Angel wobbled a little where he stood, a mug of beer in his hand. He smiled to himself as he watched the party rage on inside the pub, but somehow it felt far away, despite the heat from the crowd reaching all the way to him.

He didn’t know a single one of these people.

 

Opening the back door to the pub, he wandered down to the shore. Kicking off his boots, he felt the wet sand between his toes, the waves cold against his feet. The drastic temperature shift brought a shiver down his spine.

After The Vee sank, he hadn’t really found a new crew yet. He’d travelled on, on his own for the first time in years, yet he didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with his newfound freedom.

 

He stopped, staring into the cold, open sea.

Had Lucifer meant it, when he said he would come, any time he called? He waded into the water, until the waves hit his calves.

Had he not been half-way drunk, he probably wouldn’t have dared trying.

 

“Lucifer?”

 

For a long moment, all he heard were the waves in front of him, their steady rhythm as they moved along the shore, the music and the shouting from the party behind him.

Then, he heard a voice.

 

“Fancy seeing you here.”

 

As he turned, he came face to face with that same blond man from all those weeks ago, standing knee-deep in the water. The waves spun around their legs, as if playing with them.

“I didn’t… I didn’t actually think you’d come.”

“I promised, didn’t I?”

Lucifer smiled, stepping through the water as if there was no resistance at all, until he stood right in front of Angel.

For a moment, Angel didn’t know what to say, and then; “Wanna go to a party with me?”

“Sure, why not?”

 

-

 

When they stepped into the pub, no one took note of their presence other than the bartender, who filled up mugs for both of them, sliding them across the bartop. Angel watched with widening eyes as Lucifer downed the entirety of his large mug in one motion, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed mouthful after mouthful.

Angel’s eyes caught on a drop of beer dripping down his chin, the way it fell to his chest. He watched it disappear down underneath his shirt before he averted his eyes, cheeks red. Was he thirsting after the literal fucking sea right now?

As his eyes snapped back up to Lucifer’s, he knew he had been caught staring. “Is there something on my face?”

Angel hid his blush behind his mug. “Not anymore.”

The sound of Lucifer’s laugh warmed his ears.

“Ya know, ya didn’t have to chug it in one go.”

“I have to catch up with you, don’t I?” Lucifer ordered himself another beer, watching as it was filled to the brim, accepting the mug with a thank you. “This place’s got pretty good beer, actually. I should really get you over to Ozzie’s and Bee’s some time though.”

Angel’s eyes widened. “Ya mean Asmodeus and Beelzebub? That Ozzie and Bee? Ya know them?”

“Of course. I introduced them to each other.” There was a twinkle in Lucifer’s eye as he looked up at him. “I did tell you that I knew where to find the best breweries in the world, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, sure, but… They’re world famous, ya know?”

“Oh, I know. I’ve been there for all of it.” Somehow, Lucifer had already downed his second mug of beer, halfway through his third. His cheeks were growing rosy from the alcohol. Clearly this place didn’t water down their beer.

“I just realised,” he said as he looked back up at Angel. “I have no idea what your name is.”

“Oh, it’s-” For a moment, Angel wasn’t sure how to answer. He had abandoned his old name when he was seduced by Valentino and brought onto The Vee, but over time it had truly become the name that he preferred. It felt strange when he thought of himself as ‘Anthony’. ‘Angel’ felt much more like him, now. Maybe he would become Anthony again one day, but today was not that day. “Ya can call me Angel.”

“An angel and Lucifer, isn’t that funny.” Lucifer smiled as he put down his now empty mug. He offered him a hand, the other behind his back as he bowed. “Would you care to dance with me, Angel?”

Angel laughed, before quickly downing the last of his own beer, putting his mug down right next to Lucifer’s. “Absolutely, I would.”

 

As soon as Angel put his hand in his, Lucifer pulled him with him into the crowd, pulling him into a wild dance. He could feel the heat from the bodies all around him, Lucifer’s touch cool any time their bodies came into contact.

He couldn’t help but laugh, as they spun around and around, weaving through the people around them, somehow never losing track of each other in the crowd, even as they moved away from each other, only to come back together again, hand in hand.

 

They didn’t notice eyes on them, even as they returned to the bar to get another drink, Angel breathing hard, Lucifer’s laughter breathless. As they got freshly filled mugs in their hands, they cheered, beer spilling onto the floor as they knocked their mugs together.

“To yet another lovely night with you, Angel!”

“Right back at ya!”

They leaned close to one another as they drank, Lucifer starting to tell Angel about how he had first met Bee many years ago, when shadows obscured the light.

They turned, looking up at two large pirates, built out of pure muscle.

Angel shrank where he stood. Oh shit, he’d seen these guys meet with Vox, Velvette and Valentino before.

 

“Well if it isn’t Valentino’s fancy whore,” one of them said, leaning forward, invading Angel’s personal space, far too close for his liking, his arm resting against the bar, making escape difficult. “Imagine our surprise when we saw you here, after hearin’ that The Vee sank far out at sea. How the hell’d you even survive?”

The other leaned close to Lucifer, his arm trapping him against the far end of the bar next to Angel. He sneered down at him. “You got a new owner already, so soon after drowning your old one? This one looks like he’d be better as a whore than owner though, I’m sure we could put you both to good use.”

Angel felt his body grow as taut as a bowstring. “I didn’t- I didn’t drown Val!”

 

His eyes darted to Lucifer as he heard him laugh. He was nearly doubling over from how hard he was laughing, half of his beer spilling onto the floor. “Sorry, excuse me, you just, you think you’re so intimidating, it was too funny.”

He held his mug out for Angel to take. "Could you hold my beer for a second, please?"

Startled, Angel almost dropped the mug before getting a hold of it.

Pissed at being insulted so blatantly to his face, the man in front of Lucifer swung at him, but as the punch made impact with his cheek, Lucifer didn’t even flinch.

Instead, Angel and the man in front of him watched with widening eyes as Lucifer’s cheek started to cave, his lips splitting into a wide grin, teeth now razor-sharp.

“Boo.”

 

Suddenly, hundreds of spiders were crawling up the man’s hand, up his arm, to his chest, to his face. They watched the man throw himself back with a mortified scream as Lucifer’s body split into tiny little pieces; spiders, millipedes, shrimps and dozens of other creepy-crawly water-dwelling creatures taking over the space that Lucifer had just inhabited.

With the party still ongoing, the only ones who had noticed where the swarm of animals had come from were Angel and the two men. The man who had been cornering Angel fled as fast as his legs would allow, leaving his friend behind, crawling after him from the floor, more and more of the creatures crawling onto him as he struggled toward the open door.

 

Angel fled out the back door, and it wasn’t until he reached shore again that he realised he was still holding the two beer mugs, now nearly empty.

He looked around, searching. “L-Lucifer?”

 

“Yes?”

As he heard Lucifer’s voice behind him, he spun around, eyes wide. “Lucifer, what the fuck!”

At first, Lucifer seemed confused, before an embarrassed look crept onto his face, fingers scratching the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I understand if you want me to stay far away from y-”

Dropping the mugs in the sand, Angel gripped Lucifer’s cheeks, pulling him close, lips almost bruising from how hard he pressed them together, swallowing the last of his words. As he pulled back, Lucifer stood stunned, speechless.

“Thank you,” Angel said, hands still grasping Lucifer’s cheeks tightly as he looked into his eyes. “Thank you for shuttin’ those assholes the hell up.”

“You’re… you’re not freaked out?”

Angel let go of him with a shrug. “Oh, trust me, I am, I don’t really wanna see somethin’ like that again if I can help it. But ya saved my ass back there, an’ that? That was pretty damn hot.”

“Even though I turned into a million sea spiders?”

“I was thinkin’ more about the creepy grin part than the spiders, but yeah. Even though you did that.”

 

Lucifer’s laugh was light, and he could hear the nervousness he had carried as he realised Angel might do like the men that had threatened them and run for the hills melt off him. “I’m glad I could be of service, then. Especially if it earned me a kiss.”

“Oh, you can get more than one if ya play your cards right.”

“And where do I start to earn another one?”

Angel’s lips split into a grin.

“Another beer and another dance, for one and two.”

Lucifer’s smile was wide. “I think I can manage that.”

 

As Angel took his hand to pull him back into the pub, the moon bathed the sea in a gentle light, making the waves glow.

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