Chapter Text
Lucifer had disappeared. All of his things were still in the palace; his clothes hung neatly in the closet, folded immaculately in the dressers. Papers, books, trinkets. Even left behind his collection of bird figurines. All the picture frames still hung on the wall, collecting dust.
All that was missing…was him.
Not that anyone would ever notice. His wife, Lilith, had left him months prior. His daughter, Charlie, barely ever spoke to him unless he called first – and he’d run out of reasons to call already. She was busy anyway, working on something he’d never been a part of. Lucifer had dismissed all the servants. The Sins were busy with their own lives, as well. They had no time to entertain the depressed, hollow king of Hell. No, no one would notice he was gone.
The halls would be empty. The expensive furnishings would gather dust. An entire lifetime would be forgotten as the walls rot and the wallpaper peels into scraps…
As for where Lucifer had gone to, or if he would ever come back?
Perhaps Hell would never see their king again…
“Lou! I need another set of hands up here!”
Pale white hooves surrounded by fluffy white-gold fur took steel grate stairs two at a time. The sound of each slamming step echoed across the crowded studio, making those nearby flinch and rub at ears or temples, but none complained. Hands in black gloves reached out to steady a large spotlight before it could slip out of the other tech’s hands.
“I got ya, Hen!” The short goat demon with red-gold eyes beamed at the eel demon, who visibly relaxed.
“You’re my hero, Lou. You got this one?” She looked towards the other spotlight that still needed to be turned towards center stage. Smaller than the big one Lou was effortlessly aiming. How such a small man could manhandle such a thing, Hen wouldn’t know or question. She was just glad he had such good hearing and never said no to lending a hand. “That other spotlight isn’t correct –“
“Yeah, this is no problem. Get that other one, quick, or Katie will shriek at us all that she didn’t have her perfect lighting to make her not look like…that.” Lou waved Hen off, his bright, sunny smile more than enough to assure her that he was fine where he was. This really was nothing for him, after all.
Watching his fellow tech run off, Lou stepped around the spotlight to lean against the railing. The catwalk was far enough above the rest of the studio that he wasn’t worried about being seen by people watching. Katie Killjoy was intensely staring into a mirror, trying to perfect her lipstick. Tom Trench was trying to get someone to help style that horrible combover. Techs and staff ran around them, talking into headsets, balancing cables and cameras and…
It was chaos, pure and unadulterated chaos. But oh, it was a good kind. Kept Lou’s mind off things he couldn’t control. And he so did enjoy being right in the middle of it, as just another pretty faced nobody. No one here ever gave him a second glance or had a reason to fake being pleasant to him.
“Ok, we’re all set! Thanks so much for the hand, Lou.” Hen had come back, looking a little less frazzled. “I’m gonna go find our light guys. They should’ve been up here already. Can you –“
“Check to make sure the prompter is loaded and no one put a prank script in?”
“Yes, oh my god, you’re like an angel, Lou!” Hen didn’t stay to see the way Lou’s expression scrunched, running off towards the staff breakroom. It’s just a saying, he knows this.
Lou shook his head, turning on his heel towards the stairs. He took the steps calmer this time, trying to make his footsteps quiet as to not draw attention again. Checking the prompter meant he had to walk past the news team, and that meant within Katie Killjoy’s line of sight; and that meant having her attempt to toss weak, badly veiled lewd comments at his back. It was easier to roll his eyes and ignore it than fight it.
Besides, the minute the cameras were rolling she would forget all about him until the next time he happened to be on set.
And, just as he predicted, the moment they were live, Katie hopped into her seat with that fake ass smile and Lou was free to sneak away. He wasn’t needed anyway. He didn’t work the cameras or the lights or any of the sound tech. Just an extra pair of hands to make things run smoother. So Lou could slip out without anyone seeing him go.
It was kind of his specialty at this point. Be so unimportant that no one blinked twice, and to be able to vanish without being noticed.
Leaving the set, not even people he’d befriended over the years spared him a parting glance. That’s just how good he was at this. Though yes it did hurt to know so many people could just…forget him like that. He supposed that was just another facet of his curse; his face blurred not just in pictures, but in memories too. Sure, they’d remember later, wave at him and chat and invite him to a bar after work, or out to lunch with them…but for now, they wouldn’t.
It was ok. Lou had gotten used to it a long time ago.
…still, the goat found himself turning his head at the door, glancing back as he slipped into the hall to see if anyone would see him leave –
BANG! –
And he walked directly into someone that had been walking by.
There was a shatter of porcelain, an empty mug becoming blue and red shards across the dark tile floors. A phone in a shark case bounced, once, and clattered a few feet away. Papers went everywhere, scattering across the hall like petals caught in the wind.
Whoever Lou had run into was much larger than him, and he practically bounced off them; would have hit the floor like that mug and that phone, had the stranger not caught him by one of the sleeves of his dark purple sweater. Cyan claws held tight. Even after Lou had gotten his feet back under him, they let him go slowly, like the stranger didn’t really want to.
“Are you fucking blind?” The other Sinner finally spoke in a crackly, fuzzy voice – like an old TV recording. Fitting, considering his head was an entire TV, face a flat screen with a pair of red and cyan eyes and a mouth full of jagged, shark-like teeth.
“Not watching where I’m going, more like.” Lou admitted openly, plastering on the usual polite smile routine.
Honestly, this guy in his ‘fish are better than people’ gym bro tank and his grey shark sweatpants and…kind of chubby looking shark tail really did not make him very intimidating. He was kinda…cute. In the way those gimmicky talking or singing robots were cute. Maybe in the way one could find an oddly shaped car cute.
“Well, you should start. You broke my favorite mug – AAUHUuuu….uh.” This guy had, while snipping at Lou about his mug, stepped back and slipped on one of the fallen papers. Lou had snapped forward faster than most could move, catching him by the waist. Those mismatched eyes were wide, staring down at him with such surprise.
…huh. His face had gone all cyan and shimmery. It was pretty. Lou reached up without thinking, then snatched his hand back before he could follow through with his impulsive thoughts. He really wanted to know if it was warm…
“You…you can let go of me now.” The stranger fumbled, voice sounding tinny, now more like it was coming through a phone with bad signal. Lou thought it was cute.
“Right, right, of course! Yeah.” He didn’t let go right away, though, and when he did he didn’t step away. He stayed right where he was, standing on the tips of his hooves to peer up at that shimmery screen. The goat smiled wide, with all of his teeth. “Hey, you got a name, picture box?”
“It’s, uh – I’m – my name is uh –“
“You seem to be struggling.” Lou laughed, brushing blond-grey hair out of his face. The stranger’s weird flush only seemed to get worse.
“Vincent! I’m – Vincent – wait, no that’s, uh, its…um.”
“Charmed, I’m sure! I’m Lou, I work behind the scenes on the film sets ‘round here. So, Vincent? That’s not very cute. Can I call you Vinny? Vin? Vince? Maybe sharkboy?” As he went to continue, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn’t bother to check, but knew there was probably a fire one of the others needed him to put out. Rolling his eyes, Lou smiled apologetically up at Vincent. “Seems I’m needed elsewhere. Catch you later, picture box. And uh, sorry about the mug. Remind me later, I owe you a new one!”
Turning, Lou pulled his phone out to check, barely listening to Vincent ask how he knew someone needed him right this moment. The goat hummed, then turned again to show the TV headed sinner his phone screen. Ethan had texted him a video of some of Valentino’s guys trying to take some cameras from one of the film sets, and it was obvious a fight was about to break out.
“…and why’d he S.O.S. you and not like, my uh, I mean – Voxtech’s security?”
“Our security team is a joke, are you kidding?” Lou snorted, texting Ethan a thumbs up and walking quickly towards the nearest elevator to get down to the film set. “I don’t know how those guys got jobs, all they do is drink, smoke and make my job harder. Pretty typical, though…all sinners are terrible people.”
Lou turned to look at Vincent, who had followed him to the elevator like a lost, adorable little puppy. His shark tail even wagged when he smiled up at him.
Cute.
“You don’t gotta come with me, big guy. I’ll be fine. These guys ain’t shit. Go…get sweaty or whatever you were planning. Besides, you need an employee badge to get to the film studios, and I don’t let others use mine.” He stepped backwards into the little space once the doors opened, holding out his hand to push Vincent back. The guy looked dumbfounded. Like no one else had ever told his handsome face no.
“…wait, wait can I get your phone number –“
Lou didn’t answer, just made a noise, amused, and wriggled his fingers in a gay little wave as the elevator doors slid shut between him and Vincent. Alone now, he hummed, fiddling with the apple charm on his necklace.
“What a strange guy…nice ass, though.”
Slightly singed, achy, and hungry because he skipped lunch, Lou finally unlocked his apartment’s front door and stepped into his home. Dingey, and cramped, and he could hear his neighbors talking behind the walls…but it was his. It might’ve made more sense for a brand-new sinner to live with roommates, or maybe to make a contract for shelter…but he really needed the privacy.
A roommate could find suspicious things lying around.
Like an ornate black steel crown, a golden ring, and a framed picture of the Princess of Hell hidden away in a lockbox.
Lou slid it out from under his bed, though he didn’t open it. No, not today. He just…looked at it. One year now. One year since she had walked out. One year since his daughter had stopped calling.
One year since “Lucifer” had vanished, and one year since “Lou” had appeared.
The goat slid the lockbox back under the bed and stood up. There was no point in continuing living in the past. Lucifer was gone. Dead and buried and forgotten about already. No one missed him.
He was just Lou now. A simple nobody that no one remembered, but one that was still treated better than when he wore a crown.
ART!
