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Charlie's phone won't turn on.
This is the situation at nine in the morning, and Charlie is at the kitchen table looking at her phone and Lucifer looks at the phone too, which is still not on.
"Have you charged it?”
"Overnight.”
"Have you tried-"
"I've tried everything.”
Lucifer looks at the phone.
He looks at his own phone.
He researches.
The research, after seven minutes, tells him that there's been a power failure affecting devices in the pride ring, and affected devices need to go to a repair service, and the repair service for this kind of issue is-
- - - -
"VoxTek," Alastor says incredulously.
"It's the only repair service for this specific issue.”
"VoxTek," Alastor repeats, this time with significantly more venom..
"I can't harm sinners directly," Lucifer says, "but I can do a lot of other things. If anyone tries anything, I'll remind them of the various ways I can seriously fuck up their day without technically-"
Alastor sighs, long and genuine.
"Fine.”
"I'll be fine.”
"I'm coming with you.”
"You don't have to-"
"I'm coming with you,” Alastor says in a tone that brooks no argument.
- - - -
VoxTek is what Lucifer’d seen in the advertisements,
tall
screens everywhere, which is a design choice that communicates something about the person who made it
and Blue™.
Lucifer looks at the building and he has the following thoughts,
drop off the phone, explain the issue, leave
easy!!
He also, in retrospect, probably should have thought about the fact that Vox is aware of who he's dating and has had several decades to develop feelings about Alastor that have curdled into an obsession, and that showing up to Vox's building while dating Alastor is, frankly, fucking stupid.
Oops.
In retrospect.
They go in.
- - - -
The lobby is fine.
The staff member is fine.
He takes the phone, he explains the process, he says it will be ready in an hour, and he gives Lucifer a ticket.
Fine.
Lucifer looks at Alastor.
Alastor looks at the lobby.
"See, bellhop?”
"We haven't left yet.”
"It's been fine."
"We haven't left yet.”
They go to the elevator.
- - - -
The elevator arrives.
Lucifer gets in.
He presses the lobby button.
The elevator goes down.
And then it stops.
He hears the specific sound of a key turning in the control panel behind him.
His blood runs cold.
He turns around.
Vox is in the elevator.
- - - -
He'd slipped in at some point.
Between the pressing of the button and now.
He's standing at the control panel, key in hand, and he looks at Lucifer.
Lucifer's brain runs the calculation, and the calculation says he’s fucked.
"If you try anything," he says, and he’s trying to make his voice steady, "I can still-"
"Not unless you're dead first," Vox says.
He reaches into his suit’s sleeve.
He pulls out a knife.
Angelic steel.
Shit shit shit.
Lucifer looks at it.
He looks at Vox.
"Why though.”
Vox looks at him.
He scoffs.
"Why." He says it like the question is funny. "Are you seriously asking me why."
He takes a step.
"You stole Alastor from me," he says. "That's why."
The elevator’s very small.
Vox’s between him and the control panel.
Lucifer’s in the corner.
He considers letting Vox just go ahead, when-
He thinks about Alastor.
He thinks about Charlie.
And that’s when he yells.
- - - -
"ALASTOR!!!!"
- - - -
Vox snorts.
"You really think he'll—"
Alastor teleports into the elevator.
"—come."
The elevator, which was already small, is significantly more crowded.
Alastor looks at Vox.
Vox looks at Alastor.
The quality of the gazes are different on both sides.
Several things happen on Vox's screen at once.
"Well," Vox says.
He looks at the knife.
He looks at Alastor.
"This has been fun."
He teleports out of the elevator.
The elevator is empty except for Lucifer and Alastor..
The key is still in the control panel.
Lucifer is still in the corner.
He looks at Alastor.
Alastor is quiet.
He's looking at where Vox was.
He's quiet for a moment.
Then he erupts.
"HOW FUCKING DARE HE-"
Lucifer's eyes go wide.
He’s heard Alastor angry before, at the library.
He hasn’t heard this.
This isn’t the controlled kind, the kind with edges.
This has no edges.
"Hey," Lucifer says. "It's good. I'm alive-"
"The AUDACITY-"
"Alastor-"
"When I get my hands on that PATHETIC piece of-"
Alastor stops.
He starts again.
He puts his hands-
He looks at his hands.
They're shaking.
Lucifer looks at them.
He looks at Alastor's face.
Alastor looks at Lucifer.
At the corner he's still standing in.
At the corner Vox had backed him into.
"What if I was too late?”
Alastor’s voice has gone quiet.
All the volume is gone.
"You weren't too late.”
"I could have been."
"But you weren't-"
"I could've-" Alastor's hands are still shaking. "You could've- I could've-"
He stops.
He can't finish the sentence.
He can't finish it because his breath has gone irregular, the shallowness of someone who’s…
…panicking.
Lucifer knows this sound.
He's made this sound.
- - - -
Lucifer’s across the elevator before he decides to move.
He takes Alastor's hand.
Alastor flinches.
Lucifer doesn't let go.
"It's Lucifer.”
Alastor’s looking at the wall.
"It's Lucifer," he repeats. "You're good. You're okay."
He puts his other hand on Alastor's shoulder.
"Look at me."
Alastor looks at him.
"Okay," Lucifer says. "I'm going to need you to breathe with me. You got that? Just breathe. In for four."
He breathes in.
"One. Two. Three. Four."
Alastor breathes in shakily.
"Out for four. One. Two. Three. Four."
He breathes out.
"Good. Again. In. One. Two. Three. Four."
He keeps his hand on Alastor's shoulder.
He keeps his hand around Alastor's.
He counts.
He doesn't know how long.
He hopes it helped.
God, he hopes it did.
- - - -
Alastor’s breathing evens.
Lucifer keeps counting until the breathing’s been even for a full minute.
"...what was that?"
"You were having a panic attack," Lucifer says.
…
"Oh.”
The word has several things in it that Lucifer doesn't push at.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Alastor asks.
"Positive.”
Alastor looks at him.
"Okay.”
"Yeah.”
Alastor reaches out and turns the key.
The elevator starts moving.
The lobby button lights up.
They go down.
- - - -
Lucifer gives the staff member the ticket.
The staff member says the phone will be ready in an hour.
Lucifer nods.
They go outside.
Lucifer looks at the building.
"Hey.”
Alastor looks at him.
"Next time I'm taking the stairs."
A pause.
"There were no stairs.”
"I'll make stairs.”
"You cannot make-"
"I'm the king of hell," Lucifer says. "I'll make stairs."
A pause.
Alastor’s mouth twitches slightly.
"You cannot make stairs in someone else's building.”
"Watch me."
"You will not."
"I'll make a note. For next time. Stairs. I'll have someone build them."
"There will not be a next time.”
"Because of the stairs?”
"Because you are not going back to VoxTek."
"Charlie needs her phone fixed-"
"I will fix the phone.”
"You can fix phones??"
"I can figure it out."
"That's not the same as-"
"I would rather die than let you go back into that building."
Lucifer looks at VoxTek.
He looks at Alastor.
"Okay.”
Alastor looks at him.
"Okay," Lucifer repeats. "You fix the phone."
They walk back to the hotel.