Ever since its creation, Hell had been a bit of a mess with its seasons. When it came to holidays, they corresponded well enough with time on earth, as the hellborn had adopted the traditions of the sinners without even realising at first. Of course, every holiday had its own hellish twist to it, Christmas especially.

When it came to the weather however… Lucifer wished the Pride ring wasn’t as closely tied to Earth as it was. Especially when the northern and southern hemispheres decided to make their impacts simultaneously. Right outside the palace he lived in the air had been cold this morning (at least by Hell standards), but when he arrived at the hotel early afternoon he had to shed both his coat and his vest as he stepped inside.

Charlie greeted him with a bright smile, though he could see by the tired look on her face that the heat was getting to her as well. She looked extremely cute with her hair currently up in two buns on the top of her head, however. When he told her as much she turned around to show the French braids trailing from the nape of her neck into the buns.

“Angel did my hair for me! He’s doing Niffty’s right now.”

She led him into the lounge where Niffty was sitting on a footstool in front of the couch, Angel’s upper set of hands putting her hair up in what he was pretty sure were called victory rolls (though he couldn’t remember why they were referred to as such). He pulled the back of her hair away from her neck with a scarf, tying it into a knot at the top of her head. Niffty’s fingertips tapped against each other in excitement as Angel held out a mirror in front of her.

“Thank you, Angel!” She hopped off the stool to show off her new look to Alastor who was sitting at the bar tormenting poor Husk (who looked like he’d rather be anywhere but serving him drinks in this mind-numbing heat).

“How do I look?” She asked, staring up into his eyes. Lucifer couldn’t see his face from his position, but Alastor’s voice was surprisingly gentle as he responded.

“You look lovely, my dear.” He lent her a hand so she could hop onto the chair next to him more easily. It felt almost familial in a way that made Lucifer avert his eyes. He didn’t need to see any softer sides to a man he didn’t like, even if they had come to some sort of… mutual understanding, if only for Charlie’s sake.

Vaggie had joined him and Charlie by the door, greeting him. Her smile was still a bit shy, but he hoped they’d get comfortable around each other eventually. He’d been the only angel in Hell for so long, he knew that once they both got past their awkwardness they had a lot to talk about. God knows he was good at rambling if you let him, but two-way conversations took a lot more work.

Vaggie’s hair was gathered into a high ponytail with small French braids trailing from her temples to the base of the ponytail to match Charlie. It was a sweet touch.

Charlie clapped her hands together, eyes brightening as she looked at everyone in the room. “We should get ice cream! We’ll be right back!” She grabbed Vaggie’s hand, pulling her along, presumably toward the kitchen.

Left to his own devices, Lucifer sat down next to Angel. Angel’s little pet pig squealed a greeting, pressing its snout against his leg until he scratched its chin. What was its name again? Something food related…

“You’re very good at doing people’s hair,” he said, watching Angel as the pig climbed up on his lap to get his attention. Angel smiled, but there was something to his expression that made it feel a little bittersweet.

“I used ta do my sister’s hair all the time when I was alive, then I did it for Cherry when she came here. Did it a bunch for lotsa people before I stopped workin’ the streets as much.”

“You have a sister?”

“Twin sister, yeah. Dunno where she’s at though, either extermination got her or she’s the one member of our family to get to heaven.”

“Would you… want me to ask? Heaven, I mean. Once they get back into contact.” It had been a month and a half since the last extermination where Hell finally fought back. He wasn’t terribly surprised that contact had been shut off for so long, but it had brought him several sleepless nights filled with anxiety.

He’d always loathed going to the Heaven Embassy (especially the times he was meeting Adam, though he supposed that part wouldn’t be an issue anymore), but for the first time he found himself missing it, if only for the feeling of normalcy, and knowing where he stood with Heaven. Instead, they were stuck waiting, trying to push any worries to the side as much as possible while also trying to plan for a possible disaster.

The look on Angel’s face was conflicted, his eyes focused on the little pig on his lap for a few moments before he turned them back to Lucifer. “Lemme think about it.”

“Of course, take all the time you need.”

For a little while, their attention was stolen by the pig (Fat Nuggets, Angel reminded him) who decided he was done playing second fiddle to the devil, Lucifer and Angel happily showering him with attention. Lucifer had always liked animals, and he had become especially fond of Hell’s animals after finally getting used to them. He couldn’t create in the same way he used to anymore, his abilities to create anything living turned into something deeply twisted as he fell, and after creating Razzle and Dazzle he hadn’t tried in a really long time. He was happy they had turned out as well as they did. He hated thinking about his early hellish creations, the nightmare they had been.

Charlie had asked him if he’d created KeeKee once, but no, she had made herself all on her own. There were things to the existence of Hell that were hard to grasp sometimes, a key becoming sentient one of them. He’d gotten used to most of the oddities of the realm he had inadvertently created by now.

His eyes drifted to where KeeKee was sitting on top of the bar’s countertop, right in front of Niffty, who was happily petting her. He could hear her purr all the way from the other side of the room. Razzle for his part had followed Charlie and Vaggie out of the room, and was sure to come back once they did.

He fanned himself with a hand to try and cool himself down. Maybe he should change his clothes into something more summery.

“I’m better at doin’ longer hair unless it’s mine, but I could do yours anyway if ya want.”

Lucifer blinked up at Angel in surprise at the offer. He hadn’t had anyone do his hair for him in a very long time, but he had grown to trust Angel, and it did sound nice, he had to admit. He took a seat between Angel’s legs as he patted the stool Niffty had previously occupied. “I could just make it longer, if you find that easier.”

“Ya can do that?”

“Of course, I can shapeshift almost completely freely.”

In the blink of an eye,and a shower of sparkles, Lucifer’s hair grew longer, the length of it even more voluminous than Charlie’s when it wasn’t tied back in its usual style, though it only reached just past his shoulder blades. He could hear Niffty let out a little ‘ooh’ . Husk, who’d had his back toward them to reach for something turned around at the sound of her voice. He whistled. “If that’s how thick your hair gets when it’s long, I get why you’d want to keep it short.”

“Not the only thing that can get thick ‘round here,” Angel winked at Lucifer before throwing Husk a grin, eyebrows wagging. Husk rolled his eyes, though Lucifer could spot the tiny amused look he threw their way when he thought they weren’t looking his way anymore.

Lucifer’s attention was soon turned back to Angel when he felt a hand in his hair. “So, any style ya like?”

“Not really, you can do whatever you want to me.”

Angel looked like he wanted to say something had something to say, but was biting his lip as best as he could.

“He was talking about his hair,” Husk called from behind the bar, knowing exactly where Angel's mind went.

“What did I say?” Lucifer looked at Husk, who had an exasperated look on his face. Angel on the other hand still looked like there was something ready to jump out of his mouth as soon as he opened it and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself.

And he couldn’t.

“Oh he doesn’t just mean his hair, trust me,” Angel purred, leaning forward, hands on Lucifer’s shoulders. His soft fur brushed Lucifer’s cheek. “Right, sweetcheeks?”

It took him a couple of seconds to connect the dots. A smirk grew on Lucifer’s face as he did. “He's not wrong.” He and Angel had been sleeping with each other for a while now, though so far the only one in the know had been Husk.

The screeching of radio feedback reverberated throughout the room.

The eyes of everyone present darted toward Alastor, whose eye was twitching for a moment before he regained his composure. It happened so quickly Lucifer would’ve thought it was a trick of the eye had it not been for the noise making his ears hurt even after it stopped.

The sinister edge to Alastor’s grin disappeared as Charlie came into the room, a tray in her hands, Vaggie and Razzle close behind her. Charlie’s eyes darted between Alastor and Lucifer, and it was an easy guess to assume that she expected to find them arguing. “Is everything okay, I thought I heard-”

She cut herself off as she took in the state of Lucifer’s hair. She shifted back and forth from one foot to the other in excitement. “I forgot you could do that! Is Angel gonna do your hair too? Oooh, I can’t wait to see it!”

Setting down the tray on the table, Charlie revealed two large tubs of ice cream, along with a few different toppings. Vaggie’s tray held bowls and spoons. “This should be enough for everyone and then some,” Charlie said, brandishing the ice cream spoon as if it were a weapon. “Who wants to start? Dad, Angel, I assume you’ll be busy for a little bit so let me know if you want me to plate some for you, okay?”

“That sounds great, thank you, dear.” Lucifer nodded his thanks when he felt Angel’s hands on either side of his face, making him pause.

“No moving for a lil’ while, yer Highness.”

“Ah, of course.”

He watched as Charlie handed out ice cream to everyone, setting aside bowls for him and Angel. He could feel Angel’s hands run through his hair, moving it into the shape he wanted. It felt just as nice as he thought it would, even relaxing to have someone do his hair for the first time in so long. When Charlie was young, before she and Lilith moved away, he used to make his hair long so she could play with it, but after that… He couldn’t remember having made it long again.

He had a vague memory of Beelzebub asking if he wanted her to do his hair once, when her, Belphegor and Asmodeus were trying to coax him out of one of his deeper depressive episodes, but he wasn’t sure if that had truly happened or if it was something his brain had made up. He didn’t want to ask in case he had hallucinated the whole thing.

His eyes were starting to droop by the time Angel withdrew his hands. “There, you're all done, sweetcheeks.”

He snapped back to attention at the sound of Angel’s voice, accepting the mirror as it was offered to him. Making his tail appear, he moved the mirror around with it so he could properly see Angel’s handiwork.

His hair was gathered into a loosely French braid that turned into a ponytail just high enough to get it away from his neck, and while he had no idea how Angel had done it, parts of his hair had been fashioned into the shape of a heart.

Lucifer’s eyes moved from the reflection in the mirror to Angel, who was looking a little nervous. “It matches ya tail, see?” He pointed out, a finger motioning toward said tail. “So, ya like it?”

“Like it?" The smile on his face was wide. "It looks amazing. Thank you, Angel.”

A pleased blush spread across Angel’s cheeks, though he pretended not to be affected by the praise. “I’m glad ya like it.”

Charlie, for her part, was making a valiant attempt at not interrupting them by squealing in delight. In the end she couldn’t help herself, coming up to Lucifer and Angel as he stood to move back onto the couch. “You look so good! Wow!”

Lucifer let her do a lap around him as she looked at his hair from every angle. “It’s amazing! You could be the best hairstylist in Hell if you wanted to, Angel!”

“Thanks, Dollface, I’m good where I’m at but I guess it’s nice ta have a fallback.” No matter how nonchalant he tried to be about it, Lucifer could tell that he really appreciated the praise. “Now lemme get some'a that ice cream before it melts.”

Charlie happily handed both him and Lucifer bowls of ice cream before sitting back down on the loveseat next to Vaggie.

Lucifer let the chatter wash over him as he ate his ice cream. He was glad he’d dropped by, despite the heat. In the grand scheme of things, nothing particularly groundbreaking had happened, but to him, it was something he would remember fondly for a long, long time.

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