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On days when he finished his chores early, Alastor had taken the habit of visiting the top floor balcony to wind down with a cigarette. Smoking used to be something he only did when he needed relief or comfort, but he found it worked well as a reward too.
Every time, he would lean against the railing and look at his city in silent awe. This view was breathtaking, no matter how many times he saw it.
He might not have chosen to come at the hotel, but he was glad he decided to stay when he could have left. His plans with Lucifer were going well. He could tell the king would be eating out of his hands in no time. At that point, not even the sky would be the limit.
For now, with both forearms pressing down on the banister, Alastor let the calming habit sooth him down to his soul.
He was only on his third puff when he heard the door slide behind him. With a tired sigh, he looked over his shoulder to see the interloper.
What wasn’t his surprise when Lucifer, the King of Hell himself, opened the door only as large as his slim body needed and slid outside in the most suspicious fashion. He let out an exaggerated sigh before noticing he wasn’t alone.
The guilty look on his face was the only proof Alastor needed: he was hiding out here because he was slacking off.
In other circumstances, Alastor might have intimated him to go back to work. If there was one thing he despised, it was lazy people who made his job harder. However, looking down at his barely touched cigarette, Alastor decided he wasn’t in the mood to give a lecture.
He took another big inhale and let the smoke sit in his lungs. He heard Lucifer’s chuckle of relief at his lack of reaction, before he decided to walk up to him, on his right. He leaned his hip against the railing, his entire body facing him. Alastor could see from the corner of his eyes that Lucifer’s smile was fond.
“Are you hiding from Charlie too?” He asked him, his voice light.
Alastor shot him a heavy look. Unfortunately, it only made him laugh.
“Unlike some people, I don’t shirk on my duties,” Alastor commented. “My chores are all finished and properly done.”
“I’m only taking a break,” Lucifer swore. “I promise to go back to work as soon as I leave here.”
Alastor eyed him, but decided not to argue the point further. He was, after all, trying to be in his good graces.
He could also tell the king meant his words. For all he loved to avoid his responsibilities as long as possible, he always did what was asked of him. Eventually.
Turning his eyes back to the stunning view, Alastor took another inhale. He saw Lucifer look at the city too, but it was short lived.
“Can I steal a puff?” The king asked in a soft voice.
Alastor was tempted to tell him to appear his own cigarette, but he figured he could also have a second one if Lucifer burned through too much of it. Without a word, he moved his right hand towards the king.
Lucifer caught the smoke with his thumb and index fingers, grazing his knuckles. Their skin barely touched, but the spot where they did burned for far too long afterwards.
The king was already inhaling expertly, the cigarette now nestled between the index and middle fingers of his right hand, when Alastor thought to ask, “You don’t look like the smoking type.”
The smoke came out of his mouth in a laugh. Alastor almost apologized for ruining his first drag, but Lucifer wasn’t choking and he didn’t look annoyed. If anything, his eyes shone bright with mirth.
“It’s good to know I can still surprise you,” Lucifer teased him. He put his arm on the railing, the cigarette dangling over the opened space, and faced him again, his smile crooked. “I lived thousands of years, Bambi. Of course I tried smoking before. It’s been a while, but I can still do it.”
For emphasis, he took another long, slow drag and held it in. Watching his pursed lips, Alastor tapped his nails on the banister to no obvious rhythm. He came to this balcony wishing for peace and here he was, restless.
Lucifer exhaled the smoke in small rings towards the city. He didn’t use his power to shape them, only his mouth. Alastor stared at his wide opened lips forming an enormous ‘o’. His expression was ridiculous, and yet, he had to keep from reaching out and touching his extended lips with his fingertips or, worst, push them in his mouth.
“See?” Lucifer insisted, once he was done.
Alastor gulped painfully. Indeed, he saw.
Lucifer smiled wide when he looked away without speaking, but didn’t comment further. He also didn’t give Alastor his cigarette back. Turning towards the city below, he took in a few inhales and exhaled them in much more intricate forms, using that supple tongue of his to shape the smoke in ways the deer would have never thought possible. His heart beating in his ears, Alastor looked at the fading shapes until they dissipated. It was better than to stare at where they came from.
The cigarette was halfway done when Lucifer stopped and looked at him again. He giggled, a sound of pure joy that made something in Alastor’s chest tighten irrevocably.
“Impressed?” Lucifer asked, as usual misinterpreting all his cues.
Alastor made the mistake of angling his body towards him. The king took it as an invitation to come closer, invading his personal space without properly touching him. Alastor subtly gritted his teeth and his fingers twitched. He craved that cigarette more than ever.
“Cat got your tongue?” Lucifer teased him in a gentle tone, his head tilted to the side.
Alastor cleared his throat, opened his mouth, but only a little squeak came out. Mortified, he pressed his lips together and reached for the cigarette. Lucifer pulled it away playfully and, before his very eyes, took another inhale.
Holding on the banister hard enough to hurt, Alastor glared. Lucifer looked up at him, his expression flirtatious.
It wasn’t the first time they were on the edge of this cliff. Alastor figured it was only a matter of time before they fell down. It would be fitting for it to happen on a balcony of all places.
Even if Alastor expected Lucifer to do something with this admittedly romantic mood, it still surprised him when his left hand landed on his shoulder. His palm traveled to his neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. He cupped his face and used his thumb to press down on his chin gently but insistently.
Alastor’s jaw slackened. He watched Lucifer’s eyes stick to his lips. He was leaning up in a way that was unmistakable.
He had every opportunity to put a stop to this. Instead, he stayed frozen on the spot, every nerve endings burning. The heat in his cheeks was so searing he imagined Lucifer could feel it.
Lucifer angled his head to the side and his lips came in touching distance. There was a hair of air between them, and yet, it might as well have been the entirety of this realm to Alastor.
The king exhaled in an all too alluring sound. The nicotine tickled Alastor’s tongue. It took him a second to understand the assignment and he almost swallowed it down instead of breathing it. At the last possible moment, he inhaled deeply through his mouth.
Immediately, the soothing chemical worked its way through his body. Alastor blinked his eyes. His fingertips were tingling.
Lucifer pulled back slowly, reluctantly. His hand caressed its way off of his face with insistence. Alastor couldn’t look away from his lips. They were stretched in the softest of smiles.
They stayed in that endless moment together like it was the eye of the storm. Lucifer’s eyes traveled his face hungrily, but Alastor was fixated on his mouth.
Their first kiss wasn’t a kiss, and it only left him wanting more.
Without warning, Lucifer gasped loudly, breaking the silence and the mood. His face went through a whole journey until it landed on guilt. His cheeks burned a bright yellow. Alastor would have been happy not to be the only one blushing if he wasn’t worried about what this unexpected change of emotion meant.
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Lucifer apologized. His hands came up as if he wanted to reach for him again, but he kept them against his own chest. The cigarette dangled dangerously between his fingers. “I didn’t think. I used to do that a lot with Lilith and I just… old habit, I guess.”
Something dark and ugly squeezed Alastor’s heart at the mention of that name. Lilith stole enough from him already. She had no right to be a part of this moment too.
With a low growl deep in his throat, Alastor took the cigarette right out of Lucifer’s hand. Despite his apology, Lucifer didn’t take a step back. With how fast they were both breathing, their chests kept meeting and separating at a fast pace.
Alastor took in a deep inhale from the cigarette grasped between his thumb and index, then threw it away carelessly on the surface below. He saw Lucifer’s eyes widened, but only in his periphery. His stare didn’t move away from his mouth.
In much the same way, Alastor cupped Lucifer’s face. He didn’t have to push on his chin. His jaw was already loose, his mouth opened and wanting.
Alastor wasn’t shy this time. He let the indignation and the unrelenting tension between them guide him to Lucifer’s mouth. Unlike him, he pressed his lips against his in a proper kiss.
In the heat of passion, he almost forgot to exhale. Pushing all his air inside Lucifer’s mouth, he was gratified to feel him inhale deeply. He didn’t let him expel the smoke and instead pushed his tongue between his lips in an already too deep kiss.
Lucifer moaned. His hands moved down to grab Alastor’s waist. The deer kept holding his face, the soft texture of his warm cheek delicious against his palm, but he moved his other hand to his lower back. As their chests pressed close together, the smoke moved from one’s lungs to the other’s until it was all gone.
Alastor moaned too. How could he not, when Lucifer’s long, slim and expert tongue weaved itself around his? Beneath the nicotine, he could make out Lucifer’s own taste, bittersweet like apples, honey, maple syrup, and far more addicting than anything he ever smoked.
Their kisses wound down slowly. They put barely any distance between them to breath oxygen instead of each other’s air. Alastor felt an electrical current travel his entire body every time their bruised lips touched by accident.
“Wow,” Lucifer let out in pure awe.
Their eyes met. Lucifer’s vertical pupils were dilated far bigger than Alastor had ever seen or thought possible. There was barely any red left, and yet, he couldn’t say he minded.
Lucifer swallowed painfully. Alastor did as well.
“That was,” the king started, but didn’t finish.
“I,” Alastor let out in a horribly hoarse voice. His radio filter was nowhere to be found.
Words failed them completely. They stared at each other until, suddenly, Lucifer chuckled. It broke the tension, allowing them to disentangle their bodies, not without a sense of loss. Alastor leaned against the cold railing. He resented the shiver that traversed his cooling body.
“I’m, um, not sorry anymore,” Lucifer revealed, his voice rough but earnest. He cleared his throat again, smoothed down his clothes, anything to make himself look and feel more respectable, Alastor imagined. He tried to look away, but his eyes kept coming back to Alastor’s mouth.
“Neither am I,” Alastor said with a composure he didn’t feel. The radio filter was back on, as well as his smile, but the butterflies in his stomach weren’t finished batting their wings.
“That’s… that’s great,” Lucifer agreed with a small smile.
“Um, Al, do you wanna–” Lucifer started, but he was cut short by a voice calling out to him.
“Dad?” Charlie could be heard from inside. “Dad, where are you?”
“Duty calls,” Lucifer joked. Gently, with his left hand, he reached to touch Alastor’s forearm. “We’ll talk about this later, okay, Al?”
He nodded. As much as he wanted Lucifer to stay, he was relieved to have some time to collect himself before having that conversation.
“She doesn’t sound too happy.”
Lucifer’s chuckle was a little worried, but not overly so. His hand moved down until it reached Alastor’s. His fingers squeezed it once before letting go.
“I should go before my own daughter murders me,” Lucifer joked again.
Despite his words, he stayed right where he was, reluctant to leave their little bubble of happiness.
“Al, I…” Lucifer started again, but trailed off. His cheeks were still an attractive yellow.
“Go,” Alastor told him, making a shooing gesture.
The king giggled, then took a step back. “I’m going, I’m going,” he repeated in a placating manner.
Alastor leaned his back against the railing and watched Lucifer walk to the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and asked, without looking back, “Al, are we…?”
He waited for him to finish his question, but it seemed no more words were coming. Staring at his blond hair perfectly slicked back in that ridiculous hairdo and the horrible hat sitting on top of it, Alastor knew what his answer was without having to hear it.
“Yes.”
Lucifer glanced back with a wide smile. The relief was evident on his face, as well as an emotion Alastor read multiple times before on his face, but never put into words. The time to admit it out loud would come soon enough. For now, he was happy to let it sit unsaid between them.
“See you later, honey!” He called out, finally leaving to find his daughter.
Alastor chuckled. He would bet anything Lucifer didn’t notice the pet name leaving his lips, and that felt far more precious to him.
He turned around to face the city and appeared himself a brand new cigarette. He smoked and distantly listened to Charlie berating her father for slacking off. Alastor couldn’t summon the guilt for his part in it, but, to be fair, he didn’t give it his best shot.
Instead, he let the cigarette sooth him, the taste now inexorably linked with Lucifer. His smile was far easier than it had been when he stepped out here, and his thoughts were all turned towards the future, where he knew who would be standing at his side.