fandomtownies | PARTY!, The Beach, Saturday Night

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PARTY!, The Beach, Saturday Night

The beach looked like someone had thrown an entire Pinterest board at it.

Strings of lights were strung between elegant poles, lighting up a fair portion of the beach (with the help of a few carefully-disguised generators, mind you). Large, stylized pots contained such multitudes of jasmine and lavender that at first glance they appeared to be bushes, instead - Seivarden's one contribution to the party.

Delicate paper screens carved the beach up into zones. Beach-classy lounge furniture sat on the sand, from chairs to sofas to even a bed or two. One corner held a stack of sheets, for anyone who didn't think bathing suits were appropriate eveningwear ('Togas encouraged!', the final Instagram post had said). Lucifer had supplied a ridiculous cooking setup for Duke in one corner, and a large bar ('open bar!' said the sign by it) stocked with almost every kind of alcohol known to man sat on the opposite side.

Even the water seemed to roll in like it figured it was part of an Instagram music video of some kind.

Seivarden had demanded a good party. And Lucifer had standards.

That it was extremely hot, that everyone had lost most of their wardrobe? That wasn't going to stand in the way of a bloody good party. There were ice cubes! Lucifer had brought a special freezer for extra ice cubes!

... and since it was Lucifer, no, he hadn't noticed the Truth Day thing yet.

[[ party! ]]

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Duke laughed. "You could wind Danny up by breathing at him funny. And he's hopelessly in love the giant beefcake new guy, but I'm pretty sure only just admitted that to himself because I kept poking at him. Beefcake is jealous that Danny and I are friends and keeps trying to mark his territory by smirking and flexing his muscles. It's kind of cute, actually. He's even deeper in the closet than Danny was."

"You mean Shirtless Old Navy Airhead over there?" Lucifer said, nodding towards Steve. He tilted his head. "I could probably flip that. You know they used to call me the Skillet?"

Yeah, no, this was just Lucifer, any regular day of the week.

"I would normally say 'go for it', but Danny would pout at best and at some point I became invested in his happiness."

Lucifer shot him a look as he crossed his arms. "Seriously?" he said. "You know this is going to be painful to watch."

"Yeah." Duke nodded, looking back towards the party. "I'm considering locking them in the freezer at Luke's until they get their shit together and make out already."

Lucifer sighed. "Well, don't come crawling to me if he knocks on your door at two in the morning yelling--" and he affected a thick Jersey accent, "'Duke, we were watching the game, and I tried to go for the arm around the fuckin' shoulder move and he opened a window and leaped outside to rescue a baby bird, what the fuck do I do!'"

He had only spoken to Danny for less than ten minutes. Somehow at least some of those ten minutes had involved enough ranting about Steve for him to form something of a picture.

Duke let out a full, proper belly laugh at that. “Nah,” he said. “He wouldn’t ask what to do, he’d just tell me it’s all my fault.”

"Sounds lovely," Lucifer said.

“What can I say? I have a compulsive need to surround myself with people I think need me. And that is definitely not what I meant to say.”

"Saaavioooor compleeex," Lucifer sing-songed.

Duke squeezed his eyes shut. “I really hate that you’re right. And that it’s the only way I feel valuable in the world.”

"Yes, well, try to stop before someone nails you to a cross for it," Lucifer advised. "It's not as much fun as it looks."

Duke snorted. “Please. I’m way too into self-preservation for that.”

At least until he’d lost a bunch more people and been manipulated into becoming an otherworldly evil’s homicidal puppet, anyway.

"Yes, and remember to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you help anyone else," Lucifer said. (He was pleased with himself. Half the time he preemptively decided someone was doing a thing, it ended in some kind of lesson about projection. But not this time!) "You planning to talk to Octavia again tonight?"

"I'd like to. I feel like shit about it, but I want to ask her a question when I know she can't lie to me."

"See, that's the advantage of being me," Lucifer said, "I can do that any day if I want to." Beat. "Which question?"

Duke shot him a mild glare for asking, then grit his teeth.

"Why she's with me. I asked her when I got back if she only came back to me so I could --" He made a gesture like he was choking someone. "Like I said, I feel like shit about it. But I'm still afraid of her answer."

Sorry, Duke. But Lucifer's powers being what they were, he got a bit funny about the ethics of asking people things under the influence.

"For what it's worth, I don't think you should be," Lucifer said.

“That . . . actually helps. Thanks.”

"You're welcome," Lucifer said, mouth curving. "Don't get me wrong, her mind is still a trap full of angry, confused ants, but we've talked enough and I think she's over that particular mountain of insanity."

Duke shuddered faintly. “I hope so. I’ve had too many people decide to use me already.”

"Yes, I know, you've practically been screaming it from the rooftops through this entire ordeal," Lucifer said, "Which might not be your best move, frankly."

“Fuck off, dude,“ Duke said, sounding more tired than angry. “You bring up your dad every damn chance you get.”

Which should really have been a sign to people that that wasn't Lucifer's actual problem anymore. But then if anything, today proved people hadn't fully believed him when he claimed to tell the truth.

"Well, my dad is everyone's problem," he said. "You allegedly being catnip for abusive manipulators is just yours."

Edited 2020-07-13 05:18 (UTC)

"How do you know that your dad even exists outside your own universe?"

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