Chapter Text
Alastor could not keep Lucifer off his mind. The sweet smile that he had flashed him played on repeat and drove the brunette off the walls. There was something so special about him and yet Alastor could not put his finger on it. Perhaps through a run, Alastor would be able to see what was so great about his friend since his move.
Running was something that always seemed to set Alastor straight. Not only was he part of cross country in his high school year, but he regularly ran all year around. Especially during hunting season. Hunting was another thing that could set Alaster straight. It was the one of two things that his father had taught him, and he was grateful. They needed food a few times in the past.
That’s the kind of life Alastor had. Growing up so poor that he was left to his own device to bring dinner home. His father had a special place in hell for screwing over Alastor and his mother on several occasions. Most of the money his mom would bring home from her job as a seamstress would go to his father's drinking or whatever incessant gambling he deluged in. Sometimes he would take the money and leave the house for weeks, even months. That was until he stopped showing up, leaving all the money for his mother. It was better that way.
After finishing whatever classes he had for the day, Alastor returned to his apartment and went for a run around the city. Nothing to crazy, just something to clear his mind and possibly sort of his feelings towards Lucifer. The weather was quite nice, with a gentle breeze flowing through the air. It was just Alastor, his thoughts and his headphones. Perfection.
As Alastor grew lost within his thought and music, he had noticed that there was another runner not too far behind him. The runner must’ve started not to long after Alastor, considering he wasn’t anywhere near him when he left his apartment. Nonetheless, there were plenty of people out and about roaming the streets of the city incase if this were to go south.
As always, something had to go awry on his run. The runner that he thought was harmless had actually gotten closer and closer, lessening the gap between the two. Alastor was a naturally paranoid person, so his mind was already a step ahead. He gradually increased his pace, letting the gap grow once more. It was no use, the runner that was behind him was adjacent to Alastor as they ran shoulder to shoulder.
The brunette stopped mid run, pausing his music and looking to the other runner who had also stopped with him. The other man was fair skinned, with black hair and dyed streaks of red running through out it. He had dark blue eyes and had a similar physic similar to Alastor. “Can I help you? You’ve been following me for quite some time now,” Alastor said, attempting to catch his breath.
“I’ve been trying to catch your attention for a while now!” The man said, smiling sheepishly, “I’m in your communications class and I saw you running back near the cafe. I just wanted to introduce myself and see if you wanted to exchange numbers. I’m Vox, by the way!” Alastor squinted at the man, both in annoyance and pure confusion.
“So you decide to follow me mid run, scare the sh*t out of me and worst of all you stop me during said run?” Alastor said in a slightly agitated tone. He took a deep breath and pushed his slightly damp hair back. “I’m sorry, I’m just extremely confused as to why you thought that was a good idea when you could’ve just approached me the next time, we had class.” Vox crinkled his nose his distaste, offended that the brunette had not accepted his greeting.
“Well, I apologize but I did not think of that,” Vox scoffed, “You can get back to your run, but I just want your number. Is that so hard to ask for?” Alastor scowled at the man's sudden aggression, feeling his anger rising within. “Why the f*ck would I give you my number after the stunt you just pulled? I don’t understand why you think I would do something like that!” A small crowd of people began to watch the scene unfold before them, watching the two men raise their voice at each other.
The yelling continued, and it even evolved into Vox getting a little too aggressive. “God, for you being in a communications class, you are the absolute worst at communicating,” Alastor remarked, attempting to turn from the dark-haired man. Suddenly, the brunette's world shifted as solid punch to the jaw knocked him down. His glass shattered as he fell on his face, hitting his head on the ground. The small gasps of the bystanders watching the argument unfold, gasped in shock.
Before Vox could further his assault a bystander rushed in from out of nowhere, giving him a taste of his own medicine. It was Lucifer. He was watching from the front window of the gym that they were in front of and had seen everything. Vox whipped his head to look down at the blonde and quickly scampered off in the other direction, holding his face with his hands. “Yeah, get the f*ck outta here!” Lucifer yelled, getting to his knees and rolling Alastor on his side.
Alastor was out cold; his face was cut from his busted glass and his nose was broken and bleeding. “f*ck,” Lucifer mumbled. A woman from a nearby boutique had seen everything from her window and ran over with her phone in her hands. “I’ve called an ambulance, they’re on their way!” she said, kneeling next to the blonde. She checked Alastor's pulse on his wrist and held him in on his side.
Lucifer grew worried upon seeing his friend in this state. He reached into his bag and pulled out a tissue to slow the bleeding from his nose. Alastor winced upon feeling the pressure to his wounds and his eyes fluttered open slightly. In that brief moment, he saw Lucifer staring at him, worried sick. “Luci?” Alastor mumbled before falling back into his state of unconsciousness. The last thing he heard was Lucifer calling out to hm before it all went black.
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Lucifer sat in the hospital, patiently waiting for Alastor to wake from his surgery. The fall right on his nose completely shattered it, requiring immediate attention. On top of that, the doctors believed he had a mild to severe concussion. Considering that he fell face first, along with a solid punch to the jaw, he was bound to have some type of head injury.
The brunette stirred in his rest, opening his eyes slightly. He groaned, feeling the immediate effect of the anesthetic and pain meds. “Mama?” he called out quietly in his groggy state. The blonde set his phone down and pulled the chair closer to Alastor. “Hey! It’s Lucifer. Your mom isn’t here right now,” Lucifer spoke softly. The tears welled up in Alastor's eyes instantly thanks to the work of the anesthesia.
“It hurts. It hurt really bad,” he began to cry, “Why does it hurt so bad?” Lucifer began to panic as the nurse walked in to check up on her patient. She was maybe in her mid-twenties, with a dark tanned skin tone and black curly hair. She smiled as she entered the room, which was keep darker for the concussed man.
The light for the hall instantly intensified Alastor's pain tenfold. He began to cry harder, unable to tolerate the pain. The nurse shut the door immediately and rushed over. “What’s going on sweetheart? Why are we crying? What hurts?” she asked. Alastor shook his head slightly, falling over at his slanted position in the bed. The barista caught him and held him up.
“Everything,” He muttered with slurred speech. He struggled to keep his eyes open, and Lucifer began to panic even more. “What’s going on? why is he like this?” he questioned.
The nurse readied an IV of pain meds to help relieve the pain Alastor was going through. “It’s the anesthesia. He went through a pretty invasive surgery because they had to reconstruct his whole nose. Typically, rhinoplasties take anywhere from an hour and half to three hours. He was in that operating room for a good four and half hours. It was worse than the scans had showed,” The nurse explained. Lucifer ran his fingers through his hair, worried sick for his friend.
He had only know Alastor for two days. They barely knew anything about each other and yet, Lucifer was here at the hospital with him. “He’s going to be okay right?” Lucifer question. The anxiety in his stomach would not calm down no matter how hard her had tried. the Nurse nodded, assuring that Alastor would be okay. “Of course he will, but he also took a pretty hard fall to the head. He’s got a grade two, almost grade three concussion and a fractured jaw,” she explained, “His recovery might take a little longer because of that.”
The anxiety settled down slightly, knowing that his friend would eventually make a recovery. Then the mind began to float to the medical bills. Unfortunately, universal health was not a thing and Lucifer was unsure if Alastor was insured. “Oh god, what about the medical bills? I can’t help him, and he can’t pay on his own. I don’t know if he’s-” The nurse gave a reassuring look. “Sweetheart, take a moment and compose yourself, okay? Medical bills are covered by the college if you're a student. We ran his name, and he popped up. He's all covered,” she spoke in soft whispers, “I’m Millie, by the way I meant to introduce myself earlier, but I got swept up with taking care of your boyfriend here.”
The blonde immediately went red and shook his head. “Oh! Uh… nonononononono we aren’t boyfriends!” he sheepishly laughed, scratching the back of his head, “He’s, my friend! I just happened to be finishing up at the gym when I saw him get into a fight with someone. When I saw that he was swung at, I intervened and now I’m here.” Millie instantly felt bad, turning red herself and opened her mouth to apologize but was bluntly cut off when police officers entered the room.
Just like before, the light immediately stung Alastor's half opened eyes and amped up his pain once more. The anesthetic along with he pain of surgery sight swelled more tears in the man's eyes. “It’s hurts! Please make it stop, it hurts!” Alastor cried, slurred his words as he tried to cover his face. “Shut that goddamn door!” Mille said through grit teeth. One the officers was a little short in stature while the other one was taller with a bit more muscle tone.
“Hello everyone. I’m here to question Alastor Hartfelt about the assault on Vox Techino,” The taller officer stated. Millie and Lucifer gave the two officers a death stare as Alastor continue to cry in his med riddled state.
(I literally had to google a list of last names with the word “tech” in them bc yk Voxtex in the show. I’m something of a creative genius. Jk I’m not I just have the ego of a god, please continue reading.)
“Hey bud, news flash, crying isn’t going to get you out of the consequences of hitting a random person alright?” The officer spoke, turning around to flick on the brighter light. As soon as that light went on, Alastor’s crying increased even more. He began to wail in pain, begging for the light to be turned off. “SHUT THAT f*ckING LIGHT OFF NOW!” Millie yelled, taking off her shoe and hurling it at the officer. The officer was able to dodge but gave a fearful look to the woman. The shorter one put his hands up defensively.
“It hurts!” Alastor continued to cry, speaking low and words slurred. Lucifer immediately began to coddle the brunette, trying his hardest to calm him down. Millie upped the dosage of pain meds to try and calm him down. “Hey sweetheart! Those pain killers are gonna kick in sooner, okay?” Mille spoke softly before drifting her gaze to the officers. Lucifer grew fearful upon seeing the stare she gave the officers.
“You cannot be f*cking serious right now,” Millie she said in a low tone. She walked over to the officers, continuing to speak low in her anger. Both officers began to back up into the door they came in from. “Lemme ask y’all something. If a person is the hospital, with bandages and is crying for no apparent reason, what do you think might be happening with said patient?”
The taller officer was sweating nervously as his colleague and his partner was trying not to laugh at him. “He… um… might be in pain?” Millie gave a sarcastic shocked expression, put his palms to her face. “Oh my god! You’re a genius!! So, if someone is in pain and they are crying that means they can’t answer your questions! If you have any questions, blondie over here can answer as much as he can, rather than you are bugging my recovering patient!”
Lucifer looked at the officers, who were absolutely terrified of the nurse. “Listen, we can take this outside,” the blonde gestured to the door but not before Millie stopped the three men. “Hold it right there,” she said, grabbed a cloth. She turned her focus to a half-awake Alastor, who was higher than a kite on pain meds. “Okay Al, I need you to keep your eyes shut. I’ll place the cloth over your eyes, so the light doesn’t hurt too bad, alright?” Alastor responded with a small head nod, doing as the nurse instructed. The officers and Lucifer quickly made their way out the room.
Questions were asked, and most were answered but they would have to be in touch with Alastor once he was recovered to see if he wanted charges to be pressed. Lucifer unfortunately would have to pay a fine in order to get out of trouble. So that's what he did. It wasn't much longer before Lucifer was back in the room with Al. He took his seat next to the groggy brunette and noticed that he was staring at him.
“What’s wrong Al, why are you staring? Are you in pain?” Lucifer asked. A slow head shake came from Alastor. He limply moved his hand to Lucifer, gesturing for him to take it. Hesitantly, the barista gently took his hand and watch as a small smile crept onto Alastor's face. “You won’t leave me like papa did, right?” he asked in his disoriented state. The blonde felt his heartstrings tug. He knew what it was like to lose a piece of family, especially a family member you love, but there was no love reciprocated.
“I won’t. I promise,” Lucifer spoke gently, “Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’ll be here when you wake up, okay?” Alastor shook his head again but succumbed to the anesthesia and fell asleep. In the time that, the barista was able to make arrangements for the weekend, calling Lilith to check up on his daughter.
Lilith: “Hey loser, what’s up?”
Lucifer: “Gah whatever. I’ve been doing alright. Busy with a few things but alright none the less.”
Lilith: “Whatcha been busy with? You look tired.”
Lucifer: “Tired is an understatement. School and work have been beating my ass. Today was just a sh*t show. One of my friends landed in the hospital.”
Lilith: “Oh sh*t, who? Was it someone from the cafe?”
Lucifer: “No, he’s new in town. We met at the cafe and we sorta… clicked.”
Lilith: “Oooooo sounds like someone has a crush!”
Lucifer: “Well.. um.. It’s uhh..”
Lilith: “Oh no, I was joking! Unless if you actually like him? What’s his name?”
Lucifer: “Let’s talk about this another time! How are you and how's my daughter?”
Lilith: “I’m good, she’s asleep but Shes great! I know what you’re doing mister, and you are not gonna be able to get outta this with me. Do you actually like him?”
Lucifer: “You suck. His name is Alastor. It’s too early to tell if I have actual feeling to him, but he’s really sweet, Lily. You’d love him if you guys ever met!”
Lilith: “Sounds like a charmer! How long have you known him for?”
Lucifer: “Barely three days.”
Lilith: “Yikes. You definitely gotta get to know him a little more. You sound you're at the hospital with him, right?”
Lucifer: “Yeah, I’m the only person around here who can take care of him. He’s from New Orleans.”
Lilith: “So go on and take care of him! I’ve got Charlie until Tuesday. If his injuries are that bad, then stay with him for as long as he needs. What’s wrong with him anyways?
Lucifer: “He took a pretty hard punch to the face and fell flat on his face. The fall busted his nose completely and topped it off with a pretty bad concussion. He had a pretty bad surgery and his loopy as sh*t on pain meds.”
Lilith: “Good lord. I hope he recovers well. My advice to you is to use this time to get close with him. Find out what he likes and doesn’t like and if you really like him, I say ask him out! Maybe take him for coffee?”
Lucifer: “You’re okay with that?”
Lilith: “If I wasn’t okay with it, why would I be encouraging you? Just promise me two things; focus on your degree and don’t forget about your responsibilities as a dad, okay?”
Lucifer: “Of course! I promise you, lily, I won’t get sidetracked. I’m sure Alastor will understand.”
Lilith: “Good! Listen I gotta run, okay? I’ve got a few things I need to do for work before I get to bed. Keep me updated and have fun with your boyfriend!!”
Lucifer: “You are such an ass. I’ll talk to you later. Bye Lilith!”
The blonde hung up and took a deep breath in, standing in his own apartment as he finished gathering a few things for his stay with Alastor. Was Lilith right? Did he actually have feelings for his newest friend?
He just needed time. Time would sort out his feelings and show what he really wanted.
Time would and will show a result.
