fandomtownies | The Devil's Nest, Tuesday Night

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The Devil's Nest, Tuesday Night

Having a bit of a one-on-one with Amenadiel about the bloody Hell thing had at least settled Lucifer a bit. Enough so that he'd actually placed a few calls and taken a poke at the calendar to come up with the correct time and venue for a proper party.

It was a Tuesday night, his third shift since returning to the island, and he settled behind the piano in his black vest with his white shirt, his jacket slung over the piano bench.

Time for a good classic, he felt.

He leaned in to the microphone. "What'll you do when you get lonely? And nobody's waiting by your side? You've been running and hiding much too long, you know it's just your foolish pride... Layla..."

The Devil was in, and it was a perfectly ordinary Tuesday.

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As one does, in a bar.

It was a Clapton night, apparently.

At the piano between songs, or at the bar on his breaks.

“Should I be reading anything into this song choice?” Duke asked, walking up and setting a refill from Tiny on the piano. “Sounds . . . moody.”

It was a fair question, considering Lucifer's song choices were relevant to his mood at least 33 percent of the time, but in this case...

"What, a man can't be in the mood for classic rock without it meaning something?" he said, amused, plucking his cigarette off of the rim of his glass. "But I'm sure I can rustle up a good Aqua cover if that's more to your tastes." Beat. "Spice Girls?"

Duke snorted. "I'm not that young." He was firmly Gen X, not a millennial. "You want to play some TLC or something, now . . . I won't stop you."

"It's coming up on my break," Lucifer mused, grinning. "But then I'm happy to 'No Scrubs' you, you bedraggled thirty-something GenX-er. Suppose I should be lucky it's not Pearl Jam."

Yeah, he was definitely in a somewhat better mood.

Duke pressed his hand to his chest in mock offense. "Bedraggled? I'll have you know this look is very cultivated."

He was feeling a bit better about things, himself, after his talk with Dr. Linda. (Lucifer liked him. His therapist said so!)

"So I guess you and your brother sorted some things out yesterday?"

"I think you cultivating that look might actually make it worse," said Lucifer, who took a drag of his cigarette and pointedly did not think about the look to any extent that might be troublesome.

"We had a good talk," he said.

... and a scrap in a back alley, but, well, brothers.

"And it's hardly his fault my Father loves to play favorites."

Yeah, Duke had had the occasional conversation like that with Nathan over the years. He and his brothers mostly tended to ignore each other.

"True. And he did come right back and tell you, rather than let you stew in Hell anyway."

"As far as my siblings go, there are much worse than Amenadiel," Lucifer allowed, swiping his drink off the piano as he got up. "Even if he remains utterly obsessed with Father's favor."

... so was Lucifer, he was just angrier about it, but shh.

"Your dad seems pretty invested in everyone being into him," Duke said. "It's pretty creepy, honestly."

"Well, we don't actually know, because He almost never talks to anyone," Lucifer said, walking towards a seat in the corner. Not all days were 'talk at the bar' days. "So everyone's just flailing about doing whatever they think He wants them to."

"Why? What do you get out of it if you get it right?"

Lucifer spread his arms in the international signal for 'fuck knows'. "The warm and fuzzy feeling of superiority that comes with knowing you've satisfied the will of a demanding and uninterested parent better than everyone else?" he offered. "I've no idea, I haven't exactly been the apple of His eye." ~~He just really wanted his dad to love him, okay?~~

He sank into a seat with his cigarette and his drink.

Edited 2020-10-27 16:02 (UTC)

"The more I learn about how you and your siblings work, the happier I am to be a Buddhist," Duke said, shrugging. "But, uh. Glad to hear you won't have to go rushing back to put down another uprising in Hell."

"Yes, I suppose I'm now officially retired," Lucifer mused, taking a sip of his drink. "In Maryland."

For however long it took the Detective to come to her senses.

Or something like that.

"Come on. Even you have to admit the east coast is a step up from literal Hell."

"The company's better and so is the liquor," Lucifer said, mouth curving into a grin. "Fair enough. I'll try not to disparage the Old Line State. This once."

"Thank you," Duke said, dipping his chin in a nod. "I don't actually give a shit about Maryland. I am a little partial Fandom these days, though."

"Getting all gooey about this mad little island?" Lucifer said, smirking. "Coming from the man with the boat..."

"It's been a whole lot nicer to me than Haven ever was," Duke said, shrugging. "Guess I'm hitting that age where a guy wants to start settling down."

Which was very weird, yes.