The Devil's Nest, Tuesday Night

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer had promised-- well, made up-- a new wave night for Duke when he'd been a touch, well. Down on himself. And so now preparations needed to be made to host that properly.

If anyone needed him, he'd be in a corner of the bar, loudly calling around. About what? Who knew.

[[ open ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

Well, whatever Lucifer lacked in brooding today, Atton had it in spades. He ordered a beer he had no intention of drinking at the bar, and then sort of... lingered there.

He'd been back to New York over the weekend, yes.

That was all he was even going to narrative about it.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc spotted the guy he'd met in Lana's class that time. He gave a nod and a "Hey."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey," Atton said, and lifted his chin. Did he want to talk to anyone right now? He had no idea. "I see you made it out alive."

[hasaknightjob]

Took Marc a sec to realize he meant the casino. "Yeah. I always do eventually. How's it going with you?"

Hey, when Marc remembered someone and registered them as not annoying, he could do things that resembled manners.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm in a bar brooding over a bottle of bargain-basement beer," Atton said drily. "There's a limited set of options here."

[hasaknightjob]

"Could be doing it over the bargain basement whiskey," Marc pointed out, ever helpful.

[suitably_heroic]

"I feel like I'm both too young and too old for whiskey," Atton said, looking at him. "Neither the whole 'kid trying to look like an adult' or the 'old guy staring out at the ocean thinking about his wasted life' aesthetic really work for me right now."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc gave him an assessing look. "How old are you?"

Not that Marc would've been great at guessing the answer no matter who he was talking to.

[suitably_heroic]

And Atton, for his part, had arrived at this school as a 21-year-old who could pass as a 16 year old, and had now graduated on to being able to play late twenties while being close to 40.

Every year he wondered a little more if this was just natural luck or just another sign of the Force messing with him. "Not relevant," he said. "The point is, my weekend was not my favorite thing in the world, and I was hoping staring moodily at this beer would fix it, but it's not fixed."

[hasaknightjob]

"Have you tried drinking it?" Marc suggested, again ever helpful. Albeit not in a way that encouraged healthy coping mechanisms.

[suitably_heroic]

"You're a real problem solver," Atton said. "Thanks."

He brought the bottle up and took a sip.

"...Okay, that's less terrible than I thought it would be."

[hasaknightjob]

"Here to help," Marc said, giving him a salute with his own drink before taking a swallow. "Is it the kind of problem you can hit?"

Marc wasn't trying to pry about details, he respected privacy. But if it was a hitting problem he was good at those.

[suitably_heroic]

"I wish," Atton muttered. "If it was a problem I could hit, I would've hit it already. But no, I had to go make new friends, blah blah."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc had a free evening and a Steven nagging him to do something with it, so sure. Marc could get a drink. Not like he'd turn down a whiskey.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer glanced up briefly from the corner, nodded at him, and went back to yelling at someone about something over the phone.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc nodded, indicating he was fine ordering from Tiny if Lucifer had other shit to deal with.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer rolled his eyes and shrugged.

Then he held up a finger. No, no, he could be over there and order Tiny around in one second.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc nodded. He was in no rush. Had the whole night to himself, really. So to speak.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer eventually made his way to the bar, briskly adjusting his suit jacket. "What can I get Tiny get you?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Your most easily accessible whiskey," Marc said, since he wasn't picky. "How's it going?"

[my_own_advocate]

"As always," Lucifer said, motioning at Tiny to just grab something from the whiskey wall. "Fifty percent trauma and fifty percent family outings to get over the trauma."

[hasaknightjob]

"Yours or someone else's?" Marc asked. Hey, guy was in a throuple. There was no shortage of potential family trauma to be found there.

[my_own_advocate]

"A mix?" Lucifer said, after a moment or two of thinking about it.

[hasaknightjob]

"How's Duke doing?" Marc asked. Not that anybody should read anything into that Marc asked. He didn't do concern for people in the same way he didn't do friends. Obviously.

[my_own_advocate]

Someone else would've noticed that it was odd that he asked. Lucifer... might remember if it ever became relevant in the future?

"Not terribly well, though he's putting on a brave face," Lucifer said. "I'd say more but apparently you're not supposed to tell everyone everything your partners are going through."

That had been a revelation, for sure.