide and got up from her seat as she pulled her father into a hug. "What's up Dad?"

"I finished with your furniture request," he replies, looking very proud of himself. Charlie chuckles at the pride he had and thanked him. She then turns to you, her smile faltering at seeing your exhaustion.

"Oh dear, is something wrong Cyrel?" Charlie begins to fuss all over you, in the background you see Lucifer with an amused expression as you couldn't help but let out a happy sigh. You were never quite the person someone fussed over after all. You could handle yourself, that you knew, but you couldn't deny that the feeling of someone actually being very concerned for your well-being without any ulterior motive is very refreshing and the warmth that wells up in your chest at her fuzzing over you.

"I'm fine Charlie, thanks for caring, I'm just here to drop my report about this morning's sessions before taking an hour nap."

"Nope! Youuuu are going to take the rest of today and tomorrow off!" She puts on her thinking face before beaming and turning to her dad, "You can make sure he gets plenty of rest right dad?"

Lucifer sends you a smug look before turning back to Charlie. "Of course dear, I'll even do you one better! I'll give Cyrel here the full TLC treatment!"

"You will? You haven’t given your TLC routine to anyone since…" Charlie trails off as she moves to hug her dad, "I'm so glad you're finally moving on dad." She whispers to Lucifer, your exhausted mind doesn't understand any of the implications Charlie makes as you simply stand there looking somewhat dazed.

Lucifer smiles sadly, "I haven't yet Charlie, not completely, but I'm trying…" Lucifer reassures his daughter and hugs her tightly before breaking the hug, Charlie sends him an understanding look, "If you…if you meet someone else that you like…" Charlie gives him a knowing look, "Just know that I'll have your back all the way."

Lucifer splutters in surprise, "It's not like that dear, besides I would like to try and look for my soulmate first before that."

Despite your tired state, Lucifer's words click in your mind and you instantly lose your exhaustion foggy mind. Right, the soulmate thing, you took a glance to your own arm, now wrapped in bandages. You didn't want your sleeve to just get moved up slightly to reveal the name underneath so you decided to take measures to ensure the words imprinted on your skin remained hidden.

You see Lucifer lean in close to Charlie's ear to whisper something before she leans back and gives Lucifer a sad smile and a nod of her head.

"Well alright, I'll see you guys later then okay?" Charlie asks, she pushes her father to you who hooks his arm around yours as he sends Charlie a nod and a grin before pulling you out the room arms still hooked together as he maneuvers you back into the elevator. You assume he was gonna ensure you actually went to bed in your room but instead he unlocks his own room and pulls you in without much thought.

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Lucifer pushes you down by your shoulders onto one of the luxurious sofas in his room. He turns around to gather some things in his bathroom which you quirked an eyebrow at. When you finished this morning's sessions, you weren't expecting to get anything aside from a nap during lunch before you continued with the rest of the sessions scheduled that afternoon. You certainly weren't expecting to be dragged into Lucifer's room and sat on the couch as you awaited whatever this TLC routine Charlie seemed to make a big deal out of.

You let out a loud yawn, the exhaustion creeping up on you even more now that you were sitting on a comfortable sofa. You didn't even notice Lucifer return to the room with a bunch of various items in his arms until you feel your legs being shifted upwards before you feel your feet be enveloped in warm water.

You crack an eye open to look at what's going on.

"Don't mind me, just uhhh close your eyes." Lucifer urged you. You decided you didn't even wanna muster up any remaining energy left to see what Lucifer was plotting. With your eyes closed, you found yourself hyper aware of Lucifer's presence, the sound of him shuffling and fiddling with something loud in your ears as you couldn't help the unintentional flinch when you felt Lucifer’s hand around one of your feet.

"Wha…?" Your eyebrows knit together in confusion.

Lucifer shushes you, a giggle escaping his lips as if he was doing something nefarious until you feel him begin to lather something slippery on your foot. As you find yourself paying attention to the sensations on your foot you realize Lucifer was giving you a foot massage, or well. A foot spa. This was…oddly intimate, you didn't think friends would be giving each other foot massages. Well, not unless you went out to get foot massages together. Giving each other foot massages? Well, you weren't gonna question it too much right now.

Lucifer was thorough with his movements, skilled fingers kneading out the tense areas of your soles as he slipped his fingers through your toes to knead at them. You sighed in relief when he kneaded out a certain spot on your left foot. He soon shifted to do your other foot giving it the same treatment. You'd think you'd have dozed off into dreamland with this treatment you were getting but you found yourself attuned into the sensations granted to you by Lucifer.

"You could get a job as a professional foot masseur," You manage to say in an audible whisper. Charlie knew what she was talking about when she asked her dad to help you relax. Still, from the brief things you remember them talking about, Lucifer giving this treatment to someone wasn't something common.

Lucifer doesn't dane you a reply, but he does continue his actions, silence settled around the both of you before he finally spoke, "I used to do this all the time for Lil's before Charlie was born…then I'd do it for Charlie when she'd have a rough day…"

His words made you open your eyes, your vision blurry, but you hurriedly blinked to clear them as you focused your eyes onto Lucifer's. "You… you didn't have to-"

"It's fine. I… I don't know why, but even though we only met last week and you've been mostly busy this week. The times we do get to hang out and such well…it's hard to explain. Besides… Charlie was right, it's about time I try to go out more. Make an active effort to move on and you're probably the only one I truly get along with in the hotel. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the inhabitants are family too in their own right, but it's different."

"I… if you want…I could have sessions with you too. It's usually not recommended to have therapy sessions with someone you know as more than just an acquaintance, but if you wanted to I mean." You offer.

Lucifer gives you a soft smile and simply nods his head as he finishes his massage, he takes a towel and gently dries your feet before he stands up to full height and flashes you a soft grin.

"Don't think about it now though. You're supposed to be relaxing, idiot." Lucifer says with a soft chuckle, flicking you in the forehead lightly with a finger.

Lucifer puts the things he used away as you stare at the ceiling blankly, your body still feels tired but now your mind was wide awake from the turn your conversation with Lucifer took. You ignore the sound of Lucifer moving around his wide room before he looms over you with a grin, blocking your view of the ceiling.

"Did you think my famous TLC routine was just that? Of course not! Come on, I prepared a bath for you, you can sleep after." Lucifer urges you with a soft grin.

You quirk an eyebrow at that, "At this point I'm beginning to think your TLC Routine is just treating someone like their royalty."

"Oh don't kid yourself, it's treating someone like their family. YOu've worked hard for the hotel, it's the least I could do."

"You could have also just handed me a coupon to a spa place or something." You rebuttal.

Lucifer huffs at that, a sassy look passes over his face as he gives arches his brow at you. "And what? Allow some random sinner to have you in front of them vulnerable? I see now that not all sinners are bad but a lot of them would jump at the chance to harm an angel such as yourself."

You simply hum in affirmation, he had a point with that. Still, you didn't really know why things seemed to be progressing too quickly between the two of you. Sure you were soulmates but it was still too unusual for the two of you to get along this well with someone so quickly.

"Is the soulmate thing affecting my feelings?" You internally grimace at that notion, you didn't wanna believe that the only reason you and Lucifer seemed to click well was perhaps due to the fact that the soulmate marks were affecting both of your feelings and perceptions and something.

You especially didn't want to think of the possibility that Lucifer beginning to move on from Lilith was a result of you two meeting and the soulmate bond taking an effect in a weird way. It somehow seemed worse than being a homewrecker. Charlie seemed to like the thought of her father finally moving on from her mother and finding someone new, but if it's only due to some unnatural force affecting his feelings then isn't it no different than just being manipulated?

Lucifer pushes you into the bathroom with some things in your arms while your mind went into a darker place. He says something that goes over your head, too deep into your own thoughts, before he closes the door behind him leaving you in the privacy of his bathroom.

Well, if the both of you being soulmates are the cause of the strange speed in which you and Lucifer seemed to get closer, then perhaps if you stayed away then you would find out if the marks truly did have nothing to do with this weird development between the two of you.

If it did?

Well that just meant you'd have to distance yourself.

Lucifer's TLC Routine was no joke, after the bath he had told you to go to sleep first, and after following his instructions, you woke up to dinner in bed. The whole event made you feel more certain that Lucifer spoiling you like this was probably the result of some weird effect being soulmates had on the both of you. It made you more resolved to distance yourself for fear of falling too deep into this charade.

Afterall, there was no way someone could actually be your match, not even your parents wanted you. What were the chances of Lucifer actually being over Lilith and entertaining a relationship with you? None, that's how much.  If anything, it was also possible that your new found powers as a seraphim was meshing with your soulmark, you already couldn't fathom nearly killing Sir Pentious with an innocent joke, even more so the thought that you were subconsciously brainwashing Lucifer or something.

Yeah, no thank you. You'd stick to your job, head home to your apartment in heaven to minimize contact with Lucifer, and fulfill your duties as necessary.

Right, that's the plan.

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You were avoiding him, he just knew it. Lucifer paced around the room, his brows knitted, eyes narrowed as he reviewed his most recent interaction with you. It was a month ago. Concerning because he only ever really interacted and spent time with you a good handful of times so he didn't know why he was so affected by the fact you were avoiding him.

Lucifer let out a frustrated growl, he was polite, charming, friendly, he helped you when you were exhausted. Why in the 9 rings of hell were you avoiding him?! He just couldn't comprehend it, he couldn't comprehend either of it. Why was he so affected by it and why did you start staying in heaven rather than the hotel?

He tried asking his daughter, Charlie seemed to be worried that something had happened as she also didn't know why you suddenly just chose to head to heaven at the end of your every shift. He tried asking the other residents of the hotel as well, but not even your patients knew.

Lucifer plops down onto his bed, he raises a hand to his face, his soulmate name peeking out from his sleeve.

He had almost forgotten about that. He hasn't met who his soulmate is yet but he wishes that whoever they are, they would be a lot like you. He hadn't really met many people who could match his energy, enthusiasm, likes and passions like you did. If his soulmate was someone really meant for him, then he hoped that whoever they were, they would have even a little bit of your own personality.

Hold on…did he…like you?

Lucifer frowns, his gaze moves to his bare fingers, the shiny gold ring that once adorned it, tucked carefully in the drawer of his nightstand. When Charlie saw he took off his ring a week ago, she hugged him tearfully and told him how happy she was that he was finally moving forward.

Lucifer told Charlie that he wouldn't pursue anyone new until he at least had a conversation with his soulmate, but he was beginning to wonder if he can keep that promise up, even if it was towards himself.

Maybe him giving you his TLC routine made you uncomfortable in the long run? He can imagine you being awkward about it after it was all done considering the context he told you about it. Still, he would've noticed something about it during the time he was submitting you to it, and he didn't see anything of the sort.

Part of him was half tempted to just barge into one of your sessions and-

That's it. Lucifer springs up from his bed, a playful sneaky grin on his face as he had a plan in mind. You wanted to play tag? He'll make sure to get you where he wants you.

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Realistically you knew of course that you couldn't avoid Lucifer forever, you also knew he probably knew that you were purposely avoiding him now as well. Kind of obvious considering you never once went back to heaven during your first week here in the hotel and suddenly you didn't even really stay in your room anymore, opting to instead make a portal to heaven to rest in the quarters that Emily gave you.

Sir Pentious gave you skeptical looks as well, the redeemed sinner, now a winner asking you if you had delivered his letter to Cherry– damn it you forgot all about it, you really need to remind Angel Dust to call her over to the hotel so you could do it –before realizing that there was something off about you and he tried comforting you in his own awkward Sir Pentious way. It made you crack a laugh as you thanked him for trying to make you feel better, but you told him it wasn't so simple.

You hoped that maybe Lucifer would catch the hint that you were avoiding him, hell, maybe he would take that as you telling him to F off and he would see just how much of a douche you are and leave you alone. You did ponder on telling Charlie to move your room to another floor, but if you did, she would know that something was up and it involved her father.

You didn't really wanna tell her that you were potentially brainwashing her father into liking you just because you were soulmates. That'd be weird, and you were sure she would tell you that it was nonsense and that your quick friendship and camaraderie with Lucifer was a result of you two just clicking well.

So yes, this entire thing was making you excessively exhausted, both physically and mentally, but you had to persevere. For everyone's sake. For your peace of mind.

Forget about the fact that your mind has been a chaotic mess since you made the decision to do this.

You'll deal with it. You were able to do the same to the people around you when you were alive, keeping everyone as friendly acquaintances for fear of betrayal or loss. You can do it again, you only really knew him for a couple of days, you could easily get over the easy way you were able to interact with him. The sound of fun and laughter the two of you shared when you did interact.

You didn't bother blocking Lucifer, you simply found yourself unable to. Instead, you’d simply ignore his text or make up an excuse to not be able to hang out and leave him on read.

He'll give up soon anyway. Then he'll be free, and he could enjoy more of his time with Charlie. His remaining family.

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When you said you were gonna avoid Lucifer, the last thing you thought you'd be doing is agreeing to hang out with Angel and Cherri as an excuse that you already had plans. You had a feeling that Angel knew of this self-imposed mission to avoid Lucifer, and used that to his advantage to actually get you to agree to hang out with him for more than just the hotel setting.

So here you were, in a club, Angel said it was the same club that he and the whole hotel staff– minus Charlie, Vaggie, and Alastor –hung out in when Charlie had a meeting in heaven.

On the bright side, you finally delivered Pentious’s letter to Cherri, the one-eyed demon taking it with a small blush on her cheeks as she nods her thanks to you and moves to a more secluded part of the bar to read said letter.

This left you alone with Angel Dust, "Come onnn toots! Live a little! You've been working hard a’da hotel!" He slides over a shot to you, he had an urging lok on his face as he threw back a whole shot in one go and gives a you a look to do the same.

"You do know many people die from these right?"

"What, you're gonna be double dead from a few drinks? Never drank in ya whole life?" Angel challenges you with a smirk.

"I've drank before. I just don't indulge too much into it."

"Really? All I hear is a chicken! That, whatcha are toots? A chicken?" Angel grins sharply, he takes another shot. "Or, if ya don't wanna, how's about you spill why ya avoidin the big dick in charge like the plague?"

You frowned in distaste at his nickname for Lucifer, the expression on your face making Angel chuckle in amusement. He swirls his glass as he raises an eyebrow at you urging you to pick your poison.

You chose the former, "There's nothing ‘up’ with me and Lucifer. Just busy is all." You deflect his earlier words, you down the whole shot in front of you in one go, you feel your throat get warm from the alcoholic beverage as you set it back down.

Angel pours you a new one, "Now we're talkin!" Cherri returns with a soft and sad smile on her lips, she picks up a shot on the table, downing it in one go. "Let's get ta living!" She pumps her fist in the air, the serene aura around her gone, replaced with the usual energy of chaos and destruction that seemed to surround her by default.

"You go gurl!" Angel cheers her on as she down 2 more shots in quick succession. You grimace slightly, your conscience as a doctor rearing its head as you internally wince at the excessive amount of alcohol she just consumed. Still, you didn't want to be a total downer, and perhaps you could make more friends than just Lucifer– that relationship is gonna be going down the drain anyway –so you lift up a shot and tip your head back as you try to match their enthusiasm.

You weren't a lightweight by any means, when you start out as he did in life, you learn to do whatever it takes to be able to remain afloat in the cruelties of life. You didn't ever wanna do anything close to those times. It was both unhealthy and something you wanted to forget, still…perhaps you could bury it with a more joyful memory.

Angel leaves to grab some new drinks, a promise to get something that "Will really make us enjoy the night!" as he put it. As you take another shot, some habits kicking in to keep you taking one after another, Cherri whistled, impressed, "Woahh, you sure know how to drink it up mate!"

"Hmph… I'm no-...-pussy!"

"No kidding chief!" She laughs, you laughed with her. Her expression goes soft after a few moments of laughter though, "How… How is he doin? Up there?" She looks at you with a hopeful expression, you squint your eyes as it takes you a moment to process what she meant by that.

Recognition flickers in your orbs, "Fine, he's thriving up there. He misses you, the hotel, and his egg bois…But he's doing well."

Cherri nods, glad that that was the case. "Well, glad he's got you to call if he ever needs help! You're an okay dude for a goody-two-shoes."

"Hmm, not a goody…two shoes, punched in some dickheads faces in, beat up my fair share of assholes too…" You said, trying to shake your empty glass over your mouth as if it would give you more alcohol if you did so. You weren't black out drunk or anything, you were tipsy and buzzed at best, but that was enough for your usual control to loosen as you found yourself slipping back to a way of talking dating back to when you were pushed down, stepped on by those higher than you. Those who had more than what you had.

"No kidding? Damn, Angie said you seemed pretty uptight, now I wonder what he was talkin about!"

"What who was talkin about?" Angel butted in, he set down 5 bottles of different kinds of liquor, a challenging smirk on his face as he sat back down next to Cherri.

"What you were talkin about bitch!" Cherri jabbed her elbow into Angel, he raises an amused eyebrow at that. Angel was about to ask her to clarify when you cut it, "Cherri here was just-...telling me about how you've been talking-...shit about me."

Angel laughs loud and heartily, "So you CAN curse! Thought dirty speech was below you or somethin toots."

"I've cursed plenty."

"Sure babe, but ‘crap’ ‘damn’ ‘dang’ ‘bullhockey’ aint really considered curses for me." Angel pokes back, he pours himself a shot and down it.

Rolling your eyes you take the whole bottle from the table, Angel's eyes widening at the action as you flip him off with one hand while taking a large swig from the bottle. "Yeah, well go fuck yourself. With a scalpel or something. Maybe that hole of yours would finally go outa commission and then you'd have something down your throat to shut you up more often."

Angel chokes on his drink at the unexpected words, he quickly regains himself though as he sends you a flirty wink followed by ah, "You gonna let me use yours?"

"My scalpel? Sure, I actually have an angelic one on me right now, want to test it out?"

Angel grins wider, not one to back down from a challenge. cherri steps in before you actually decide to make good on your words. "Dammnn Angie, thought you were sticking to feathers? Didn't you two like- discover you guys are soulmates?"

The turn of topic stops both of you and Angel as Angel leans back into his chair as he swirls his glass. "Yeah, we decided ta take it slow, ya know? With what I've been through? Husk and I talked it out and decided to go with wherever it takes us."

"Sounds sweet. It's nice that you've got someone to be by your side." You say with a smile, Angel gives you a nod, his expression turning soft for the first time since he dragged you here.

"What about you mate? Met ya soulmate yet?" Cheri turns to you with the same expression teenage girls would have when discussing the guy they liked. You looked at the bottle you were holding, feeling a bit floaty as you decided Screw it, downed the rest of the contents of the bottle and said, "Yeah, you could say that. He doesn't know I'm his soulmate though."

"No way! Who is it?!" Angel gets up and close to you, he excitedly waits for you to spill the beans. You took a moment to process he's question before your gaze drifted down to your bandaged wrist, tugging the material and unraveling it to hold it up for Angel and Cherri to see. "Don't…go telling…though."

Angel eyes widen, he sobers up a bit at reading the words, "NO. WAY. For real?! No wonda you guys clicked so fast!"

You scoffed at that, "Or maybe the us being soulmates plus my weird brainwashing powers is somehow causing Lucifer to ‘click’ well with me."

Angel and Cherri look at each other for a moment before they burst into hysterics, you frown as they continue to laugh their ass off at your concerns. "Gee, thought we were…friends now or something…thanks for shitting all over my-...-worries." You huff annoyed, you take out another bottle, popping the cork off with your thumb and taking a swig of it.

"Sorry suga’ but you can't be serious- like- sure the full extent of soulmates and soulmarks haven’t been discovered yet, but come onnn babe! For someone as smart as you, you can be really dumb why ya wanna be."

You raise an unimpressed brow at Angel, "It's precisely because we don't know to what extent those soulmates and soulmarks are capable of that I am skeptical. It's already very vague when we were alive. Some people can telepathically communicate with their soulmates once they complete the bond. Other's can switch bodies, so on and so forth. What's the chance that my worries aren't true? Low I'd say."

"You can't just, NOT Tell em toots, take it from me who hates talkin about shit, ya betta off tellin him and talking about it." Angel tells you, his body language remained casual, uncaring even, but you could tell he meant it even though your mind was more hazy and disoriented.

As you thoughtfully looked down at the bottle in your hand, your eyes squinted as you focused on your reflection on the bottle, you debated on whether you should take his advice or not.

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The door to the hotel slams open, the sound taking the attention of everyone in the lobby as Angel Dust walked in with unsteady legs, Husk running to his side as Angel  had two of his hands holding you to prevent you from just falling down. Lucifer noticed your wasted form and sped towards you, Angel give Lucifer a discerning look before he shifts your weight onto his.

"Tuck em to bed ya highness. Guy drank wayyy too much liqa’."

"How much did he drink?" Lucifer asked as he hoisted you up, he moved your arm so it was hooked around his shoulder, his head leaning on his hat as he ignored the fact you were essentially crushing it.

"Like four bottles and a loottt of shots. Take care o’ em, I'm headin ta bed." Angel tosses Charlie a soft smile before he heads for his room with the help of Husk.

Charlie looks at her dad with a worried expression on her face but he waves her off with a reassuring grin, "I'll make sure he’s fine."

Charlie smiles at her dad and nods as Vaggie takes her hand and leads her back to their own room. Lucifer gives your unfocused half-lidded gaze a frown before he decides to just teleport the both of you into your room.

Lucifer carefully placed you on your bed as he pulled your blanket over you. Conjuring a glass of water and some aspirin for when you inevitably wake up feeling like crap tomorrow, he places both items on your nightstand as he gives you a sad look.

Despite how wasted you were, you didn't like that look on his face.

"St..op."

Lucifer's eyes widened briefly, "Stop what?"

"Stop lookin so…sad…doesn't…suit you."

Lucifer's frown deepened, "You're the reason I'm upset right now you know? I'm gonna talk to you when you're sober no matter what and we're gonna fix whatever your issue is with me and why your avoiding me." He tells you sternly, a rare serious expression on his face as he tells you so.

"Not…worth it. I don't…understand."

"Don't understand what?" You see the hurt that flashes through Lucifer's face at your first words. You struggle to slur out an explanation.

"Not you, I'm…not worth it."

Lucifer's eyes turned red, his pupil's yellow. You didn't get to properly see it through your hazy vision but he blinked and it was gone. "Who made you think that?" Lucifer’s voice was cold, there was an aggressive quality to it but you didn't feel threatened despite knowing his power. Somehow you knew it wasn't directed at you.

"No one…everyone…life..? Du-..-nno." You slurred in bed, you try to make your eyes focus on Lucifer.

"I…imma bad person…" You added after a while, for the first time in a while, Lucifer lets out a snort as the corner of his lips quirk up in a small smile. "You?"

You nod your head, the motion making you wince.

"Hey careful now," Lucifer walks over to you, sitting at the edge of the bed as he places a hand on your head. It was warm and you instinctively pressed your head closer to it. "I don't think the literal Seraphim, one who is of mortal origin, should be saying their bad." he adds after a few moments.

"I'm a jerk…A liar."

"Hmm, I don't think there is anyone, even in heaven, well…aside from God and well, Jesus, that hasn't lied. Even if it wasn't so, that doesn’t really make you a bad person."

You shake your head again, you groan at the headache that followed, Lucifer frowns and shifts your pillow so you'd be more comfortable. "Lied to you.."

Lucifer's eyebrows knit together in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Brainwashing.."

A laugh bubbles out from Lucifer, his expression still confused, but there was humor in it. "Brainwashing? What? Do you mean you…brainwashed me or something?" He laughs more.

"Dear I feel like I'd know if you were somehow brainwashing me." Lucifer chuckles, he cards his fingers through your hair gently.

"Soulmate connection…friendship..abnormally fast." You slur out with pauses.

Lucifer squinted in even more confusion, "What do you…?"

You weren't really thinking anymore, too wasted to question your own actions as you simply thrust your arm at him, giving him a full view of your soulmark, his name marked on your skin in a deep black, the elegant cursive making it look beautiful against your pale skin.

Lucifer's breath hitches at seeing his name on your arm. "But, that's not possible! My soulmate is-" Lucifer freezes as he pieces things together in his mind. Your previous slurred out words made more sense as he made out most of the puzzle.

"Your name…You're real name is Ocyris Sterle." He says, it wasn't directed at you specifically, but he was looking at you with wide surprised eyes.

"Mhmm…I'm a…piece of shit liar."

Lucifer sighs, "We're definitely talking about this more when you're sober." Lucifer gazes at you softly, there was a sad tinge to it despite the small smile on his face as he gently ran his hands through your hair.

"Maybe…" You mumble, your eyes drooping closed as you turn to your side, curling up facing the side where he sat at the edge of your bed.

"Not maybe, we will. You probably aren't gonna remember this tomorrow but I'll chase you down. Just you wait."

You slowly drift off to sleep, the pleasant feeling of a hand carding through your hair, massaging your scalp and soothing your aching head lulling you to sleep. Lucifer just continues to stare at you, mind running rampant with thoughts, not knowing how he should feel with the revelation as he looks back to your arm once again and traces his name with a finger.

"Yes…if you do forget about this tomorrow, I'll continue with my plan and we'll talk this out."

Lucifer slowly gets up, his hands leaving your head making you groan from the pleasant feeling leaving you. Lucifer chuckles as he opens the door to head to his own room just across from yours.

"Good night…Ocyris." He says as he closes the door behind him.

The major headache that you get when you wake up reminds you of one of the reasons why you avoided drinking. Your memories are hazy of the previous day after you started chugging down the bottle of liquor. You vaguely remember talking about soulmates with Angel and Cherri, it wasn't really a surprise that Angel and Husk were soulmates. You could see the weird connection they had with each other.

You don't remember getting back to the hotel. You assumed Angel and Cherri simply took you back here.

Did Angel tuck you in?

You couldn't fathom that he did. Maybe Charlie did, she was a sweet girl, you could imagine her making sure you made it to your room okay. Looking to the side, you see a glass of water and some aspirin laid out for you. Well, whoever it really was that helped you, they seemed to be quite the compassionate fellow for even preparing such things, already expecting you to feel as you did right now.

"Well I'm definitely not working today…"

You send a text to Charlie informing her of her state, although regardless of whether or not she was the one who helped you out, you had a feeling she knew you would be hungover today since she did know you, Angel, and Cherri were gonna go out.

She out of anyone would know how those two are.

Popping a pill into your mouth, followed by drinking the whole glass of water afterwards, you let yourself flop back into your comfortable cushions. The responsible thing would be for you to eat breakfast but you just couldn't bring yourself to get up and head down to join everyone.

It seems like you weren't gonna need to though.

Your door creaks open, whoever tucked you in last night probably didn't lock it as they left, but that still brought the questions of who was gutsy or close enough to you to just enter your room.

The person peaks his head through, your heart sped up at recognizing the familiar face.

Lucifer.

"Gooooddd Morning! I brought you breakfast!" Lucifer doesn't wait for you to give him permission to enter as he so graciously just lets himself in, a hand holding up a tray in perfect balance, he closes the door behind him and walks over to you, setting down the tray of food on your nightstand as he flashes you a grin as if you hadn't just been blatantly avoiding him for the past month.

"Uh…" you utter awkwardly, not sure how to make sense of the situation. It's strange, out of everyone to be bringing you breakfast why on earth would Lucifer-

Some pieces of the puzzle click. "Did you…put me to bed last night?"

"Hm? Oh aren't you a smart cookie! That's right, Angel was too drunk last night to carry you all the way to your room. I'm surprised he even got both of you home!" Lucifer chuckles as if he was impressed by the feat. You notice the worried crease around the corners of his eyes though, that's another thing, you were just so hyper aware of a lot of things when it came to Lucifer. You weren't usually this observant with other people.

"Oh…thanks.." You look to the delicious smelling food Lucifer sets beside you, a charming grin on his face as he gestures for you to eat. He didn't make any movement to leave the room though, and although he was smiling, you knew that he wanted to talk.

You vaguely remember Angel Dust telling you about the importance of communication the previous day, but the details escape you. Of course you knew that communication was important, despite your primary career being a surgeon, you were still technically the hotel's therapist. You'd certainly be a pretty bad one if you didn't know something as basic as that.

You didn't wanna face or hear what Lucifer has to say. Deep down you feared him actually giving up on you and taking your hint to stay away from you.

Releasing a sigh, you push yourself up and lift the tray to put on your lap, Lucifer's grin widens as he hands you the spoon and fork, moving to sit at the edge of the bed as he faced you with an expression that although seemed happy and cheerful, also doubled as a silent threat that he'd take matters into his own hands if you delayed speaking to him any longer.

"Alright then…what do you want to talk about." You start out lamely, you breathe in the aroma of the coffee as you lift it to your mouth to drink.

"I don't know…why don't you tell me…Ocyris?"

You spit out your coffee at being called by your true name, unfortunately this means you technically spit it at Lucifer who yelps at the hot beverage being sprayed all over him and his white coat.

You choke and cough a bit as Lucifer looks over himself then at you with a disappointed expression, "Seriously? I just changed!" Lucifer huffs, he snaps his hand to tidy himself up again before throwing you an impatient look.

"Well? Were you ever gonna tell me you were my soulmate? Or face me at all after avoiding me for what, a month?" He crosses his arms and raises an accusatory eyebrow at you.

You felt yourself pale as you stared at Lucifer as if you had seen a ghost, freezing up in place as your grip around your mug tightened, thoughts, excuses, a multitude of things run through your mind at a fast pace.

Lucifer must have noticed your ever growing panic as his expression goes from stern to concerned, brows knitting together as he reaches a hand out to you. You didn't even have any time to decide on what to do as he wrapped his hand around your wrist, the one that held his name, a feeling as if you just got drenched in cold water envelops you as you feel yourself settle into the reality of the situation, your mind finally slowing down as you took in Lucifer's face, his mouth turned down into a frown as his eyes glitter with concern.

"Ocyris? I…I'm not mad…well…not completely, I'm more anxious if anything, I just…I just wanna sort things out…alright?" Lucifer's voice is soft, and his hold on you is grounding as you take a deep breath in and exhale.

"...Alright." You finally relent, you drink the rest of the mug's contents, knowing that probably wasn't a good idea since you were still hungover and drinking that much coffee in one go isn't normal either. Still, you had to be awake for this…well more awake than you currently were.

"What…what do you wanna talk about first?" You say after taking a moment to recollect yourself, you look down at Lucifer's hand on your wrist.

Lucifer shakes his head, "Well, that can be talked about when you're not hungover." He traces a finger over his name on your skin. "For now, how about you explain to me why you've been avoiding me hmm? And don't bother making an excuse that you weren't because we BOTH know you were avoiding me."

You sigh, relishing the feeling of Lucifer's hand touching your skin, it wasn't a rare thing but you don't typically find comfort in people's touch, then again, you don't really let many people touch you in such an affectionate way.

"I just…" you try to formulate the words you wanted to say, but now that you were actually about to say it to Lucifer, it seemed so silly. Still, he did ask for it so you told him the truth.

You explained to Lucifer a little bit about the abilities you discovered while training with Sera and then your hypothesis about how it could be affecting him due to the fact you were soulmates.

Lucifer listened attentively, nodding his head ever so often, you carefully watched his face for any change but you're surprised to see he was somehow able to remain mostly poker faced throughout your explanation.

As you finished, Lucifer had brought up a fist to his mouth as he processed your words.

Then he laughs.

It starts with him snorting a bit before he just gives up on hiding it as he breaks out into full blown laughter, you look at him with an affronted expression as he does so, tears in his eyes as he cracks up into hysterics.

"Seriously?! THAT'S why you've been avoiding me?" Lucifer says after he calms down, wiping the tears from his eyes as he chuckles a little more.

"Cyrel, Ocyris, dear. That's got to be the ridiculous thing I've heard in all my life. And you know how long I've been around." Lucifer continues his smile making you even more silly as the seconds ticked by.

"Oh shut up, it made sense to me okay."

"Mhm, of course dear, I didn't say there wasn't any merit to it." Lucifer teased, you huff annoyed.

"You literally just said it was ridiculous."

"Exactly, I said ridiculous, not nonsense." Lucifer grins playfully at you, his expression and energy contagious as you find the corner of your lips quirk upwards.

"But uh, I lied…still." You found yourself saying, you know Lucifer just said you'd talk about it another time but you were feeling more brave and it was better to get this done and over with if possible.

Lucifer arches a brow at you but he doesn't try to stop you from steering the conversation to the topic.

"Yes well at least you told me…even if it WAS drunk you that told me." Lucifer teased. "Still, didn't know you could swear like a sailor, guess your not so angelic after all~"

You groaned, Angel must have told everyone about how you were when you were wasted. It definitely wasn't one of your proudest moments and you made a silent vow to yourself that you weren't drinking with anyone ever again.

"Maybe I should take you out to dinner sometime and have some wine served, I would like to see it for myself too."

Oorrr maybe that was another vow you were gonna be breaking in the future. "Mmm…we'll see."

A silence washes over the two of you, Lucifer waves his hand over your food to reheat it and you start to dig into it slowly.

"You know, just because we're soulmates doesn't mean something has to happen. I can still see you aren't over …well you know. I like you, but I don't think I can even say it's in a romantic way.  Even if it was, you aren't required to reciprocate just because the universe says we're meant to be."

A look of surprise flashes on Lucifer's face before it is replaced with a grateful smile. "Thanks…how about we just…see where it goes? Let's not think too much about that kinda stuff. If it happens, it happens, if not? Well…we still make amazing besties!"

"Besties? Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" You chuckled, throwing him a teasing grin.

"I'm just stating the inevitable!" Lucifer throws you a confident smirk, a mischievous glint flashes through his eye before he disappears in a swirl of red and gold and reappears next to you on the bed, a playful expression on his face as he grins at you and stills one of the blue berries on your pancakes.

"Quite rude of you to steal my breakfast, your highness."

He sticks out his tongue at you, "I cooked it, I can eat it."

Your eyebrows raise in surprise at that, "You cooked breakfast today?"

Lucifer shakes his head, "No, I cooked breakfast for you." Lucifer smiles embarrassed. "I had this whole uh plan, I would make your breakfast early to show you I wasn't angry, then I was gonna come into one of your sessions as your patient."

You blinked surprised, "That's…thank you…and uh- sorry…again." You avert your gaze, deciding instead to look down at the delicious food laid in front of you, partially eaten. You ate another bite of pancakes, humming at the fluffy goodness as you readied another piece to bite into.

"It's fine dear, your worries are valid, but again, I do believe I would know if my friendship and trust for you were forced. And if not, Charlie would have noticed." Lucifer closes his eyes, the large grin not leaving his face as he finally relaxes, knowing that when he opens his eyes, you weren't gonna be running away or something.

You look at Lucifer apprehensively, still unsure as you scrutinized his face for any possible signs that your worries were true. You find none, just as Lucifer, Angel, And Cherri told you. The chances of your worries being reality was low and even if it were, it would most likely be noticeable.

"Well…alright," You relented, you continued eating the breakfast Lucifer prepared for you, the man in question continued to lay on your bed, eyes closed, though his grin has now just become a content smile, his overall aura gives off happy and relaxed vibes.

Eventually you do finish your meal, setting aside the tray back on your nightstand, you look over to Lucifer who was next to you in bed and realize he has fallen asleep.

As you continue to stare intently at him, you see signs of slight exhaustion near his eyes, the ever so slight eye bag just barely noticeable most likely due to make up or concealer of some sort. Still, the slight crease in his brows and the way he seems to be dozing off a bit too deeply gives it away, his enthusiastic and playful personality no longer hiding his true state.

You feel your chest tighten slightly as you frown, guilt creeping up your heart as you wave a hand over him to change his clothes into something more comfortable to sleep in. You hope he doesn't mind you doing so, but even if he did mind, sleeping in something less restricting and loose is way better than sleeping in his usual day to day clothes.

You snap your fingers, teleporting the tray as well as the empty glass once filled with water off to the kitchen. Pulling the blanket over Lucifer's sleeping form you card your hand through his fluffy hair, a memory with no visual, simply the sensation of something on your head and how it made the tension leave your body so easily.

You don't realize the smile that crept up onto your face as you ran your fingers through Lucifer's blonde locks as you massaged his scalp. The action causes Lucifer to mumble in his sleep, just unintelligible grumbling as he instinctively pushes his head into your hand.

You chuckle at the adorable display.

I guess your worries were quite ridiculous after all.

CRASH!!

You feel the multitude of cuts that litter your skin as you get thrown out a window. Instinctively, you bring out your wings to try and fly only to remember that you still didn't know how to, so instead you did your best to glide down to a safe area. Except, there wasn't really a good place to land in the area. At least not within the vicinity that you can glide to. As you use your wings to slow down your inevitable painful landing, you ask yourself just how you got into this situation when all you planned to do was grab a carton of milk from a nearby store.

Alright, let's start from the beginning.

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It's been a week since you and Lucifer sorted out the whole you avoiding him for some– now admittedly ridiculous –reason. You didn't even know why you previously thought it was a good idea to do so, not when things seemed a lot more fun with the duck enthusiast around, and how much you just instinctively allowed yourselves to be more free around him. Free from responsibility, free from having to act like a mature adult that simply does their job and heads home to be alone.

The feeling of just playing around, having fun, while still being productive is addicting that you didn't know why you didn't do this when you were alive.

Probably because you were stuck in the mentality that you had to be in work mode all the time, the only real interaction you get, being the polite exchanges and customer service smile that you direct to your colleagues and the more patience testing patients.

It wasn't simply you feeling a lot better than you have all your life either. Sure you have the experience of being absolutely loaded from your job and being in the comfort and steady life, but sometimes things just get lonely and boring you know?

With you feeling lighter than ever, even how you dealt with the patient's at the hotel has changed. You found yourself regaining the passion you once had. The true reason why out of all the possible jobs to earn money from, the medical field is what you chose. The light that you once had as you strived to treat patients both physically and mentally, the light that had once diminished from the time that passed you by.

You were a lot more empathetic to the sinners that had their sessions with you. Being a lot more relatable as you listened to their problems, comforted them, coaxed them out of their shells, the walls that they have conjured up to survive through hell. With that extra pep in your step as the sinners that resided in the hotel, once simply having a patient-doctor relationship, now one more akin to friendship as they greet you with varying enthusiasm when they pass you by in the halls or the lobby.

Three more sinners joined Sir Pentious in heaven. You watched with a genuine smile as they reunited with their loved ones in heaven, Emily tearing up at seeing something so new, so wonderful, so beautiful.

You should have known that not everyone could be happy with the hotel's development. Especially your contribution to the new achievements it had.

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An alarm blares to life, the sound waking you up from your admittedly restful sleep. Turning it off, you get out of bed lest you end up just going back to sleep. It was 4 in the morning, an hour in which no normal person usually gets up at, but you were used to it. There were many times in which the hospital would request your presence through the intercoms at 3 in the morning due to an emergency back when you were alive. That wasn't gonna happen now but habits are hard to break.

After you got ready for the day, a yawn escaping your lips, you opened the door. As per usual since the past week, you look at the front of your door to see a sticky note on it.

Lucifer has taken the habit of leaving sticky notes at your door that you wake up to in the morning. After 3 consecutive days of him doing it, you had started doing the same to his own door, writing little replies for when he too wakes up and sets out for the day.

This time, the note had a cute little duck drawing on it. The duck had Lucifer's hat, signifying his likeness, along with a short message in his elegant cursive writing. "Good Morning Dear! Did ya have a good sleep again? Hope yesterday's patients didn't give ya too much trouble. Tell me if they did, I'll straighten them out as the King of Hell ;3."

it was pretty much a variation of what he said yesterday, but still, it was endearing and you find yourself already smiling. A good start to your day already. Moving your eyes to the bottom of the note, you let out a soft laugh at the additional words at the bottom.

""PS. Can you PLEASE stop writing in that unintelligible chicken scratch? I get it already, not all doctors write terribly."

The day that you stuck your first sticky note reply on his door, Lucifer remarked about how glad and surprised he was that although you were a doctor, you didn't write like scribbling lines on paper as he has heard human doctor's tend to do. After he told you that, you decided you wanted to mess with him as you purposely write using your own ‘physician's scrawl’ as most tend to call it.

You always seem to find yourself letting out a good laugh as Lucifer repeatedly tells you how long it takes him to figure out or ‘decipher’ each reply you place on his door.

Conjuring up a pad of sticky notes and a pen, you write up a quick reply to Lucifer's note, sticking it on his door before you head down to the kitchen to grab yourself a fresh set of coffee. Unsurprisingly, Alastor was already in the kitchen.

"I swear you're nocturnal sometimes." You remarked, your words grab his attention as he seemed to process it before letting out a short laugh. "My that wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, I don't technically NEED to sleep." He replies, his signature grin in place as he moves aside to allow you access to the sink.

You catch the final tinges of red disappear into the drain.

Yeah no, you weren't gonna open THAT can of worms this early in the morning.

Blatantly ignoring the obvious blood that just washed down the drain, you decide to assume it was some meat– the not demon kind –and not what it probably actually was. Filling the electric kettle with water, you clicked the button on it to start boiling your water as you turned back to Alastor who was observing you with an ever present grin.

"I see you’ve gotten back into the good graces of our dear king! It was quite an amusing thing to watch, dare I say." Alastor said cheerfully, there was a glint of pure delight– the sinister kind –in his eye, but honestly, you expected that from him at this point.

"Yeah well, glad you were entertained pal. How about you take me out to meet Rosie sometime as payment for it?" You replied, sarcasm leaking into your voice as you said the first part. The static that seemed to be always present around Alastor gets louder for a brief moment, making you turn your focus back on him instead of the electric kettle, but it was gone and back to its usual staticy hum as soon as you did.

"Hmm, I believe I might JUST be able to do so the day after tomorrow! If you truly do wish for it of course," Alastor’s grin gets wider, as he looks at you with slightly narrowed eyes. You take a step back instinctively and let out a puff of breath.

"Yeah that sound goo-"

"SPLENDID! Why, I know Rosie will absolutely adore you as she does Charlie! Quite the darling she is, yes indeedy! My, she might even offer you some liver if lunch comes during our visit!" Alastor circles around you, gesturing in great theatrics as he spoke, it was a lot different to the way Lucifer seemed to exaggerate and enunciate things. You knew which of the two you preferred though, and Alastor was still a major hypocrite for having a 5 foot rule considering he himself invades everyone's personal spaces as he wished.

"Right…I might pass on that, but I'm sure she's a lovely woman."

You hear the click of the electric kettle signifying your water was now boiled and ready for making coffee. Pouring the steaming hot water into your mug, the instant coffee mix that you had already poured into it dissolves in the hot water as you pour until the cup is full. You carefully stir the mug, making sure the coffee was properly mixed together, in the background you hear Alastor move around the kitchen, the ever so slight clings and clangs from pots and pans as he brings them out to get ready for cooking, fills the silence.

"Now, I must say I don't typically have company in the kitchen. May I ask if you plan to help me cook breakfast for everyone?" Alastor asks, the usual creepy vibes that you get from him seemed to have simmered down, and as you looked at his grin, dare you say it seemed less sharp and threatening…?

Whatever the case, you didn't really feel like cooking, not to mention the fact that you didn't even wanna know what Alastor had in the fridge right now. You're sure he wouldn't feed the hotel crew with something…catered to specific tastes, but that doesn't mean you wanna actually confirm that theory.

No siree, there's a reason that they say ignorance is bliss after all.

"Uh, maybe another time Al, I have to review the files of the patients I have a session with today."

"Ah yes, quite a noble profession if I do say so myself, In that case, I shan't keep you for much longer dear, hurry along now!" Alastor basically pushes you out the door, as he does so you send him a confused and suspicious look.

"You know, Charlie told me about your motives for helping the hotel. I just find it strange you're still here and well… acting basically the same even though you found out that Redemption IS possible." You asked, he was probably one of, if not the most shady character in this whole establishment.

Alastor chuckles, he puts his arms behind his back as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, the grin never leaving his face as he then replies, "Well my dear, don't you think it's more entertaining to watch souls struggle to climb up the hills of betterment, only to repeatedly trip and stumble down, into the fiery pits of despair as they realize that doesn't mean it's possible to be redeemed, doesn't mean that everyone can be redeemed. I think it will be quite enjoyable to watch, don't you think? How some of those striving for redemption get left behind, doomed to continuously fail as they watch their fellow residents ascend up to the pearly gates above?’

You find yourself unable to formulate a reply to that, but Alastor beats you to it and simply bids you a good day, as if he didn't just send you down a morbid path of thought, closing the door behind him, effectively dismissing you.

"Rude.." You couldn't help but think, you didn't really wanna interact with the deer demon more than necessarily anyway. There were many instances where you felt you were being watched, and sometimes you'd notice him just watching you with his usual grin, a strange sort of glint in his eyes.

That's a major no, thank you!

Anyhow, you really did need to go and review your patient's files now, so coffee in hand, you went back to your room to do just that. Your sessions typically began at around 8 in the morning after breakfast, so you had ample time to familiarize yourself with each case you'd be holding today.

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You stretched wide, having had to sit through hours upon hours of sessions with patients as you helped them sort out their issues and recommended them proper coping mechanisms and regimen to get back into the path they wished to be on. Another sinner was redeemed today, and really, never have you felt so accomplished before. The thought that with the combined efforts of Charlie and the rest of the hotel, sinners can reunite with their loved ones in heaven. Those who ended up here as a whole family? Well they can all finally achieve peace and relax with their loved ones without fearing sudden death by some rowdy sinner in the area.

You were about to go take a nap, maybe send Lucifer a text and ask him if he wanted to hang out or something when one of the particularly new residents of the hotel came running towards you. They seemed distressed and had tears pricking out the corner of their eyes as they looked at you with desperation.

"P-please help me!" The sinner pleaded. Upon closer inspection they seemed to be a bee demon from the yellow and black stripes and the multiple arms and legs they  had. The antena was a bit of a big give away as well.

"What's wrong?" You asked, you tried your best to show that you cared and were ready to listen to whatever request it was that she had.

If you had paid more attention, you would have realized something was wrong with the words she was garbling when she asked for help.

The bee sinner went between repeatedly saying sorry for something unintelligible, to saying her best friend got taken, her hands shaky with tremors running through them, and a lot of fearful sobbing. With how much fear she had in her eyes, you would have thought someone was dying.

"That's probably the case," You thought at the back of your mind as you did your best to calm her down, telling her that you'll go and look for her friend and make sure they were safe. Charlie saw the commotion as she walked in, asking what was going on as you explained the situation to her in as much detail as you were given.

You assured her, telling her she didn't need to worry about it and that you'd try to sort it out yourself. Charlie insisted you take someone with you, Vaggie stepped forward to volunteer too but you turned her down as you knew she had an errand to do today for the sake of further advertising and expanding the hotel.

"I'll be fine, I didn't take lessons from Sera on spells and abilities to not be able to defend myself. I'll be fi-"

"What's going on?" A voice cut you off, the sound of a door closing in the background soon after it. Charlie focuses her gaze on who just arrived but you didn't have to see the smile that appears on her face to guess who the ever so familiar voice belonged to.

"Dad! You came just in time!" Charlie exclaimed relieved, Lucifer walks over to her and you watch as the two hug each other before he turns to you and gives you a hug too. You couldn't hug back since he had your arms pinned to your sides from how tight the hug was but you gave him a soft smile and a nod once he backed away a little.

"Can you accompany Ocyris to save one of our residents’ friends? Apparently they got taken while they were out today!" Charlie explains to her father, it's still a bit weird to hear your actual name come out of people's lips. Lucifer had encouraged you to tell the truth to everyone, standing right by your side as you revealed the reason for why you had been acting strange for a month and though you initially feared some kind of huge falling out, everyone simply gave you understanding looks, Angel giving you a smug smirk as if telling you " I told you so" even though he didn't really know about you lying about your name.

"Oh? Of course! No one's gonna hurt him if I'm with him! I'm the big boss of hell after all! I can crush anyone who tries!" Lucifer brags with a prideful grin. Charlie rolls her eyes but she sends her father a thankful look. "Thanks dad, it means a lot to me."

"Of course! Anything to protect my precious people!" Lucifer’s expression softens as he looks to Charlie with an adoring and proud expression before he sends you a grin, a playful smug aspect to it that makes you huff, amused.

Giving Charlie one last hug, you and Lucifer set off to save the distressed sinner's friend. She kept mumbling sorry under her breath even though you reassured her that you'd bring her friend back to the hotel, so you simply sent Vaggie and Charlie a sad smile asking them to look after the sinner as Lucifer herded you to the door.

You didn't know hell particularly well yet so you couldn't tell where the bee sinner was referring to by her description of where she lost track of her friend. Thankfully, after telling Lucifer of the description the bee sinner gave you, his eyes seemed to light up with recognition as he grabs you by the wrist and snaps his finger, a portal appearing in front of him as he walks into it, pulling you in along with him despite your questions on where he was taking you.

This was gonna be easy right?

As you exited the portal, you looked around the area you've been taken to. Lucifer still hadn't let go of your wrist and you didn't make mention about still holding it either as you shot him a questioning look on where you were.

Lucifer gives you a sheepish smile, "This is the shopping district, if her last known location was here, it's gonna be a bit harder to figure out who took her or where she had been taken too."

You frown at that, "Is there like…no way? No cameras?"

"Not really, only overlords with big businesses have cameras, most cameras owned by the shops here just get destroyed by some no good sinner that wreaks havoc."

You sigh as you look around the area, you don't really know where to begin. It's not like you knew a lot about the sinner you were supposed to be looking for, all you had was an image of a ladybug looking sinner.

Lucifer places a hand on your shoulder drawing your attention to him, "Hey, we'll find em. No resident of the hotel is gonna get hurt if I had anything to say about it." Lucifer grins wide and confident.

You felt yourself relax a little, you nod your head and decide to do things the old fashion way and start asking around. It wasn't easy, especially since most of the sinners who took one look at you either ran away in fear, made some excuse for why they couldn't lend a tiny bit of your time to help, or tried to attack you thinking that you were some exterminator that snuck out of heaven and wanted to hunt a couple of souls.

You only hoped that Lucifer had better luck with asking around.

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Lucifer strolled through the streets annoyed. He had tried to interact with about a dozen people now and while others screamed and ran away at the sight of him, others– women in specific –ignored his words and questions in favor of trying to get him into bed.

NO THANK YOU!

He had a daughter, one who is grown up and has her own life now sure, but he had a daughter, a family, a soulmate. He didn't really know what to expect from whoever his soulmate was when he used to ponder about the subject, often blaming it as the reason for his divorce. After a while, it became a desperate longing, he would often hear stories about how soulmates are meant to be perfect for you after all. How soulmates are your other half, meant to be with you forever.

Life isn't a fairy tale though, and he knows that there are some soulmates that don't work out alright, some people who don't even HAVE soulmates. He even started expecting that if Lilith left him, his soulmate probably would too.

A tiny part of him knows that Lilith wasn't as perfect as how his mind made her out to be. How his heart made her out to be. Deep down he KNEW that Lilith leaving him was his fault. He has lived long enough to know that sometimes things don't work out. Asmodeus once told him that if two people truly love each other and were meant to be, no matter what happened they would find a way to fix things.

Him and Lilith didn't fix things, he can't even remember half the arguments they had before they split up. All that remained in his memories was her using his and her own soulmate name as a reason, an excuse for why their marriage was falling apart.

Until he just woke up one day and she was gone. That note and the divorce paper are simply the only thing she left behind. Even Charlie didn't get anything from her mother before she left, not even a text.

Lucifer shook his head to get out of his musing, he didn't even notice that he had stopped walking, stopping directly in front of a closed shop, his reflection reflected on it, a glum look on his face. Instinctively like when he fell into such dark moments, he would instinctively lift his wrist and gaze at the name on it.

Now, as he looked at your name on his wrist, he found himself smiling a little. You certainly weren't what he expected. That night, as he tucked you into bed after your drunken honesty, he had a lot of conflicting emotions pass through his mind, unable to sleep well as he lay awake thinking about the situation, how you were avoiding him, how you had hidden your true name.

Did you not want him to know you were his soulmate? Did you not want him as your soulmate and that's why you had hidden it? Did even his soulmate not want him after all? He didn't even get the chance to properly know you when you suddenly began avoiding him like the plague.

Personally he thought you got along really well, and after you had both sorted out the whole brainwashing situation, that thought only solidified. You were fun to be around, though you sometimes gave off this mature energy around you, you had a childlike wonder in your eyes when you experienced something fun and new. As if you had never been given the chance to BE a child yourself.

He doesn't know just how true that thought is.

Lucifer swiped a finger over your name in his wrist, a happy sigh escapes his lips as he remembers the fun gimmicks the two of you get up too. He had decided earlier that day to take you up on your offer of taking therapy sessions from you. When he pitched it over to Charlie, she seemed to be on board and happy that he was taking the initiative to get better, to move on. If it weren't for the kidnapping situation right now he'd probably be with you in your therapy room right now actually.

Besides, you were right. Doesn't mean you two were soulmates, it didn't mean that he had to be in love with you. At the same time, you didn't have to be in love with him. At the very least the both of you had gained a best friend in each other and that in of itself is something amazing in his opinion as he had spent 7 years in loneliness and self-loathing. If things change, then it will, nothing had to be forced, nothing had to be expected. The both of you simply had to just let life flow and live it.

With his mood improving just as quickly as it went down earlier, he gives his wrist one last look before pulling his sleeve down and continuing with his search. He spots a pair of imps a distance away, maybe he'd had more luck with gaining some clues this time.

"Hey there! That's right you guys! Do a king a favor and answer some questions, yeah?"

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Maybe following a bunch of shady looking demons into an alleyway was a bad idea, it's not your fault though, you were a bit desperate to find that missing resident of the hotel and the group said they wouldn't talk with you unless you followed them into the alley.

As soon as you went in deep enough into the alleyway, your initial concerns were confirmed as they brought out guns and started threatening you. You honestly should've expected it, it was hell after all. Your job may be to help sinners be redeemed but only for those who actually want to be redeemed. This wasn't the hotel, and these sinners were those who didn't seem to regret whatever it is that got them down here either.

You still asked though, "Do you EVEN know anything?"

One of the larger sinners in the gang scoffed, "Of course, we're the one that were commissioned to bag that chick. Something about her being the perfect one to fulfill some of our client’s clients desires or whatever that means. Also paid us extra to kill off anyone tryna look for that pipsqueak."

He glints his gun closer to you, it has angelic steel, "You may be some pretentious holy big shot, but you're not invincible."

You found yourself frowning at the weapon, you may be new but Pentious has told you all about the events that led to him being redeemed. You knew that angelic weapons could harm you…kill you even. So you really should have been afraid right now under normal circumstances.

"Yeah? I know, no one's invincible." You glare at the sinner, he growls and pushes the gun towards you.

"Least of all you."

Snapping your fingers a portal spawns in and swoops upward taking the angelic weapon he had into it as you made another portal that drops the gun on your hand. You point the barrel of the gun to the sinner. "Well would ya look at that. Guess I'm pretty invincible right now sir."

You were bluffing of course, as a doctor you had made an oath to do no harm. Sure these are sinners and they did just threaten you with bodily harm, but you weren't gonna stoop down to their level. You just hoped your bluff worked.

Of course it didn't.

The other guys pointed their guns at you, fingers going for the trigger as your eyes widened and you instinctively wished that time would pause. As you closed your eyes tight and waited for pain to arrive even though the weapons the rest of them held weren't of angelic nature, instinct simply took over from associating guns with pain as common sense back when you were alive.

When pain didn't come as you expected it to, you look up to see the group of violent sinners frozen in place. The area around you seemed quiet too, somehow you can see everything within a 2 block radius. It was at a standstill, you couldn't even hear or feel a breeze or a rustle in the area.

You stood frozen, stock still as you didn't know what to do. There were so many things you could see, so much visual information and even the slightest movement of your eyes seemed to make everything else shift too. If things weren't bad enough with your vision when the 4 extra pairs of eyes appear in the air near both sides of your face, somehow having more than 3 dozen separated and floating around the area in a dome like arrangement was worse.

You force your eyes closed, unable to take the visual stimulation, you really should have taken the time to build up your ability to adjust to the change in vision with the excessive amount of eyes you had.

The silence was deafening, you didn't know what to do as you stayed squatted on the floor with your eyes screwed shut. You weren't afraid, no, you've dealt with too many nerve wracking situations to be afraid of just some widespread vision and time seemingly stopping, you simply couldn't take the possibility of an overload in visual stimulation, somehow you can feel the myriad of eyes surrounding the area even with your eyes shut tightly.

You simply hoped Lucifer is done with his side and is now looking for you.

"Lucifer where are you…" You say in your mind, a sort of apprehension as you simply stayed squatted on the floor, frozen group of sinners all have their guns pointed at you.

Then you hear something in your head that is definitely not your own thoughts, reply back in a surprised confused tone.

"Ocy…?"

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Finally, Lucifer managed to talk to this hellhound looking sinner who informed him that she had been around the area during the time he mentioned and how she DID see some shady looking people and how a bug like sinner that upon thinking deeply on, was highly likely to be the ladybug sinner he and you were looking for, was dragged away by them.

Happy that he finally found a lead, he thanked the sinner when he suddenly heard a voice in his head. A familiar one that on instinct, he found himsethireplying back in his mind.

"Lucifer where are you…"

Your voice sounded worried and a bit meeker than how he knows you to be. So as he questioned in his mind if it truly were you, he didn't bother waiting for the hellhound looking sinner to reply to his thanks as he made his wings appear and flew as fast as he could to look for you.

As he flew around the area, he noticed something very strange in the surrounding area of an alleyway in the shopping district. A translucent golden dome barely visible unless you looked closely surrounded the area, a myriad of eyes that looked within the dome surrounded the area in the same fashion of the dome. What was most surprising of it though was the fact that nothing inside seemed to be moving, not even the demonic birds on the street seemed to move, nor the pooling of blood of a discarded corpse on the sidewalk.

Lucifer was worried, especially since he couldn't find you within the dome. He focused his gaze on where the epicenter of the dome seemed to be. The alleyway, and even though the eyes followed his movement as he entered the area of effect, he didn't feel any different as he did before he entered the area.

Landing on the ground and tucking his wings into his back, Lucifer made his way into the alley where he saw your form squatted on the ground as you had both of your hands covering your face while you were surrounded by sinners holding guns who all seemed to be frozen in place.

Frozen in time.

He realized. Lucifer has never heard of an ability to stop time, especially only in a specific area but he also knows that it is a powerful ability to have. Still, you didn't seem to be aware of this ability and judging by the myriad of eyes that surrounded the area, and the fact you were desperately covering your eyes meant that your vision in this state was even wider and more disorienting than it usually is if it was simply just the usual 2 pairs of 4 that levitated near your head.

Now wasn't the time to question the very weird telepathy, for now he had to help you sort this, whatever THIS is out. Lucifer slowly walks over to you, he grabs the gang of sinners one by one by their collars, effortlessly tossing them behind him into the street with no care for how they landed as he did so. He crouches down in front of you with a worried expression on his face.

"Ocyris?"

You moved a little, lifting your face to face in the direction where you hear Lucifer's voice, hands still over your face to cover your eyes. "Hey…" You managed to say, not really having any words in mind.

"Soooo…Time manipulation huh?" You hear Lucifer to say impressed, you wondered what expression he had on his face.

"I don't know, I didn't really look much."

"Hmm, you can't see anything right now?" He asked once again.

"No? Uh…I've got my eyes closed dummy."

You hear Lucifer hum lightly before you feel his hands wrap around both of your wrists. "I need you to trust me on this, I probably should’ve taught you this sooner. I need you to think of just having your normal vision. Don't think about closing any of the other eyes you have right now, kind of like how you are simply selecting which security camera to look at okay?"

You frown, it sounds easier said than done and you could tell that Lucifer himself didn't know how else to word it but it's all you've got right now so you simply nod your head. You feel Lucifer slowly pull your hands away from your face, your eyes still shut tightly underneath as he chuckles lightly.

"Come on. We still have to save that sinner, you can do it if you put your mind to it."

You roll your eyes under your eyelids at Lucifer's confidence but you do as he instructed anyway, doing your best to really just focus on and think of how normal vision is as you slowly open your eyes. To your slight surprise it partially works. You could still see out of the 2 sets of 4 floating eyes on both sides of your head but you weren't seeing what the dome of eyes were seeing.

You willed your extra sets of eyes to vanish, leaving behind your usual 2 main eyes and the 2 tiny ones that rested under said 2 main ones.

"What now?" You finally say, the both of you share a look, a promise to talk about the whole telepathic thing another time, preferably when the both of you weren't on a mission of sorts.

"Now, you try and uh, stop whatever it is you're doing with this space, then I can beat some answers out of those thugs!" Lucifer says enthusiastically, a wide smug grin on his face as he gestures to the haphazardly thrown sinners on the pavement.

A smile crept up on your face, it makes Lucifer smile wider as you nod at him. "Alright, hopefully I can get this down rather quickly." He says as he grins a bit maniacally at the gang of sinners.

Fortunately, it didn't take you more than an hour to figure out how to at least stop the weird time pause thing you were doing with the area. Only took a couple of tries, some being slightly traumatizing than others honestly.

Still, you managed to do it and just as Lucifer sajd, as soon as the gang of sinners made a move to fight back, he beat the ever living daylights out of them and asked them what you both wanted to know.

Suffice to say they were quick to speak up after he was done with them.

As Lucifer dusts his hands off at a job well done, he turns back to you with an arrogant grin. "Well then! Let's go get us a filthy moth shall we?"

Rolling your eyes, you chuckle at how nonchalant he was despite the events earlier. "Hurry up shortie," you tease as you turned your back to him and started walking, Lucifer raises an affronted brow at you here he gasps exaggeratedly at you jab at his height.

"I'm not short! You're just too tall!" He quips back as he starts jogging after you.

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"Remind me why don't we just fly there? Or a portal there for that matter?" Lucifer asks with a raised brow, you had only been walking for about 15 minutes.

You blush slightly in embarrassment on the first part of his question before clearing your throat, "I don't think spawning a portal is very stealthy…"

"Who needs stealth when you got the big boss himself! Besides! I don't think you can be stealthy there with that TV Overlord around."

You raise an eyebrow for him to elaborate on that, blatantly ignoring his prideful remarks. "Isn't that abuse of authority? You're just supposed to be making sure I don't like- die or something. I'm the one going in to save them. If you followed me in, you'd be giving us away Mr. Head Honcho of Hell."

"Boo! It's not abuse of authority if I say it isn't!" Lucifer childishly flails his arms, his cheeks puffed out slightly in a pouty expression.

"That's literally an abuse of authority Luce."

Lucifer pauses in his steps, his expression surprised at the nickname before he smiles and picks up his pace to walk next to you again. "You didn't answer why we couldn't just fly there Ocy!"

Neither of you pointed out the shortened names, opting, as Lucifer throws you an inquisitive brow, a cheerful smile on his face. You kept your gaze forward as you sped walked to where the culprit for kidnapping one of the residents resided, you huff annoyed as your cheeks flush lightly in embarrassment.

You mumbled out that you couldn't fly, Lucifer frowns not catching what you said. "What was that?" He asked, genuinely not hearing what you mumbled.

You huff annoyed, grumbling under your breath as you shoot him an irritated look. "I said I can't fly."

Lucifer blinks blankly at that, the smile slipping off his lips before he shook himself out of it as he overtakes you and stops, the motion was so sudden that you weren't able to stop your speed walk in time and you end up slightly bumping him, his head thudding against your chest.

"Oof!" Lucifer sounded, he didn't expect you to actually bump into him and he tumbles backwards a bit but thankfully you managed to grab him by the wrist before he fell onto the pavement.

Pulling him up, you send him a confused look, "What was that all about?"

"You really don't know how to fly?" He says instead, he nods his head at you in thanks for catching him and tilts his head slightly awaiting your response.

"Yes. I can glide, but I can't fly. Emily tried to teach me but it didn't work out great." You frowned confused why Lucifer seemed to be very focused on that particular tidbit. You sidestepped him and continued speed walking to your destination, who knows what that poor sinner could be experiencing right now while the two of you bantared like a normal Tuesday.

Lucifer caught up to you again, "That's a bit dangerous don't you think? Allowing you to come down here without as many things in your disposal. Flying can give you an upper hand and eliminates a lot of height specific risks!"

"Yeah well everyone can't be good at anything."

"PUH-lease! Knowing something is different from being good at i-"

You held up a finger to Lucifer's lips, effectively cutting him off. Lucifer sends you a glare, but you simply shush him– not because it could Valentino off or anything but purely because you wanted to shush him –and use your other hand to point at Valentino's studio.

Lucifer gives you the stink eye as he then narrows his eyes as if to tell you he knows why you really shushed him, still he lets the transgression go with light huff that seemed more childish than it was intended.

“We're gonna have a loonngg talk later.” Lucifer settles on saying, you simply nod your head, your gaze still focused on the studio that Angel talks about often. It's no wonder he hadn't been called in today and yesterday, Valentino– or at the very least Vox –probably thought that there may be a chance Angel Dust could recognize one of the hotel's residents even if not part of the main crew. They probably didn't call him in to not risk his informing Charlie that they actively abducted one of their own.

The question is why, why take one of the hotel residents. Especially since Lucifer has been actively and publicly supporting the hotel since the last extermination.

It made no sense.

Then again, Angel did say Valentino was a major idiot. It's this Vox guy you're mostly worried about. As far as your concerned, he probably knows you and Lucifer are already there, so despite your earlier words, it'd probably a safer bet for both of you to stick toge-

THUD!

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Lucifer didn't know what just happened, one moment he was next to you also looking at the porn studio as you both debated what to do next. Next thing he knew, he heard a thud, and as he looked over next to him, instead of seeing you having bumped into something that could have caused the thud, all he saw was tiny fading crackles of electricity in the last spot you were in.

Fuck.

The sound of bickering roused you into consciousness. You head hazy as you slowly open your eyes and blink repeatedly until your vision cleared. You don't really know what happened. One moment you were thinking of how to approach the abduction situation, and the next you were falling to the floor and waking up here.

Wherever here is.

As you looked around, you seemed to be very high up judging by the wide windows that surrounded the place. You direct your attention at the sound of bickering that woke you up in the first place, there you identified Valentino– Angel Dust has shown you images of him before as he cautioned you to say "The fck away" from him –and who you assume was Vox, judging by the TV Demons appearance and how he apparently had a lot of control with the technology of hell. That explains why he also somehow has connections and cameras all over.

Judging by how you were the only one tied up, you assume they only took you. Guess they weren't TOTALLY dumb enough to even TRY knocking out the King of Hell.

Alright then…you weren't new to rough situations.

You make quick work of the rope around your wrist, simply making the binds disperse in a flash of light as you make sure not to make too much noise.

"Okay, I can do this two ways, I could try to take them both on…or I can try to sneak out of here and look for that hotel resident…"

"Well well well! Looks like our little guest is awake~" A voice says, the bickering stopping as both of them now turn to look at you.

Valentino licks his lips, his expression predatory as he looks at you as if he was looking at a new toy to play with. His gaze makes you shiver in disgust.

"What did you do with one of the hotel's residents?" You snarled, you didn't reveal your unbound wrists just yet, if you wanted to deal even a good amount of damage you needed to deal it at close proximity where they won't be able to dodge or block it.

So much for upholding the do no harm oath.

Valentino snarls at you in defiant tone, as he moves to grab you point your hand at him, making a finger gun you blasted a beam of golden light much like what Adam did during extermination, the shot hitting Valentino point blank.

Vox managed to dodge just in time as he was a few steps behind the moth. His expression pulled into a surprise before he screamed in anger and you felt wrists and ankles be bound with wires.

"You…BITCH!!" Vox roared as he made an upward motion with his fingers and you were pulled in each direction by the wires. Two more coming down, being jabbed into you as you receive an electric shock.

Letting out a choked out groan of pain, you find your body losing strength from the jolt that just ran through you. You weakly tugged at the wires to no avail.

"You think you're a big deal now, hm? Just cause you've got Lucifer behind you? Just because you can redeem some sins?" A snarl escapes Vox's throat, he looks at where Valentino was just at, not even ash remained of him.

The wires tightened around your wrist, if you escaped this you had no doubt that it would bruise. Lifting up your head you glared hard at Vox.

"If the Vs are as much a bigshot as you guys advertise then maybe he wouldn't have been so easily dealt with."

Sparks flew about from Vox's head as he grabbed you by the neck, his grip on your throat firm tight as you struggled to breath. The pressure around your throat is so tight, you are surprised your windpipe hadn't already collapsed from it.

"This look suits goody two shoes scum like you better. Don't forget. You holy bastards aren't invincible." Vox smirks at you, eyes filled with glee and bloodlust as a crackle of electricity on his hand grabs your attention.

An Angelic Dagger.

If you weren't losing air and choking at a rapid pace right now, you would have gulped at the sight of it.

Loud booming laughter echoed through your ears. The grip on your throat loosened as Vox held a hand to his face as he laughed gleefully albeit a bit manically at you as he gripped the angelic knife tightly and pointed it at you.

"Good night bit-"

A flash of light cuts Vox off as he jumps back at the golden beam that blasted the floor at which he previously stood on.

You coughed as you tried to breathe in some much needed air with your abused throat.

"Abused in a bad day." The thought flitters through your mind crassly.

It was enough though, as when Vox grits his teeth in rage, you managed to manifest the array of eyes you possessed as you glared hard at Vox and spoke in a raspy voice.

"Let. Me. Go."

Vox's screen fizzes out for a moment into some weird blue screen state as you feel the wires loosen and you fall, landing with a thud on the floor, legs still unable to properly support yourself with how tingly they felt.

You underestimated Vox though, not expecting him to be able to break out of your mind control.

A shadow loomed over you, your eyes following along instinctively as you watched his scream fizz in and out through various TV error modes. As Vox makes a move to grab for you, a burst of adrenaline courses through your veins and you find yourself rolling out of the way and away from the TV demon's clutches.

The sudden movement has you wincing as you keep your eyes on Vox, paying close attention for his next moves.

"For an overlord, you can't seem to even get a hit on someone who got electrocuted."

The taunt works as expected as electricity crackles around the area and you fling yourself backwards. raising a hand you shoot another beam of golden light at Vox, the TV demon easily dodging it as he disappears in a crackle of electricity and reappears behind you.

You turn around to face him, noticing the camera where he no doubt came from.

Fuck.

Pure unbridled rage, that's the only way you could explain how Vox looked as he grabs you by the collar and flings you across the room and into a large window.

CRASH!!

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Lucifer makes quick work of the door, burning it off its hinges as he essentially breaks into Valentino's studio. He had to be quick, surely being a seraphim, You could handle yourself long enough for him to locate the missing resident and send them to safety before he goes to save you himself.

Besides, you are an angel. It's not like Angelic steel is common in hell.

As the doors fly off its hinges, Lucifer strolls into the studio. Only to stop like a deer in headlights as he notices that not only were all eyes on him, but also that everyone in the room was in various stages of undress. Lucifer blinks dumbfoundedly for a moment before he smirks and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at the people in the room.

"Who here can tell me where this sinner is?" He holds up a picture of the abducted hotel resident, his posture proud and confident. The occupants of the room all begin to crowd around Lucifer and he feels his grin become more strained as his bravado cracked a little.

"Oh dear."

Just as he was preparing to teleport away and just look for the sinner himself, he hears the sound of muffled yelling from somewhere higher up followed by the sound of loud thudding. His expression went from awkwardly tense to worried as his minute worries of your well being came to reality. With a speed that could rival a laser beam, he spreads his wings wide and flies through the crowd, uncaring if he knocks any of them back or accidentally hits them with his wings.

Right now, his priority was you.

A flash of red and black adorns his peripherals as he speeds out the already broken down doors.

And if Lucifer backtracks, snaps his fingers and sends the hotel resident back to said hotel as per the original mission's purpose before he flies to save you?

Well he hopes he'll still make it in time.

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So we have now gone full circle as to how you got into this situation. The stinging sensation from the cuts littering your skin. The panic that settled in your bones as you fell from what is obviously a very fatal height. You have heard that demon's can't harm angels, but no one ever said anything about hell's environment being unable to harm an angel.

Surely falling from this height onto very sharp and pointy surfaces, angelic steel tinted or not, is gonna hurt like a bithc right?

You spread your wings wide, the air pushing against it as you maneuvered into a glide instead of just straight up falling to your doom. Vox wasn't even something you had in your mind now as your eyes hurriedly looked for a place you could land.

It wasn't looking good.

As you glide forwards at great speed, not really sure how to slow yourself down, you see a very tall and irregular shaped building approaching you at high speeds. Really, you were the one that was heading to it, but who's being picky about the details at this point.

Shutting your eyes tightly for what seemed like the nth time that day, you braced yourself for impact, your wings tensing up as it held its position rigidly making you just accelerate faster towards the building. You only hoped you won't get any fatal injuries.

"OCY!!!"

Your eyes fly open, a red blur zipping past you and stopping just before the building as he turns towards you with a worried expression. "Tuck in your wings!" Lucifer yells out as golden light swirled around his fingers.

Doing as instructed you tuck your wings away, just before you could crash into Lucifer, you felt golden glittery magic surround you and you could feel your momentum slow down until you found yourself just being levitated in the air by Lucifer's magic, its movement beautiful and graceful as it swirled around you.

You feel arms pull you into a warm body, a heavy weight against your chest as you realize Lucifer has pulled you into his arms and pressed his face firmly against your chest, you open your mouth to utter his name only to be cut off by the feeling of his embrace getting tighter.

"Luci…" You managed a small whisper, wrapping your own arms around him. You lean your chin lightly on the brim of his hat, patting him comfortingly. You had an inkling as to why he was acting this way, but you decide not to dwell on it at the moment. Lucifer needed to ground himself first– ironic as you were both in the air. He needed to reassure himself that you were still there, that he wasn't actually late and that he truly did save you from bodily harm.

You understood that in your own way, often having had to check and confirm that your reality was what it was now, to make sure that everything wasn't just a dream and that you were back to either a time of poverty and suffering, or a time of monotony simply going on through life with a purpose that no longer held a passion that it once had in your youth.

Unfortunately, the both of you were still technically in enemy territory, and you still had yet to find the missing sinner.

"Luce…we have to…"

"I already found them and sent them back to the hotel. Charlie is probably taking care of her right now."

"I was gonna say we have to get down before we attract more attention.."

Lucifer pulls back with a light blush on his cheeks, he mutters a quick and flustered "oh" before he tries to cover it up with a chuckle and snaps his fingers.

It was time to go home.

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Standing behind the now broken and shattered window that you were thrown from, Vox watched in irritation in his eyes as the weight and reality of Valentino actually being double dead weighed in and he fell to his knees, uncaring of the shards of glass that dug into his knees, tears pricking out his eyes.

"Fuuhuuhuckk…"

Meanwhile, in the hotel, you find yourself blankly staring and blinking at contracts that swirled around you, their glow harsh in the darkness of your room.

"Ah…shit."

"Okayyy…So let me get this straight. Valentino is dead, you guys caused a scene in the Vees territory, and since you killed Valentino, his contracts automatically got forfeited to you?"

Charlie paced back and forth, a troubled look on her face as she held a closed fist to her mouth, a habit she obviously inherited from her father. You and the main family of the hotel all filled the couches in the lobby. You, sitting between Lucifer and Vaggie on the long couch, and Angel and Husk taking a single person couch opposite each other.

"I didn't know it was gonna go so bad so quickly," You raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. Charlie looks at you in understanding. "I know Ocyris, I'm just worried. The Vees are still overlords after all."

"Poor excuses of one I'd say! But I suppose you are correct dear," Alastor pipes in with a cheery tone looking far too pleased about the current developments as one should be. "Plus, now instead of a trio they're more of a duo and if our dear resident therapist over here could easily handle one of them, I'm sure he can handle the rest just fine!"

"I only managed to get Valentino out of the picture because he let his guard down and I had the element of surprise."

Until now, you still had bruises on your wrist and ankles, even your neck as evidenced by the previous altercation.

A hand carefully wraps around your wrists, Lucifer gently carefully stroking the bluish marks on pale blue skin. You look over, only to see his gaze focused on your wrist, the one that held his name as he ran tentatively stroked over it with his thumb. There was a faraway look in his eyes.

It seems he still hasn't completely snapped out of his worried episode.

Scooting closer so he wouldn't have to strain himself too hard to reach you– you ignore the fact you two were already next to each other –you leaned your weight slightly on him to serve as an anchor of sorts, as if to tell him you were still actually there.

"So toots, whatcha gonna do to my soul?" Angel makes a show of acting as seductive as possible. You give him an unimpressed look at his display.

"You can have it, I don't plan on keeping any of Valentino's contracts."

Angel blinks, clearly not expecting that. The spider demon has an apprehensive look on his face as he glances over to Husk before looking back at you.

"Really? I mean- ya really lucky you even have my soul, I'm a catch after all," Angel throws a wink at you. "But I would really appreciate it if you broke the contract."

"Of course, Angel. Let's just say I'm returning the favor." You wink at Angel, his eyes widen in recognition as he grins wide and sharp and nods his head.

"Well…after I figure out how to do it of course."

Charlie slows down her back and forth pacing, letting out a sigh, she brushes her hair back and takes a deep breath in and out.

"Okay, so um…Valentino is gone, and the 2 remaining Vees could probably try to hurt you." Charlie reiterates her earlier thoughts, her gaze drifting over to you and Lucifer before a metaphorical light bulb seems to have lit up over her as she smiled wide.

"I know! Dad! You can just keep Ocyris company whenever he goes out! Your hotel rooms are across from each other, and your soulmatesss!"

You sweatdrop slightly at the high pitched squeal that Charlie lets out. Leave it to her to keep you safe AND try to play wingman- errr…wingwoman.

"I don't think that's necessary…"

"Nonsense dear! You are a vital part of this hotel! It is only right that you be kept safe. Why, if our dear king is ever too busy to look after you, I would be happy to extend my own protection." Alastor butts in.

You hear Lucifer growl next to you, his grip on your wrist firm, but not tight enough that it would elicit pain from your bruises.

"Can both of you maybe cut it out? He's not a kid that needs to be coddled." Vaggie interjects with a frustrated groan. You send her a thankful look, Lucifer's rising anger diminishing like a water splashed over fire as he looks sheepishly at Vaggie, Charlie, then at you.

"I can handle myself just fine."

Lucifer looks at you with a raised brow.

You punch him lightly on the shoulder, the action making him laugh as he took in your annoyed expression. "Okay, no, you're right. You're not some kid to be coddled. Still, Overlords aren't some everyday normal hazards, not even if you use the normal hell danger standard. Even more so since it is now public knowledge that angel's aren't unkillable."

Shoulders slumping in defeat and begrudging annoyance, you agree with his points. Still, you weren't just gonna be sheltered forever, and you knew for a fact that the problem doesn't lie in your lack of power but rather your lack of control.

Not to mention the time stopping ability you had discovered earlier.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves? How about we start with teaching me how to fly." You gestured at your currently hidden wings, Charlie beaming brightly as she mentions that, that was a good place to start. She turns to Husk to ask if he could help out too and surprisingly, he does.

You had a feeling it had something to do with you saying you'd let Angel have his soul back.

Even so, you smile at Husk, appreciatively. He simply huffs and turns his gaze away and back to Angel who was now on his phone looking through Sinstagram.

Right…no matter what happens, so long as all of you all have each other…

Things will be alright.

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"Voxie hun, stop being a fucking piss baby and get out of your control room!" Velvet ran a hand through her hair frustrated.

Vox had spent all of the evening and morning holed up in that little control room of his. Doing what? She didn't know, but one thing is for sure, with Valentino's soul exterminated– she clenched her fist hard at the thought –the Vees have lost quite a significant amount of their power, authority, and territory.

That's not to say that they have become weak, no, they still had a lot of power and dominion between the two of them.

Velvet banged on Vox's door once again, her frustration reaching its peak. "Vox I swear to Lucifer if I have to take care of that feather brained cunt of a Seraphim myself, I'm gonna-"

Red eyes glared down at her with a rage that could short out Hell's electricity. The sheer fury that emanated from his form, screen cracked as red crackles of electricity flew off and disintegrate that which comes in contact with it.

Words filled with such potent venom and animosity were uttered in a distorted voice.

"He's gonna pay."

Velvet simply looks up at him and grins.

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You feel a solid body catch you from behind acting as a cushion to another failed attempt at flying. After having breakfast, you, Lucifer, Husk, and Angel all went outside of the hotel so you could learn how to fly.

Unfortunately, it isn't going as well as you'd hoped.

Now, Lucifer is a great teacher, that much you had already established, but sometimes being a great teacher doesn't mean much if you're a terrible student.

"I think flying is just that one thing I can't do." You growled frustrated, Lucifer carefully plops you back down onto the ground, he gives you a soft smile that has your frustration melting quickly.

"Maybe you just need a different approach," Lucifer reassures you, a thoughtful look passes through his face as he suddenly smiles big and wide at you.

"I know! Try hiding your 2nd and third set of wings!" Lucifer bounces on his feet giddily, a plan clear in his mind. You didn't really know what it was he had planned, but you trusted him, so you did as instructed.

Things progressed a lot more fluidly after that. Lucifer explained how maybe the issue with you flying didn't come from you being a bad learner  but rather that you had to take a more step by step approach.

"Flying with just 1 pair of wings is hard for newbies in of itself. Flying with 3 pairs? That sounds like a grade schooler attempting a college exam!" Lucifer created figures in the air with his magic, golden figures to demonstrate his words for added flair.

"You know about school levels?"

"I like studying humanity sometimes!"

True enough you managed to take off into the air, Husk acting as some sort of gatekeeper as he flew in the air near you ready to catch you if need be while Lucifer himself had his wings out ready to take off into the skies should Husk not be able to keep you steady in the air and you end up crashing again.

"I'm actually flying! I can fly-"

Caught up in your excitement, you found yourself falling, Husk moving to grab you only to miss as you accidentally swerved right.

A pair of arms circle your waist as you were scooped up from your descent, the sound of laughter, happy and carefree tickles your ears as you find yourself hyper aware of the arms around your waist.

"Getting a bit ahead of ourselves are we? Maybe talk and fly after you've practiced a bit more, yeah?"

A purple hue dusts your cheeks as you find yourself flushing slightly, Lucifer's smile looking a bit too charming, his face a mix of cute and handsome.

This is bad…or is it?

"Ocy?"

Nope, definitely bad…bad for your heart.

"Oh uh-...em…yes I'm fine, I'll uhh, do that yes. No more talking while flying…ahaha….ha."

You shuffle a bit in his hold as Lucifer flies the both of you down and places you on your feet before he lands right next to you.

Angel and Husk observe the whole interaction, they look at each other, then to you and Lucifer, then back at each other.

"I give them half a year." Husk gruffly says with a smirk.

"Nah, I'm thinking about a month." Angel grins back at Husk, the two share a handshake as if finalizing the bet.

"Hey both of yous! Go get a room!" Angel calls out with a teasing grin, he gives the both of you a teasing wink.

You huff at his teasing, dusting yourself off as Lucifer simply raised an amused brow, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

"Much as I would like to whisk dear Ocy away to rest after yesterdays fiasco, I think it'd be better if he finishes his flight lessons first."

You nod in agreement at Lucifer's words, shooting Angel a glare that the spider simply laughs at.

You were tempted to get back at him.

"Enough messing around, I rather we get this over with before lunch." Husk adds, he hooks his arm around Angel and proceeds to drag him inside. "I'm taking a break, I'm sure you can handle the kid just fine by yourself ya highness."

Husk and Angel head inside the hotel leaving you and Lucifer outside alone. Silence settled over both of you for a moment before Lucifer turned to you with a large grin.

"So! …let's get started with 2 pairs of wings, yes?"

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You flop onto Lucifer’s bed, after your flight lessons, you could fly well now with 2 pairs of wings. Lucifer decided to call it a day and save part 2 of the lesson another time.

Seeing your exhausted state he had teleported the both of you into his room, telling you to make yourself at home as he grabbed you some clothes from your room.

You had tried to turn his offer down, saging you could just rest in your room, but he insists on giving you some more TLC.

Something about a Jacuzzi? That and he mentioned grooming your wings, provided you were alright with it as he explained how such a service is usually only given to family, lovers, or trusted people.

"If there's anyone here I trust with my entire being, it'd be you." You had spoken with a soft and tired smile on your face, the glassy eyed look that Lucifer got made your heart beat faster as he pulled you into a tight hug and dashed over to your room.

Staring up at the ceiling, you feel your eyes droop down, exhaustion seeping in as you lifted an arm up, the bruise having darkened even more that you wouldn't be surprised if someone mistook it for a tattoo of some sort.

You think back to the events since your death. The new friends you have made, finding and meeting your soulmate, forming a bond that you never thought you'd have with anyone, much less someone who holds the title of King of Hell.

"Allllrigghty!-" You hear the click of the door closing shut along with Lucifer's voice cutting of as he lays his eyes on you.

"Tsk tsk, nope, no sleeping jusstt yet, you gotta clean up first or your slepe isn't gonna be comfy!" Lucifer fuzzes over you, he tries to get you to get up, but ultimately gives up after you don't move an inch.

He backs up. Rolls his sleeve up.

And lifts you up, carrying you bridal style.

"What the-!" Your eyes grow wide at the unexpected action, your arms automatically reaching to wrap around Lucifer's neck lest you fall down as he walks you to a door and magics it open.

The warmth of the room greets you, steam escaping as you focus your gaze on the jacuzzi located in the center.

Putting you down carefully Lucifer mamhandles you into a nearby chair. "Now then, you enjoy yourself and relax, while I have things ready for me to groom your wings, alright?"

As Lucifer leaves you in the comfort of the room, the steam relaxing your aching body, you look at the door the Lucifer has just left from.

Thinking about the charming king you had as a soulmate, you feel your chest swell with affection as your heart raced at his tender loving care.

"Shit…I've fallen for him, haven't I?"

Laying on your stomach on Lucifer's bed, the man in question running his hands over your wings, smoothing them out as he picks out old feathers isn't an ideal position to be in after having just realized your feelings earlier.

You had tried to postpone it by staying in as long as possible, but doing so would have gotten you pruny and you wouldn't be surprised if Lucifer barged in worried if you took too long in the Jacuzzi.

So here you were, your face flushed red, buried into Lucifer's soft pillows.

You weren't expecting the grooming of your wings to feel so…intimate?

You understood now what Lucifer meant by it being done usually by people close to you. Does the same logic apply to the person grooming the wings? Does one usually only groom the wings of someone close to them?

Alright, that questioning is getting too much.

A shiver runs up your spine as Lucifer kneads out a knot on your second pair of wings, you feel your whole face flush purple at the groan you let out at the sensation that ran through your whole body.

A deep chuckle makes you bury your face deeper into the pillow.

"No need to be embarrassed dear starlight, it's normal," Lucifer continues to chuckle softly, his hands graceful and gentle in their ministrations. "Personally, my lowest pair of wings are the most sensitive."

The nickname he called you clicks in your mind.

"Starlight?"

Lucifer's eyes widen briefly before he clears his throat and blushes lightly. Unfortunately, you had your face smooshed into the pillows so you didn't catch the flustered look he had.

Making sure to be quick yet careful, he finishes your middle pair of wings and moves on to your last pair. "I just thought it fits. Your last name reminds me of the word star. Besides, calling you Ocy would be confusing if there ever came a time that Ozzie visits."

"...Do you not like it?"

You feel his hands pause for a moment as he smooths out some of your feathers.

"It's not that, I was just surprised. I think it sounds nice."

A smile blossoms on Lucifer's face as he finishes up in grooming your wings. He gets off of you, telling you he was done as you refused to move a muscle. Two reasons, you were very relaxed, and your arousal had yet to subside.

Lucifer notices though, "I can help with that~" You lift your head to glare at him, who was making a motion to blow you, eyes twinkling in playful mischief.

You flip him off, "Screw off." You smoosh your face back into the pillows while Lucifer laughs in the background.

Your face a deep purple hue at his jokes, it wasn't helping in your attempt to calm yourself down of your little problem.

Stupid….

You hope you'll get some much needed sleep tonight.

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Things were pretty peaceful since the whole fiasco with the Vees. Too peaceful for your taste but  beggars can't be choosers right?

The hotel is bustling more than ever, with the news spreading that more and more sinners are being redeemed; more sinners have come to the hotel for the same reasons.

Redemption.

Charlie has never looked so ecstatic, and Lucifer couldn't be prouder, a tear gathering in the corners of his eyes as he watches the 100th sinner get redeemed.

Things were great. Now if only you could get out of this meeting.

"With the 100th sinner to be redeemed, we could conclude without a doubt that Charlie Morningstar's Hazbin Hotel works."

You sigh, you had been in this meeting for about 2 hours now, and finally, the next topic to be discussed was the hotel. You try your best not to slouch in your seat as you internally celebrate that your presence here will soon no longer be needed.

"Your highness," You hear Lute raise her hand, waiting for permission to speak.

Sera allows her to do so.

"Even if the hotel works, the rate at which sinners are redeemed is still 5 times if not 10 times slower than the rate at which new sinners arrive in hell."

"What point is it that you want to bring forth?" Sera replies, her expression curious and inquisitive.

"I propose that the extermination must be continued, even if it's at a less frequent rate than before."

"Objection." You interject. Sera looks over to you, her eyes narrow ever so slightly before she takes a deep breath.

"You may proceed Ocyris."

You let out a breath of relief before turning to Lute. "As you said the Hotel truly works. Though I admit that the rate at which sinners are redeemed are slow, you can't exactly rush people in changing how they are over night. What's more, even if that's the case, continuing exterminations is only robbing souls of the opportunity to seek to better themselves."

"Then let us just grant the hotel and its residents immunity, if they truly wish to get redeemed they could go there instead, leaving behind those who are the worst of the worst." Lute countered, her eyes narrowed into a harsh sneer.

"That's just blackmail. If sinners simply come to the hotel to seek shelter from getting exterminated, the chances of redeeming sinners could be affected as they are there not by will but out of self-preservation."

You had stood up at that point, spreading your wings wide to make a show out of it as you gestured fluidly, golden magic dancing in harmony as if they were actors in a play to further drive in your point.

Whispers could be heard from all parts of the room.

Lute gritted her teeth in frustration. "Then-"

"That is enough." Sera's voice echoed through the room, all whispers and murmurs going silent. "Commander Lute, I admit you make good points of hell's rapid increase in population-"

Lute smirks and looks triumphantly at you.

"-but Ocyris is correct. Extermination would be counter-productive in the redemption of souls and continuing it when redemption has been proven is against what heaven stands for especially since I only allowed it to keep the souls of heaven safe."

The smirk Lute had slips from her face, you on the other hand stick your tongue out at her childishly when you know no one was looking.

1: You

0: Lute

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Coming out of the council room you breathed in a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, Lute comes out soon after you.

Giving you the nastiest glare ever, Lute walks up to you with the spunk of a rebellious teenager in their emo phase as they say no to their parents.

It honestly looked pathetic.

Jabbing her finger at you she speaks with hatred that if words could kill, you'd be dead on the floor 3 times over.

"Listen here you bootleg seraph, just because you manifested here as a Seraphim, doesn't mean you actually are one."

You just stared at her blankly, "I knew you were disabled-" you gestured at her missing arm, "but I didn't know you were stupid too." You jab your own finger back at her, but due to her stature, instead of jabbing it into her chest, you pushed her back by her forehead.

Lute gasped affronted at your words, she moves to grab your wrist but you're quicker. With one quick motion you catch her hand in yours, the exorcist angel trying to take her hand back but you lock her hand in place with yours.

"Now you listen here. I may be of mortal origins but I assure you, that fact I was able to manifest as a Seraph when a self righteous hypocritical punk like you couldn't, should already be enough of a reminder of the difference between the two of us."

You harshly release Lute's hand from your grip.

"And for the record, as a surgeon, I know where to cut, how much pressure to give, and when to stop before someone loses consciousness. So the next time you try this greater than everyone bullshit with me. Keep in mind that I could dish out more pain than you do whenever you conduct your exterminations." You look down on Lute, your voice calm, but your gaze fierce and domineering.

Luter sneers at the ground only to grab her harshly by the chin, forcing her to look at you.

"I said…are we clear?"

"Yes…your highness." Lute grits out, she rubs her chin as you release it from your grip.

"Good."

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Passing through a portal which takes you directly into your room in the hotel, you take a deep breath, glad to be in a place that felt more home than even your large house when you were alive.

After releasing your breath you couldn't help but break into a panic, "Why did I do that!? Why did I say that?!?"

You started aggressively passing around the room.

"I mean, the last time I was that mean was when I was some orphan street rat, and that was to defend my turf!"

You ignore the voice in your head that reminded you you used to get into fights for no actual reason other than your anger at the world.

You sat on the edge of your bed as you held a hand up over your face. You seemed to be losing your grip on the maturity and composure you had slowly developed. It hasn't been long since you've finally understood the feelings you had for a certain blonde king.

You were beginning to wonder if this is good for your being.

Lucifer was fun, he was bright, cheerful, and grand. You would always find yourself entranced even when the both of you were just making light conversation. Drawn to the tiny gestures, fidgets, habits that Lucifer had. The ticks he had here in there when he was lying, nervous, or absolutely ecstatic about something.

His face was so expressive and even his mood and sudden changes in emotions made you feel thrill and excitement that you haven't felt in ages other than the times that you were diving in to perform surgery on a patient.

You find yourself slipping into a trance of just pondering and visualizing all of the things you had come to observe about Lucifer. His figure, his features, his personality.

Everything.

Crap…

"I've fallen hard haven't I?"

You sigh in frustration, running a hand through your hair, eyebrows knitted together.

"So much for remaining friends despite the soulmates situation. I did say if things progress then it will though…but that's provided Luce actually likes me. It hasn't even been a year since he took off his wedding ring, I'm getting ahead of myself."

You continued to mumble, glaring at the ceiling as if it was the reason for your predicament when it was your heart that couldn't be reasoned with.

Not that you wanted to be able to reason with it.

"This is great….Justtt greaatt." You groan sarcastically into the silence of your room.

Knock Knock Knock!

The sound interrupts you from your thought process. You didn't know who could possibly be knocking on your door at 4 in the afternoon but then again maybe one of the hazbin crew wanted to call you down for dinner.

Unlikely as that usually happens at around 6 but you never know.

Pushing yourself up from the bed, you answer the door to be with the top of Lucifer's hat. Your gaze trailed downwards to the owner who had a soft smile on his face, both hands laid over his cane which stood right in front of him.

"Heyyyy." Lucifer began with an awkward side glance. "I heard some mumbling coming from your room when I was coming back to mine from a long day out so I thought we could um…talk."

You raise a confused brow at what Lucifer wanted to talk about, still…you stepped aside to let him in before closing the door.

Lucifer twirls his cane and dismisses it in a flurry of golden magic that you would have mistaken for pixie dust on a normal day, he turns to you with a strained grin as he hesitantly continues.

"We never actually talked about what happened while we were looking for that sinner a month back. It hasn't happened again, but I thought we could…try to do so…if you want to starlight."

There's that nickname again, ever since he first used it, he would call you that whenever it was just Charlie and Vaggie in the area or like right now when it was just the two of you.

It has your heart doing flips as he says it with such affection.

"Alright."

With just one word, Lucifer's uncertainty and awkwardness disappears as his whole body seems to be energized. He swiftly pushes you and maneuvers you to sit on your bed as he takes off his boots and does the same, only he sat crisscrossed on your bed as if it was his own.

Cute.

"Alrighty then! First order of business!.."

"That's true…but it hasn't happened again since then."

You and Lucifer talked about the strange phenomenon– the telepathy –that happened a while back that both of you concluded to be due to the fact that you were soulmates. You both shared your own thoughts and feelings on the development, Lucifer being giddy at experiencing something new, something he didn't expect to happen to him ever.

Soulmate connections and bonds have always been different from pair to pair, but even then a soulmate pair having unique…abilities as a result of the bond is rare and only a select few have been discovered to manifest these unique capabilities.

Some would range from being able to feel their soulmate's feelings and emotions, or sharing their sense of pain and the like.

Of course telepathic connections aren't really uncommon either but even then, the chances of that were slim in of itself.

"That doesn't mean it's not gonna happen again! We just don't know how it works yet, like how you didn't know how to fly before!" Lucifer gives you a teasing wink. You roll your eyes in response, an amused grin on your lips.

"Oh shut it, normal winners usually only get 1 pair of wings or none at all. I think I've got a valid excuse for not knowing how to fly with 3."

"Sureeeee."

You laugh at that, playfully punching Lucifer in the shoulder as he doesn't bother dodging the hit and burts out into his own laughter.

"I'm serious Luce," you say in between laughs, Lucifer raises his brow at that. "Oh cut it out, you know what I mean."

"Do I?" Lucifer looks up in mock thought. You let out another huff at his playfulness. "You do."

Lucifer wipes the tears that were seeping out the corners of his eyes from how hard he laughed earlier. "Okay okay, how about we figure it out together?"

"That sounds good."

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After spending the next 3 hours trying various ways to get the telepathic connection you had, you eventually managed to figure it out. Turns out it was as simple as thinking of the other with the intent of reaching out.

"That was anti-climactic-"

You get interrupted by the door to your room being slammed open by Husk, a panicked expression on his face as he looks at you with worried eyes.

"It's Angel, you…you gotta help him!"

That was all you needed before your time as a doctor kicked in, being familiar with that look on Husk's face as you rushed out the door past him and spawned a portal that would take you down to the lobby.

The sight that greeted you wasn't pretty. Angel was clutching his side applying pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding. You weren't familiar with demonology yet but you were pretty sure the people in the lobby wouldn't be fussing and panicking to that extent if it was a normally inflicted injury. After all, the only thing that can fatally or permanently harm a sinner is an angelic we-

Your eyes widened in realization.

"What happened?"

Cherri Bomb, who was supporting Angel, looked over to you with a very concerned expression. "Vox happened! That fuckin TV got his hands on an angelic weapon. Thought it'd be a real riot to take his anger out on Angel since he has Val's contracts now!."

That's  right, you had decided to transfer all of Valentino's contracts that you had to Angel a while back. As soon as you knew how to do so, you made sure to give Angel all the contracts you had. After all, it wouldn't be good to go up to heaven having a lot of souls tied to you. You didn't know if Seraphs could sense that or know that but you didn't wanna take any chances.

Cherri clenches her fist hard, she looks down irritated and hopeless as Vaggie held a cloth to Angel's injury, blood quickly soaking the cloth.

"It's fine suga’, we got one heck of a doctor here right now, don't we Ocy?" Angel's grin was strained, but you were surprised at the level of relief and trust Angel had at you arriving. His confidence that you would truly be able to help him makes something inside you feel warm.

Right, this is why I became a surgeon in the first place.

Approaching Angel you give Vaggie and Charlie a nod as you conjure up a needle and thread, not normal needle and thread but the kind that is used for surgery.

"This is gonna be a bit messy, I'd prefer doing this somewhere sterile to prevent any contamination…"

You lift a hand up, a ball of light manifests on it before expanding into a dome around the lobby, bathing the area in a warm and golden light.

"But this will have to do."

It takes you a while to stitch Angel up, you had to check and make sure none of his internal organs were damaged by the angelic weapon after all. Fortunately it only grazed his stomach, it was a lot more difficult to fix that injury as his unique anatomy somewhat threw you off but you managed to do it with your intuition and experience.

Charlie asked Lucifer if there was any chance he could heal Angel, but as the injury was created by Angelic weapons, he isn't sure how angelic magic would work on the injury.

Angel waves his hand dismissively, he thanks everyone for caring and reassures them that he's fine.

Still, you couldn't help but frown. Angel was your friend, he helped you when you were being a ridiculous dork and was avoiding Lucifer like the plague.

Surely there was something you could do?

"Geez guys, don't gotta make that big a deal of it. I'll be fine! Really!" Angel tried to reassure all of you. Charlie didn't seem convinced. Neither did Husk.

"My what a sour mood!" Alastor cackled from a distance away. Everyone turn to watch him close the main doors behind him.

"This isn't the time for laughing, Alastor." Charlie admonishes with a frown, Vaggie simply growls at the radio demon.

"But it is! In this little…family you have you, princess of hell, a very esteemed past exorcist, someone who used to be an overlord, me, someone who IS an overlord now, and we even have the King of hell himself and a seraphim! We have all these people here and yet some insignificant like Vox or the other Vees keep getting away with hurting a member of this found family." Alastor laughed more as he spoke, pointing at every person as he named each one's positions.

Lucifer scowls at Alastor's words.

You opened your mouth to say something when Lucifer beats you to it. "I can't believe I'm saying this but…he's got a point."

Heads turn to Lucifer in surprise at his words, even Alastor's eyes widened a little at his agreement. Lucifer rolls his eyes at the excessive reaction. "I know the facts when I hear it. I'm not gonna be petty about it."

"No it's more so the pride that you didn't do…"

"Just cause I'm the sin of Pride doesn't mean I'm gonna let it get in the way of me admitting the truth." Lucifer huffed, he crossed his arms and frowned. "It's bad enough that they threw Ocyris out of a very very high balcony, but also that they kidnapped one of the hotel's residents. The fact that all of us…’powers’ are here but the Vees are somehow able to ruffle us like this is a bit…"

Charlie frowns And looks down at her hands. "But…I don't wanna hurt anyone! I mean- I'm angry too, and I wish the Vees weren't how they are but I-...do I want them gone? I don't! Do I?...I don't know…Everyone should…get a second chance…but.."

You looked at Charlie with a sympathetic look. "Hey, it's fine Char, we'll figure it out." You turn to face Lucifer.

"Is there nothing you could do? I mean…you're the King of hell, are you not able to uh, take away their power?"

"Well, I can, but then we have to deal with politics. Ugh even down here we have to deal with it."

Charlie looks at Angel, "I…"

Angel raises a hand to cut her off, "Charlie it's fine. I'm used to it-"

"But you shouldn't be." Husk's grave rumbly voice came out with such intense emotions that everyone instinctively looked at him. Husk approaches Angel.

"You shouldn't have to deal with it. You've come a long way from when you first arrived here in the hotel. In fact, I'm more surprised you haven't been redeemed yet! Regardless of redemption. You shouldn't be spending your afterlife getting beat down when you finally have your freedom back! It's hell, sure, but even I don't get as much slack as you do from people."

Husk releases a deep breath, "Sorry.." he simply says as he walks away, Angel watches him leave with a teary eyed expression.

Witnessing the scene in front of you made your chest feel tight and heavy, a flash of memories, vague and blurry passes by as you clenched a hand to your chest while everyone focused on helping Angel feel better.

Lucifer notices though…he always seems to notice when something is off with you.

Reaching out, he lays a hand on your shoulder, a concerned look on his face, his lips pulled into a frown.

You didn't wanna worry him.

"I'm fine!" You said through your telepathic connection. Lucifer gave you a strained smile and a nod, obviously not believing your words but willing to let it go this time around.

You grasped his wrist thankful for his concern, your thumb brushing across your name on his wrist making shiver at the featherlike sensation.

You let go, "Sorry." You whisper sheepishly but Lucifer simply chuckles and blushes lightly as he avoids your gaze. Just seeing him made the heavy feeling lighten just a bit.

Even so, it was enough for you to actually get to thinking instead of wallowing. Alright, a solution to helping Angel. Vox is more angry at you than him, he's probably taking his anger out on Angel instead of you because he's an easier target…

You had an idea…

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It takes another couple of hours before everyone eventually relents and lets Angel continue his rest in his room. Cherri was stubborn though, and Husk returned after calming down only to be just as stubborn in refusing to leave Angel's side.

Vaggie guides Charlie back into her room with continuous reassurance and Alastor simply disappears into the shadows. Nifty zipped away to who knows where and you waved goodbye to Lucifer at his door.

As you watch Lucifer's door close and you head back into your own room, you look down to your hands before clenching them into fists.

Vox wanted to do this the hard way? Let's do this the hard way.

Despite the newfound resolution and internal declaration of war, you didn't really know what approach to actually take. You had no doubt that the aggression towards Angel is only the beginning, infact, you wouldn't be surprised if he started to go after the other members of the hotel too.

Very stupid honestly.

You killed Valentino but that was mostly luck than skill. There was no doubt that you were powerful. You were a seraphim after all, even so, your nature didn't lie in harming others. Regardless of the fact that some angel's – Lute and the other exorcist –seem to be disturbingly blood thirsty.

Letting out a sigh you decide it's better for you to think about it more another time. Angel is healing up nicely and Husk has kept sticking by the spider demon's side since the incident.

“Right…I'm sure I'll have more time to think about it.”

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“Guess what everyone!” Lucifer asks with a flair, everyone simply raises a brow in question at the jovial King's enthusiasm.

“You finally made the ultimate rubber duckie?” You asked from the couch, phone in hand as you aggressively tapped at the screen, Angel and Cherri cursed right next to you as you overtook them in the game you were playing.

“Wh- no! I'm taking all of you to the Lust ring to meet Asmodeus!”

Angel whistles, “Ohhh the kinkiest guy in hell? Sounds like my type of trip~”

“I get to see Uncle Oz?! This is great! Oh my gosh, you guys are gonna get to go out of the pride ring!” Charlie squeals excited. Vaggie chuckles at the adorable, Husk rolls his eyes at Angel but the fond look on his face tells you he wasn't annoyed by the sultry quip.

“YuP I just have to sort out some paperwork with Oz to grant you guys permission to cross over to the Lust ring, but if things go as planned, we should be heading there this friday.” Lucifer explained. His face lit up with pride in himself for setting up what seems to be a mini vacation or break of some sort.

“Hmmm, well as much as I would love to accompany you, I don't care much for such…desires. As such I shall not come along but stay to look after the hotel.” Alastor butts in, his grin a twinge wider and more annoyed than usual as you can't tell whether he is uncomfortable or repulsed by the idea of going to the Lust ring.

Both probably.

Before Lucifer can even make a quip back at the radio Demon, he vanishes in a swirl of green sparks and shadows.

Totally not rude and creepy.

You hear Lucifer mumble insults under his breath near you as Charlie proceeds to pull him in for a hug, noises of excitement and delight escape her throat as she hugs him tight.

Lucifer smiles softly and adoringly at his daughter.

The sight was adorable.

“But what exactly is the special occasion? This seems rather uh…sudden.” You didn't really have any particular concerns, but you must admit that the timing is rather strange.

Lucifer breaks his hug with Charlie to turn back to the rest of you. “Well, as you all know, Oz is the sin of Lust, I thought I'd call in a favor, surely the sin of lust will be of great help as a sort of mentor to our dear patron Angel Dust here!” You snort as he makes jazz hands in gesture of Angel, the pink spider demon holding in a laugh as the king does so.

Cherri yells a loud curse as you beat her despite not looking at the game for the last minute. Angel just flips you off realizing he had lost. Having lots of eyes is beginning to be handy once you get used to them.

“Sounds good, I've been pretty curious about the other rings anyway.” You said with an interested look.

“Damn! You really ain't pulling any stops aren't you short king?” Angel adds in as he gives Lucifer a sultry look,his recent loss at the game instantly forgotten in favor of getting a jab in at the short king.

A red wing smacks him in the face.

So Husk can get jealous huh?

Ignoring the antics the two demons got into, Lucifer essentially reappears next to you on the couch, the sudden change in location surprising you, knocking you back. Instinctively, you grab at the closest thing you see, which is Lucifer’s vest.

Eyes wide, space eliminated between you from the locking of both your lips, you quickly push Lucifer back from you, you mutter apologies, a hand held over your mouth as you flushed a deep red, the other occupants of the room freeze in surprise at the scene that had just unfolded. Without further delay, you portaled yourself out of the lobby and into your room.

From your haste, you didn't see the awed and starstruck flushed look Lucifer got on his face despite being pushed. A finger touching his lips.

Charlie couldn't help the giddy feeling inside of her as she watched her father seem to have a realization.

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You realize the next following days leading up to your trip to Lust that Lucifer… was avoiding you.

Honestly, you didn't know whether to sigh in frustration or laugh at the irony of the situation. Something happened that was out of the norm of a friendship relationship and the other party started running.

”Sounds awfully familiar as someone who did something similar a while back.”

Still, you couldn't even find the time to track Lucifer down to have a talk with him about it due to the busy schedule you found yourself in. With more sinners learning of the possibility of redemption, more people has been actively seeking out the hotel at the chance of making it out of hell and into heaven.

You were glad that your work was actually leading to something sure, but you weren't gonna lie to yourself and say that it wasn't getting a bit irritating for you to not be able to sort out whatever is causing Lucifer to avoid you.

You ignored the painful feeling in your chest at the thought of Lucifer hating the kiss, accidental that it may be, and making your feelings officially unrequited.

“Alright, I can tell that you aren't ready to share things about yourself or what you're feeling. As such, I would like to first ask you to keep this journal and write down whatever thoughts you have, whenever you're feeling intense emotions or get urged of causing or inflicting pain or damage to someone or something. In our next session, we shall be reviewing what you have written.” You explained in a gentle tone, the empathetic expression on your face betraying your restlessness inside as you did your best to maintain professionalism.

Thankfully it seemed like the iguana-like sinner in front of you was busy looking insecurely down at their laps to notice any small ticks on your expression. Still, thankfully it seemed as though the sinner wasn't as nervous now than they were when they first came into the therapy room.

As you escort the sinner back to their room, making sure to observe for any signs that should incite concern or caution, you eventually make your way to Charlie's office to give your report on the sinners you have counseled for this day. Charlie has strictly and adamantly decided to enforce you only have to work for half the day every Thursdays and Fridays.

Hopefully, you can use your afternoon to track Lucifer down. He hasn't been answering even when you used your telepathic connection after all.

“Hey Charlie, I've got today's batch of counseling done,” You said as soon as you entered the office.

Charlie looks up from her desk, a pile of paperwork surrounds her showing just how much busier the hotel got. Shows how much more successful, how far, her passion project has come.

Charlie looks up at you and beams. “Ocyris! Thanks for your work as always!” She cheerfully exclaims, looking at you with her starry eyes that you have grown fond of in a short time. Surprisingly, she hasn't said much or acted differently ever since Lucifer started avoiding you vehemently this week. Still, judging by how giddy she looks, you at least found solace that Lucifer probably isn't going through anything rough.

Or maybe Lucifer just isn't affected by the fact you two haven't seen each other in awhile.

You shake the thought out of your head as quickly as it came.

“Of course, it's my pleasure you know, though it seems like Lute shows no signs of stopping from pitching her ideas of raining hell on well… hell.” You huffed, annoyed at just thinking about how much of a nuisance Lute has been. You were called up to heaven twice this week to talk about whether the hotel was rapidly redeeming sinners or if there was a stagnation of said redeeming agendas.

Lute always seemed to make sure to try and plant negative words and reasonings at said two meetings that were held.

“I know, that's why I'm SO thankful you're there to advocate for us!” Charlie insists on her appreciation.

You let out a soft laugh at her bubbling energy and charisma, your happiness seeming to make her own already bright grin grow even more.

You take a seat in front of her desk and set down all of your files and notes. You have private notes that you make sure to keep on you at all times as most things that are shared by the patients are to remain confidential. You report to Charlie the statistical side of the sessions, rates and estimations on how each sinner is doing as well as suggestions on activities that could be done to help them on their path to redemption.

Charlie orderly compiles the report into a neat pile, her energetic smile melting into a more soft and serene one. “We're going down to Lust tomorrow, remember?”

The question draws your attention back to her, curious as to why she was bringing it up. “Yeah that's right, the plan is still set right?”

“Of course it is!” She replies once again, enthusiastic and excited before returning to a more softer joy. “It's just um… you and dad… I haven't seen the two of you around each other or hanging out together ever since um..” Charlie's cheeks seemed to flush a light shade of pink at remembering her father's little accidental moment with you at the beginning of the week.

You let out a choked out cough at the mention, the memory once again bringing a blush on your face reminding you just how deep you had fallen. “Oh uhh, yeah I suppose we haven't spent much time together this week. I think that's just due to the fact that we were both really busy this week. Me with the sinners and him with sorting out paperwork for our trip down to lust.”

“Oh is that why?” Charlie’s tone seemed to indicate she didn't believe your words one bit.

You see her hand retreat from the desk drawing your attention to her face to see her expression. She seemed to be both worried and happy at the same time.

“I know you know dad and my mom have been split up for a long time. For a long time we were apart and only recently reconnected. Sometimes he still seems to withdraw into himself, I sometimes catch him staring at a picture of mom. But after you came around, although he still seemed to do all those things, he seemed to be doing better. He even took his wedding ring off.” Charlie avoided your gaze, keeping her own gaze down on her hands which she clasped together.

You couldn't seem to bring yourself to interrupt the story.

“He seemed to be having so much fun again after meeting you, and he was super worried when you avoided him back then. After the two of you sorted things out, he looked even better. I used to try not to bring up anything related to mom but when I accidentally pondered out loud whether or not she'd be proud of me, dad didn't seem bothered by her being mentioned anymore and even told me she probably was.” Charlie looked up and smiled gratefully at you.

You realized that when she was thanking you earlier, she didn't just mean your help for the hotel. She was thanking you for helping her dad, helping Lucifer.

“You didn't see it since you left in a hurry, but when you two accidentally kissed-” She blushed at even recanting the scene, “-He looked starstruck you know? Like how he often was with mom…maybe…maybe even more so.”

You released a breath you didn't even know you were holding in.

“Really?” You whisper, as if unsure whether you should ask or not.

Charlie nods her head in reply, that same caring and kind smile on her face, one that seemed to resemble how Lucifer looked at you a lot of times.

“Oh…”

The deep red hue that took over your cheeks as your heart thumped at the thought of your feelings being reciprocated was very visible to Charlie who smiled wider at the sight.

The sound of an alarm blared loudly across your room, your arm immediately shooting out to slam it shut as you groaned, annoyed at your sleep being interrupted. Just as you were about to slip back into sleep, you suddenly remembered what day it was and what plans you had for the day.

The trip to the Lust ring.

And the day you were gonna finally have a talk with Lucifer.

Honestly you probably should have prepared a proper plan on how you were gonna go about initiating a conversation with Lucifer, but you decided to go with the flow, see where the moment and night takes you.

You made quick work of going through your daily routine, and getting ready. You had already spent yesterday after talking to Charlie picking out what you were gonna wear today. You weren't that optimistic about what the outcome of the conversation would result in – That's a lie, you nearly couldn't get any sleep from the excitement and nervousness of how your talk with Lucifer was gonna go – but you were determined to do your best. Hopefully no matter how the talk goes, you'd at least be able to find out why Lucifer has been avoiding you and sort it out so you can remain the great friends the two of you were growing to be.

As you continued to get ready, even conjuring up a demonic disguise, your mind ran through the different ways the day could go.

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"Char Char what if he doesn't wanna talk to me?!" Lucifer worriedly exclaims to her daughter.

He had called her to his room early in the day to help him get ready for their trip to Lust. After his Starlight ran away after their accidental kiss, Lucifer found himself stuck and fixated at not only the feeling of your lips on his, but also of how the brief accidental intimacy made his heart thump rapidly and loudly.

The first two days after the kiss, Lucifer locked himself inside his room, ignoring your telepathic questions and anyone who knocked on his room. He made sure to text Charlie however, so as to not worry her. He spent the whole two days, pacing around the room, lying on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling, even looking at every part of his room that you had been in and remembering all the moments he and you shared in it.

Midnight of the second day, he found himself aroused in the middle of the night after having woken up from an intense dream of you. Needless to say, he took a long and very cold shower that night.

On the third day, he finally went out of his room and hurriedly left the hotel to drop by his palace in order to sort out the paperwork needed for their trip to lust. He made it back to the hotel fairly late where he encountered Husk at the bar alone, no one in the lobby in sight aside from the winged cat.

Silently, he took a seat at the bar and ordered something fairly strong but not so much that it'd give him a hangover. Husk seemed to notice the king's internal turmoil and confusion because Lucifer soon found himself getting some advice from said bartender. Ironic since he has lived longer than the cat sinner. Still, the bartender's words did leave an impression as he found himself pondering over what he felt when the kiss happened and what it meant for himself.

As Lucifer thanked Husk and left the bar to head back to his own room, he didn't hear Husk whisper something about losing some bet to Angel.

The day before the trip Lucifer called over Charlie in the morning, his daughter nearly panicked at seeing the dark bags under his eyes before Lucifer explained why he wanted to talk to her and by the end of his explanation, Charlie squealed happy for her dad, showing her support and that she was rooting for him.

Lucifer was glad that his daughter was supportive of his realized feelings and although he was still a bit nervous as to whether or not you would reciprocate his feelings – considering the worries you had about the soulmate bond having some sort of effect on his feelings for you a while back.

Now here he was, fussing about what to wear for the trip, pacing around the room blurting out hypothetical situations of how this could all go down.

Charlie smiles fondly at her father's fussing, seeing your reaction to her story yesterday, she was sure you and her dad's feelings were mutual, but she can't just tell her father that. So for now, Charlie opted to simply placate her father's worries without dropping any hints of your feelings for him, also helping him pick out some clothes to wear.

And if Charlie somehow gets Lucifer in an outfit with your colors, she's claiming it wasn't on purpose.

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As you walk down the stairs to the lobby you see everyone else was already there, with the exception of Alastor of course, the Ace in the hole that he is. Surprisingly Angel wore something rather classy considering they were going to Lust, even Husk was wearing something more outing appropriate than his usual overalls. Nifty was well, Nifty as usual, and Vaggie and Charlie seemed to be sporting some more comfortable and casual looking clothing.

Then your eyes find themselves drawn into Lucifer, he seemed to be wearing something similar to what he usually wears under his coat except instead of his usual white and reddish pink or red, he wore white with gold and yellow accents, highlighted with a pale bluish color a bit more vibrant than your skin color.

Your colors.

You didn't know how to truly react to the sight, your steps halting and your breath catching in your throat as you stared speechless at Lucifer who was cheerfully greeting Cherry who had just walked in from the front door wearing something quite provocative while still maintaining a punk-like look.

From all your staring you didn't even realize that Lucifer finished his brief conversation with Cherri as you soon found yourself locking eyes with each other, Lucifer's grin widened as he spots you shaking you out of your gawking as you quickly averted your eyes from him and continued down the stairs to the lobby.

Angel snickers at the scene as Husk hands over a wad of cash, already accepting having lost the bet even if it hasn't been officially won by Angel. Charlie grabs onto Vaggie as she holds in a squeal, Vaggie rolling her eyes fondly at her girlfriend.

"Like what you see?" A familiar voice echoes into your head causing you to nearly stumble on the last step of the stairs, you glare at Lucifer on instinct at his shenanigans as if he didn't just spend the whole week avoiding you.

Forget going with the flow, Lucifer clearly isn't avoiding you now. doesn't mean you two aren't gonna talk about why he was doing so this week in the first place.

Clearing your throat you turn to Lucifer with the most neutral and composed expression you could muster. "So I'm guessing we're all set to go then?"

If Lucifer was gonna ignore you for the whole week, he couldn't blame you for being at least a bit petty for ignoring his telepathic message.

Lucifer didn't seem bothered from your lack of response, opting instead to turn to everyone else with a large grin, "Yep! So without further ado… Welcome…"

The area around you and the rest of the crew swirled in gold before slowly dispersing to reveal a whole new different place.

"To the Lust Ring!" Lucifer finished, his showman-like habits shining true as he stretched out his arms as if presenting something huge, one hand empty and the other holding his usual cane.

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Just as soon as you arrived, the crew seemed to have their own respective plans for how they were gonna spend their time in Lust. With Angel and Cherri draggin Husk along with them for their plans, and Charlie and Vaggie sharing a shy yet telling look as they bid their see you laters to you and Lucifer leaving the two of you alone in the company of each other.

"So… are you done avoiding me? Or am I gonna go my own way?" You glanced at Lucifer with a raised brow. Lucifer simply smiles sheepishly, an apologetic expression on his face as he avoids your inquisitive gaze.

"Sorry Starlight, I just needed to think."

You frown at that, think about what? Has Lucifer realized your feelings for him before you can even tell him?

"I suppose you mean you're done thinking?" You couldn't stop the disappointment and fear from lacing your voice, you simply hoped Lucifer couldn't hear it.

Lucifer restlessly fidgets with his hands, your tone of voice flying over him as he does his best to keep up his bravado. "Yep! Well, anyway, whadda ya wanna do?"

You couldn't help but frown briefly at Lucifer blatantly changing the subject, you doubted you could enjoy this trip if the two of you talk this out, normally you would simply try to go with it and push it down to later. But you should really follow the advice you give your own patients sometimes so you decided to take matters into your own hands.

"It's my first time here so how about we walk around for now?" You asked, taking Lucifer's hand in yours as you pulled him along with you around the city.

As you walked around, you kept your eyes peeled for what you were looking for. Lucifer seemed to notice you had something in mind you were looking for and has asked you what it is as he may be able to have an idea of where to find it.

You ignore him.

"Okay, now you're DEFINITELY being petty! Come on, I'm sorry about avoiding you this week, I really just had to sort things out I-"

You manage to find something closer to what you were looking for and pull Lucifer into the Love Motel. The action staggers Lucifer and cuts him off from continuing his words as his mind comes to a grinding halt.

"Why are we- What are-"

You still continue to ignore him.

Swiftly slamming down some cash on the front counter, a quick "Room for two please," and one swift key grab later. You tug Lucifer along with you into the elevator and soon into the designated room before letting go of his wrist and walking deeper into the room to sit on the bed.

"Sit." You gesture to the comfy looking single chair you conveniently spotted a little bit to the left of Lucifer.

Lucifer's smile slips off his face making way to a more confused and puzzled expression. "Wha…?"

Fixing your posture, and crossing your legs, you let out a sigh, "You once said you'd consider having a session with me. How about now?" You tilt your head to the side slightly, your hands laid on top of each other as it rested on your knee, very slightly trembling.

"What do you…" Lucifer's gaze drops down to your slightly trembling hands, he lets out a sigh as he uses his magic to move the chair so it'd be just a bit of distance in front of you before he sat down. "I worried you, didn't I?" Lucifer smiles sadly.

Your purse, your lips as you thought of what to say, Lucifer continues.

"I guess it was kind of stupid of me to forget about how much it affected me when you were avoiding me, I didn't think it'd be the same way the other way around." Lucifer chuckles softly, he trails off to a somber silence.

You finally find your voice, "It was because of the kiss wasn't it? It was an accident but my reaction was so visible that you probably caught it."

Lucifer's brows furrow unsure where you were going with it, "Caught what?"

You grit your teeth and take a deep breath, you subconsciously rub at your wrist, the one which held his name. "My feelings, you probably didn't wanna hurt me by just flat out rejecting me, so you just avoided me while thinking of ways to slowly let me do-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!" Lucifer suddenly interjects, his eyes wide and an expression of surprise on his face as he registers the words just said. He felt his heart speed up as feelings overwhelmed him.

Well so much for confessing.

"That's not at all why I was avoiding you! I promise!" Lucifer firmly states, lest you fall into a well of overthinking.

Looking back at Lucifer, it was obvious to him you doubted his words. "Still…even if that's not the case, I then technically dug my own hole. Even so, I…I do like you. But I know you only see me as a friend…I don't actually expect you to return my feelings, but even so I hope we can still remain fr-"

You didn't even realize Lucifer lunged forwards before you knocked down unto the bed, Lucifer on top of you staring you down with a soft yet happy expression, one of his hand positioned next to your head that he used to keep himself propped up, the other one over your mouth to stop you from talking.

Realizing the position, you couldn't help the way your heart began to speed up.

"You should shoosh my dear~" Lucifer drawls in delight, "I need a moment to process."

You could hear just as you could feel the thumping in your chest as you watched Lucifer's expression with flushed cheeks, noticing he too had a slight blush on his face – hidden by his two reddish pink cheek circles.

Are you allowed to hope after all? Hope for more than friendship?

Slowly, Lucifer removes his hand from your mouth in favor of placing it near your head. "Do you mean it?" He asks in almost a whisper, something fairly uncharacteristic of him.

Unable to repeat the words again, you simply nod your head.

Lucifer grins so brightly you are once again reminded where Charlie gets her radiant joy. The short king lets out a loud laugh still on top of you before looking at you with the most affectionate gaze as he grasps one of your hands and moves it over his own chest where you could feel the rapid pace at which Lucifer's heart raced.

The realization makes you look from his chest back to his face with a surprised expression.

Lucifer didn't give you time to stew on what that meant however as soon enough, he was descending down on you closing the distance, his lips meeting yours as your eyes instinctively closed shut in order to focus and relish on the feeling you were once given a taste of.

Suffice to say, you understood why Eve was tempted, cause quite frankly? Now that you've got a thorough taste, you doubt you can go without it anymore.

You didn't know how things went from you preparing yourself for a rejection, after having only recently realized the effect you have on Lucifer, to getting another taste of the kiss you previously shared with the blonde king, to the now full blown make out session you were having with said King of Hell.

In hindsight, you were mostly worried that you'd have to awkwardly stumble upon an attempt at seducing Lucifer should he reject you, possibly from still having some strong attachment to the past being his wife. You suppose Lucifer knew himself quite well, and the time to think made a bit more sense now.

"Don't think of anything else." Lucifer growled into your ear, breaking the kiss briefly to do so before diving back in to devour your lips, the tone sent shivers down your spine.

You pull back from the kiss after a few seconds, panting a bit as you catch your breath, "Not even about you?" You slyly reply with a challenging grin.

A rumble emanates from Lucifer's throat and travels down and reverberates in his chest, you feel the vibrations through your own chest as you hold each other close.

"That's fine."

Lucifer uses his magic to move the both of you from the foot of the bed to the head of the bed, making sure your head was situated comfily on the large pillow. "You ruined my plan you know," Lucifer points out with a peck to your forehead, a pout on his lips that you find adorable.

"Oh? Was it something super romantic or super devious?" You grin teasingly.

"It was the MOST romantic plan ever," Lucifer proclaims proudly, shifting over to lay right beside you, snaking his arms around your waist as he buries his head into your neck. You wrap an arm around him, your other hand being used as a pillow behind your head despite already having one.

"I'm sure it was, sorry to have derailed it."

"Hmmm…It's fine, I'll just modify it and save it for a date or something," Lucifer responds.

A soft chuckle escaped your lips as you shifted your body to face Lucifer's, enabling you to properly return his cuddling.

"We're supposed to meet up at Ozzie's later right? So you could introduce him to us and so Angel could get some tips and maybe some pointers on being an overlord?"

Lucifer hums in affirmation, "Mhm, I'm sure a short nap would be fine though…I’m kinda tired from the very brief emotional rollercoaster of a confession that just happened. I think all the adrenaline in me has left."

You laugh heartily at that agreeing with the blonde demon as you bent slightly forward to stick your face into Lucifer's hair. "Yeah, I'll just set an alarm."

"You get on with that," came the reply.

ㅤ

ㅤ

Hand in hand, you and Lucifer smoothly entered the club, the imps gawking at the sight of the King of Hell strolling in with a sinner– you were in disguise now –into the club. Certainly a sight not seen commonly around hell.

For now anyway.

AS soon as the two of you saw the main area, you were able to quickly spot the rest of the crew standing somewhere in the center of the wide club, clearly waiting for you and Lucifer.

"Bout time the two o’ yous showed up!" Angel complains with exaggerated irritation. Husk simply huffs at your late entrance.

"Well since we're all here, Uncle Ozzie just told us to head on into the VIP room he assigned us!" Charlie exclaims excitedly, waving a key around –no doubt for the aforementioned room.

You didn't pay any mind to Angel's attitude and opted to give Charlie a smile and a nod.

You still felt a bit floaty from the previous events that happened with Lucifer to actually use words right now.

As the whole group made their way to the assigned room, I caught a glimpse of a jester looking demon being bombarded by other demons. From the looks of it, it seemed as though he was being a bit overwhelmed by the demons. Slowly, you halted your steps, lagging behind.

Lucifer notices.

"My Star?" he asked, his use of ‘my’ made you blush a little before you replied.

"Go on without me, I just wanna check something out, yeah? I'm sure Asmodeus is waiting to see you or something." You urge him, Lucifer looks at you a bit apprehensive but nods eventually and jogs over to catch up with the group.

You turn back to walk closer to where you caught a glimpse of the scene, as you did so, you could hear groups of demons trying to convince the jester-like one to either sleep with them or to do something pretty weird that reminded you of the weirdo super fans that celebrities sometimes had back when you were alive.

With haste you approached the group getting a closer look at the jester-like demon they were bothering who seemed like they were trying to remain polite and amicable all the while repeatedly turning down offers.

"Come on Fizzarolli~ I'm sure I can show you some of my own… ‘tricks’," one of the demons asked.

"Ahaha..thank you but uhh NO thank you," the jester-like demon now dubbed Fizzarolli kindly refused.

Just as you notice another demon about to get a bit closer and frankly ‘personal’ considering the fact that they were all probably strangers to this demon, you decide to step in.

You don't really like using it but… it's the best way for things to settle peacefully.

You took a couple steps closer, "Hey," you spoke loud enough for the group to hear you, sure enough they all turn their heads to you with variations of annoyed faces, even Fizzarolli looks over, although his expression seemed to be one of worry that another clingy demon has joined the fray.

Making sure that only the small second sets of eyes just under your main eyes open, you spoke with a firm but quiet tone, not too quiet for the group to miss your voice, but quiet enough that it wouldn't attract other people's attention.

"Leave him alone and get out of the club."

As soon as you finished speaking, the group of demons seemed to go slack, their expressions melting into blank wide eyes as they all silently trudged away from Fizzarolli and out the club doors.

Phew glad that worke-

"That was really cool!" a voice interrupts your thoughts.

"Huh? Oh it's no biggie, are you alright? I noticed they were being overbearing," You turned your head to face him, unlike a few moments ago, he seemed to have already brightened up now that the group of demons were gone.

Fizzarolli laughs awkwardly, "Yeah well, I suppose that's what being famous gets yah."

"Oh, you are? Maybe I should be getting your autograph then," You chuckle softly.

"That's right! Huh, if you don't know who I am, you must have been living under a rock!" Fizzaroli exclaims, regarding you curiously.

"Ah, I was a mortal, so it's more like I've been living ON a rock, earth is just a massive rock after all."

Fizzarolli makes a noise of surprise as he circles around you with his flexible limbs before retreating back just as quick, "Oh a sinner! You must be pretty new if ya haven't heard of me yet, then again I'm more famous in the greed and last ring so that makes sense too!"

"Are ya here with someone? If ya got in, that probably means you've got a reservation of some sort, and since you're a sinner you're probably with Ozzie's guests today." Fizzarolli deduced rather quickly.

"That's right, a friend of mine recently became an overlord and with his temperament, his closest to lust so we thought maybe Asmodeus can help him figure out how to adjust and come to his power."

Fizzarolli perks up at the information zipping over to your side as he nudges you forward with him, "Well then! We shouldn't let everyone wait, yeah? Let's go!"

"Wuh-!"

You didn't even have time to process the fact that Fizzarolli was being very casual about entering a room in the VIP section, especially one that was for the guest of the Sin of Lust before you were pretty much dragged alongside him to the referred room.

ㅤ

ㅤ

As soon as you entered the room, the first thing that caught your eye was the new demon next to Lucifer.

He was tall, very much so, and he seemed to have…hair(?) that resembled blue flames and had three long feathers for a tail.

A…rooster?

You didn't even have more time to ponder on the new face before Fizzarolli goes barrelling towards the large figure.

"OZZIEEEE!"

You and the rest of the people watched as Asmodeus scooped Fizz up mid jump and swirled him around in a swooping hug before nuzzling the jester like demon on the nose. You couldn't help but whisper a silent awww under your breath at the sight.

From the corner of your eye, you could see that Charlie had a similar reaction to you, she was all starry eyed and bouncing giddily at the very adorable pair in front of her. She knows of course, about her uncle's imp soulmate boyfriend. In fact, it was recently blown up on the news. Seeing them both in person truly being a great and happy couple was different though.

"Where were you Froggie?" Asmodeus asked his small lover with a short nuzzle.

You walk over and situate yourself next to Lucifer who grins brightly as if he had pieced things together.

"Couldn't help doing an angelic act I see~" You hear through your bond.

Rolling your eyes you give Lucifer a playful nudge with your elbow, "A doctor's role is to always help people,"

Lucifer responds with a cheeky grin as he secretly intertwines his fingers with yours.

Well he sure isn't holding back with the physical affection now…

Lucifer sends you a gentle smile before turning to look at Ozzie and Fizz, "So you guys finally went public huh? You even quit on that idea-stealing bastard Mammon!"

"Yeah well, it's about time I go independent!" Fizz replies with a cheer.

Ozzie takes one look at Lucifer, notices quite a few things immediately– especially his lack of wedding ring –and moves his focus to the new and unfamiliar faces of the Hazbin crew.

"Well now, it's quite the pleasure to meet you all, dear Charlie here has told me one of you here is a newly minted overlord whose being and abilities are closer to Lust? Well now, that's just my specialty!" Ozzie tells the group.

"Nice ta meet cha King o’ Lust! Name's Angel, I'm the one that needs your help!" Angel cheerfully greets as he surveys Ozzie up and down with an impressed and lustful grin.

Ozzie chuckles at the blatant display of lustfulness, "Well I certainly do see it!" Ozzie chuckles heartily before he turns his attention at you.

"Ah and you must be our Seraphim guest, I've heard a little bit about you from our very own Ruler of Hell here, and I must thank you for getting my Fizzie out of a bind earlier," Ozzie gives you a gentle and grateful smile as he looks lovingly at Fizz then back at you with a slight nod of his head.

"Ah, it's no problem Asmodeus, sir, he looked like he was uncomfortable with all the people so I only did what was right," You replied with a nod and a polite smile.

"None of that, we're in hell darling, ‘doing what's right’ is a luxury down here, and please, call me Ozzie, a friend of Charlie and Lucifer's is a friend of mine!" Ozzie responded cheerfully.

After a couple more pleasantries and some catching up between Ozzie, Fizz, Charlie, and Lucifer, Ozzie encourages everyone to help themselves to the services of the club while he and Angel move to another room to discuss how he can help.

You feel an arm snake around your waist making you look at the culprit already having a hunch on who it could be.

"How about a couple of drinks to celebrate us?" Lucifer whispered into your ear in a sultry tone. You shake your head in amusement before nodding your head and giving Lucifer a gentle smile.

When you woke, the first thing you noticed was the pain that encompassed your whole body.

Everything ached. Everything hurt. Especially your head and your side—it felt like your body had been put through a blender and then molded back together.

For a brief, terrifying moment, you wondered if you were back in that sealed room.
Maybe Lucifer and the others rescuing you had been a dream. A cruel illusion Vox had conjured up just to twist the knife deeper. He’d done it before, after all. Made you think you were home, celebrating the clocktower’s destruction, surrounded by laughter, light…Lucifer.

But that had been a lie.

You never even made it back to the hotel before Lute bashed you over the head and sent everything into darkness.

You forced your eyes open. The lights in the room were mercifully dim—thank Lucifer, because you were pretty sure bright lights right now would’ve felt like taking a flash grenade to the face.

Something was weighing you down.

For one awful heartbeat, you thought you’d been restrained again—but this weight was… warm. Comforting. There was a strange desperation in how it held you, firm but not confining.

Your right arm, the one that had escaped the worst of the damage, was pinned by something warm and soft. Your leg too. Something coiled gently around it, reminiscent of a vine.

You blinked, letting your vision adjust, and the shapes around you blended into familiarity.

Lucifer’s room.

So… the warmth, the weight—

You turned your head to the side, slowly, your neck protesting from the movement.

Lucifer.

He was curled against you, holding your arm in both hands as though letting go would make you vanish. His wings were draped over you like a blanket, the soft crimson and white feathers weighing you down like a weighted blanket. Warm. His tail was wrapped around your leg, a silent, subconscious safeguard, as if his body refused to trust that you were really there.

You almost laughed. The sound bubbled up, but pain caught it halfway, leaving only a breathy smile on your lips.

It was ridiculous. Endearing. It made your heart well with a different kind of ache.

The King of Hell, holding onto you like a scared kid.

If you weren’t so sore, you’d have kissed his forehead just to see the look on his face when he woke.

It seemed your slight movement was enough to wake him.

Lucifer’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first. He blinked blearily at you, confusion flickering across his face… until recognition hit.

In an instant, he shot upright, wings flaring slightly. The sudden motion jostled the mattress—and you.

You winced. "Ow—fuck—"

"Shit! Sorry! I didn’t mean—dammit, I—are you okay? Does it hurt? Where does it hurt?"

Lucifer immediately started fussing, hands moving over you like he was checking for contraband. He was muttering under his breath, a cascade of concern that only made your headache spike harder.

You groaned and lifted a weak hand, a flicker of golden light pushing him gently back down onto the bed beside you.

"Shhh. I’m fine, Luce," you rasped, half a smile tugging at your lips. "It’s fine. Just… lay down, yeah?"

He looked like he wanted to protest, lips parting—but the warning look you gave him made him stop. He sank back beside you with the guilty posture of a scolded puppy.

You sighed softly. "It’s fine, really. Just… don’t move so much. My head feels like it’s gonna explode if you keep shaking the bed."

Lucifer opened his mouth again, guilt written all over his face, but you beat him to it.

"And sorry if I glared at you," you murmured. "I’m kind of… cranky when I’m… in this much pain."

That earned a chuckle from him—low, relieved, a sound that rumbled against your side. "I should be the one apologizing, dear. Do you need anything? Can I get you something?"

You managed a tired grin. "No. Just you."

Lucifer froze, color blooming across his cheeks. "Ughhhh, don’t– don’t say stuff like that," he groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "You’ll rile me up, and we can’t exactly… do anything while you’re still recovering."

You snorted softly, the sound breaking into a quiet laugh before pain made you stop.

After a beat of silence, you asked, "What happened after… you know?"

Lucifer hummed, expression softening. "You passed out. We took you back here as fast as we could. I healed what I could, but… well, you were in bad shape. Sera sent word later that they caught Lute trying to steal more relics. Old ones that were banned for how dangerous they were to angels."

He paused, frowning faintly. "Sera also insisted you stay in Heaven until you’re fully healed. Said you’d be safer there. Emily managed to convince her to let you stay instead."

You let that settle in, staring at the ceiling. Maybe it really was over now.

With how successful the hotel had become, Heaven had more winners, more angel therapists volunteering to help out Hell. The rate for redeeming sinners had never been higher. Technically… you didn’t have much reason to stay anymore.

But when had technicalities ever mattered to you?

"I’m gonna tell Sera you’re my soulmate," you said suddenly, voice quiet but firm.

Lucifer’s head snapped toward you, eyes wide. "Are you—are you sure? That’s… that’s not exactly a good look for a Seraphim, being tied to—" He hesitated, gaze dropping.

You frowned, cutting him off. "Tied to what, exactly?"

His lips pressed into a thin line.

You reached over, resting a hand against his chest, right where his heart thrummed beneath the skin. "You mean tied to an amazing guy? One who treats me like I’m the most precious thing in the world? Who cares so much that he nearly burned down an entire building just because it belonged to the people who hurt me?"

Lucifer blinked, a flush creeping back into his cheeks. His wings twitched faintly behind him.

"You make it sound so dramatic," he murmured, but the small, grateful smile that followed said everything his pride wouldn’t.

"You are dramatic."

Lucifer lets out an affronted snort, "Hey now, I’m not that dramatic."

The inquisitive look you give him makes him pout even more.

You chuckled breathe.

‎

‎

It took several weeks before you could move without feeling like your body was held together with duct tape.

Several long weeks of being treated like glass.

Everywhere you went, someone hovered—Lucifer, Charlie, Vaggie, Husk, Angel, even Alastor of all people, though he was snarky the entire time. They’d shadow your every step, ready to swoop in if you so much as coughed.

By week three, your patience had officially run out.

"I’m a doctor," you’d snapped one morning, standing at the base of the hotel stairs while the group argued about whether you should be walking at all. "I think I know my own damn body well enough to say when it’s fine."

That earned you a chorus of snarky remarks.

"Didn’t stop you from nearly getting offed, doc," Angel had called out.

"Pretty bold words from someone who can’t stand upright for more than ten minutes," Husk muttered around his cigarette.

Alastor, of course, had simply smiled that eerily polite smile and added, "Confidence is commendable! But perhaps a little humility might prevent another unfortunate hospitalization?"

You’d promptly flipped them all off before vanishing in a flare of golden light.

Heaven, you decided, couldn’t possibly be worse.

You were wrong.

Emily and Pentious had you under constant surveillance. One fussing over your diet, the other designing ridiculous contraptions "to optimize recovery efficiency." And when word got out that you were visiting, half the redeemed sinners sent gifts: fruits, flowers, even prayer beads that jingled every time you moved.

It was well-meaning, sure. But if one more person asked if you needed to "sit down for a bit," you were going to smite someone.

So you did what any self-respecting person on the verge of losing his mind would do—you snuck out.

A quick flicker of light later, and you found yourself in Heaven’s high lounge, a quiet place usually reserved for the Seraphim. Thankfully, it was nearly empty—save for one familiar presence.

Sera sat near one of the tall windows, the light of the celestial skyline reflecting off her white-gold hair. She didn’t look surprised to see you, only mildly amused.

"Running away from your caretakers again?" she asked without looking up from her teacup.

You sighed, slumping onto the couch across from her. "If I hear the phrase ‘take it easy’ one more time, I might actually lose it."

Her lips curved into a faint smirk. "Patience, Ocyris. You’re fortunate to have people who care enough to hover."

"Yeah, yeah," you muttered, waving a hand dismissively. Silence stretched for a moment—until you blurted out, completely unprompted:

"Lucifer is my soulmate."

Sera blinked, her teacup hovering just shy of her lips. For a long moment, the only sound in the lounge was the faint hum of the Heavenly light outside.

Then, with deliberate calm, she set the cup down. "...I see."

You winced. "That’s it? No lecture? No ‘how could you bind yourself to the Devil’ speech?"

She tilted her head, studying you with those piercing eyes of hers. "Would it change your mind if I gave one?"

You hesitated, then shook your head. "No. Not even a little."

Sera sighed softly—though there was the barest ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. "Then I suppose it would be a waste of breath, wouldn’t it? Besides, we cannot choose who we are linked to."

You blinked, surprised. "Wait—you’re not mad?"

"Oh, I’m furious," she replied dryly, taking another sip of tea. "But I’m also not blind. You’re still alive, because of him. That says something."

You blinked, caught off guard by the softness in her tone. "So… that means… I can stay in Hell?"

Sera sighed, setting her cup down with a quiet clink. "Yes, Ocyris. I was under the impression that you were already planning on staying there anyway.. If the bond was forged by fate itself, then it isn’t my place to break it. Besides—" her gaze softened, the faintest hint of amusement flickering through her eyes, "—Lucifer may be insufferable, but he loves you. And I trust your judgment. Me and Emily were talking about your place as well. Heaven already has both of us, Hell has you."

The knot of tension in your chest finally loosened, and you couldn’t help the shaky laugh that escaped you. "So… that’s a yes to the wedding invite?"

That earned you a very real smile. "Yes, Ocyris. It’s a yes."

You grinned, lightheaded with relief. "I’ll tell Lucifer he’s got Heaven’s approval. That should inflate his ego for a century."

Sera chuckled quietly, shaking her head. "Just make sure he doesn’t burn anything down celebrating."

"Can’t make promises," you teased, turning to take a seat on one of the couches in the lounge. Heart lighter than it had been in months.

‎

‎

Another month slipped by in the blink of an eye.

By now, you were as good as new. Finally free from all the incessant fussing and overprotective hands. The bruises had faded, your wings no longer twitched from phantom pain, and for the first time in weeks, you could walk through the hotel without someone shouting after you to sit down and rest.

More therapists from Heaven had arrived, volunteering to work at the hotel. Their bright robes and gentle auras clashed hilariously with the infernal architecture, but they adapted faster than anyone expected. You’d been placed in charge of directing and scheduling them, and honestly… It was perfect.

Paperwork might not have been glorious, but compared to taking every sinner in the hotel as your personal patient? It was paradise.

Lucifer had been pleasantly surprised when you told him Sera gave you the green light to stay in Hell indefinitely, officially using the hotel as your main residence. The news had left him glowing brighter than ever before, and by the end of the day, the two of you had decided to merge your rooms together into one large, condo-like suite.

It was about time, honestly.

There was a lot of restructuring to do, but with you, Lucifer, and Alastor lending your particular talents to the project, it was finished in no time. A few waves of your hands, a snap of Lucifer’s fingers, and Alastor’s mischievous grin humming through the walls as he used his own brand of voodoo magic and the place was perfect. A balance of light and darkness, heaven and hell, warm gold blending with deep crimson.

When you finally entered your newly shared suite, exhaustion hung over you like a heavy cloak. You tossed your coat onto a chair and made a direct beeline for the bathroom.

The air inside was faintly perfumed with roses and sandalwood, Lucifer’s doing, no doubt. You peeled off your clothes piece by piece, folding them neatly before grabbing a towel and setting it near the edge of the tub. The water shimmered faintly, steam curling up into lazy halos.

You stepped in, and the heat hit you instantly. Muscles that had been tense all day uncoiled. A long, contented sigh escaped your lips as you sank deeper, letting the water cradle you.

For a moment, there was nothing but peace—the low hum of the pipes, the faint crackle of Lucifer’s favorite record spinning in the next room, and the gentle thump of your heart finally slowing down.

The door creaked open behind you. You didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

"Mind if I join?" Lucifer’s voice drawled, smooth and teasing. You could practically hear the smirk.

You cracked one eye open, pretending to think about it. "Depends. You planning to actually relax, or are you planning on jumping me mid bath?"

He chuckled, a rich, velvety sound that filled the steamy air. "Only some light canoodling, I promise."

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help smiling. "Then get in here, you menace."

Lucifer didn’t need to be told twice.

It seemed like Lucifer wasn’t able to keep his promise though, as not even a few minutes into the bath, your eyes closed as you allowed yourself to savor the warmth of the water, you felt Lucifer’s curious hands sliding along your skin.

"What happened to keeping your hands to yourself?"

Lucifer grins slyly, "Well it’s hardly my fault when you’re over here looking like a wet dream, darling."

You snort softly, opening your eyes to give Lucifer an amused look.

"At least let me finish enjoying the bath."

Lucifer raised both hands in surrender, "Fine fine. As you wish, but let me at least help you wash your hair."

You laughed. Bright and free. Nodding your head, you shifted positions that way Lucifer had easier access to your head.

‎

‎

Steam still clung to your skin as you stepped out of the bathroom, a faint trail of warmth following you into the dimly lit bedroom. The only light came from the city outside, Hell’s skyline burning gold and crimson through the tall windows. Lucifer followed close behind, towel draped over his shoulders, hair tousled from the bath.

Neither of you spoke for a moment. The quiet felt sacred. Filled with the steady rhythm of breath, the whisper of wings shifting. You could still feel the lingering heat of the water, the faint pulse of his touch, his hands against your scalp as he helped with your hair.

Lucifer reached out first, fingers brushing a damp lock of hair from your forehead. His touch lingered, tracing the line of your jaw as if to remind himself you were really there.

"You should rest," he murmured.

You smiled faintly. "I thought you were raring to go?"

"Well," he chuckled, "You look really tired. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of your exhaustion."

You leaned into his touch, catching his hand before it fell away. The world felt smaller now. The two of you framed by soft glow of lights and the scent of smoke and roses.

"Maybe I want you to tire me out?" you grinned cheekily.

Lucifer’s hand stilled, the offer sounded so tempting, it’s been quite awhile since the last. He looked almost hesitant, the great Morningstar undone by something as simple as affection, an offer. When you tugged gently at his hand, he followed, letting you lead him to the bed.

The sheets were cool against your skin. You lay close, close enough that every exhale brushed across his collarbone, close enough that your heartbeat seemed to sync with his.

For a long while, there was no need for words. Just touch, his thumb drawing slow circles against your side, your fingers ghosting over the smooth curve of his wing. The warmth between you deepened, unhurried, soft.

Lucifer pressed a kiss to your temple, then another just below your ear. "You have no idea what you do to me," he whispered, half a confession, half a prayer.

You tilted your head up, meeting his gaze. "Oh? What do I do?"

He laughed quietly, a sound that was almost a sigh. Then he leaned down, and the rest of the world disappeared into the steady rhythm of breath, touch, and the soft glow that pooled around you both.

As he sinks into you, making you one with each other, kisses punctuating each movement. Each burst of sensation.

You thank fate for leading you to Lucifer.

For being marked up.

With his name.