Chapter Text
"I know, I know, I'm sorry! I just... got caught up--"
"You forgot."
Lucifer gets into his sleek, candy apple red BMW, tossing his laptop bag onto the passenger seat. He pinches the bridge of his nose and squeezes his eyes shut as he slams the car door shut.
"No, I didn't forget, the files just took a lot longer to sort and I was waiting on the overseas--"
"I don't want to hear more excuses, Lucifer. Charlie's already asleep. You better call her tomorrow morning to make up for it. She really looks forward to her bedtime calls, she even had a story book picked out to read with you."
Fuck, he's such a shitty father.
"I-- I'm sorry--" He can feel his heart breaking.
"Don't apologize to me! Apologize to Charlie when you call her tomorrow."
"Yeah. Yeah, okay."
"Don't forget, Lucifer."
"I won't--"
Lucifer hears the blip of the call ending before he can finish his sentence. He looks down at his phone to see that Lilith hung up, her name flashing on the screen before it goes to his lock screen, where white numbers remind him that it is only 35 minutes to midnight. He puts his phone in his pocket and then sighs, slumping forward and resting his forehead against the steering wheel. How could he have forgotten about calling his daughter? She's his whole life, the light of his world. When she was born 8 years ago, Lucifer felt complete for the first time.
But he can't even remember to call her to tell her good night.
His addiction to work is one of the main reasons he and Lilith separated to begin with. Since then, he has only proven over and over that Lilith made the right choice to leave him.
The leather squeaks under his palms as he grips the steering wheel, frustrated that he can't get his shit together no matter how hard he tries. Balancing work life and family life is not in his repertoire. And now poor Charlie is the one who has to pay the price of his inadequacy.
Lucifer starts his car and pulls his seat belt on. Sulking in the parking lot won't get him anywhere, so he sucks it up and ends his pity party by pulling out of his reserved spot and turning onto the busy city street.
It's Friday and the city is alive with people out to enjoy the nightlife. Lucifer reminisces about his dates with Lilith when they first met. They would frequent high end bars or dine in the dimly lit luxurious restaurants that only those of particular status could snag reservations at. They would walk hand in hand down these very streets, laughing under the street lamps and glow of the restaurants and clubs that lined the walkways.
A group of people run in front of Lucifer's car, making him suck in a breath as he brakes. He follows them with his gaze, noting them to be young, well, younger than his ripe 37 years of age, and sporting t-shirts and jeans and other casual clothing that stands out against the typical formalwear of this area. One of them has a spiked Mohawk. Lucifer raises an eyebrow and looks around, noting other similarly dressed people idling on the sidewalks, talking loudly, laughing, smoking cigarettes, and the like.
Most are gathered outside the entrance of a building front and it makes sense now. It's the music venue; there must be a rock show of some sort going on, Lucifer concludes.
Lucifer passes the venue slowly, as to not hit anyone else who may decide to run in front of him, then turns down a smaller one-way street that cuts through the city block. There are two tour buses parked along the narrow passage way, but Lucifer isn't deterred as he just drives slower and makes sure not to bump the large vehicles or the many people crowding around the area in small groups. The proximity of people to his car makes him nervous, but his tinted windows are a small comfort. They can't see him even though some of them eye his car appreciatively.
All of a sudden, there's a loud thwack and something large slams against his windshield, the glass splintering, small white cracks blasting across the surface as it caves in towards Lucifer. Luckily, it doesn't shatter but Lucifer screams in shock as he slams on his brakes, causing the object- oh my god, it's a person- to roll over the hood and onto the ground. He stares in shock for one second, two, then three, before putting his car in park, wrestling with the seatbelt, and then scrambling out the door, muttering a mantra of fuck fuck fuck fuck under his breath as he runs around to the front of his car.
He hears people yelling (--dude, you're a fucking idiot!-- Adam! You fucking jackass, you fucked up that fucking car!-- Holy shit, he got hit!-- Oh my god, he's not going to be able to afford to fix that-- Is he dead?) but it jumbles all into one big background symphony of noise as Lucifer sees a man lying on the dirty road. He's a big guy, probably six feet or taller, and he's shirtless, his arm laying across his chest awkwardly. In his hand he clutches a beer bottle, which is somehow not broken.
"Fuck! Oh my god, are you okay?" Lucifer kneels down, "That's a stupid question, of course you're not okay, I just hit you with my car! Oh my god, I hit someone with my car!" Lucifer presses his temples and stares at the man in shock, trying hard not to hyperventilate. A few people walk up to them.
"Nah, he hit your car with his body, man. He literally fell onto it."
Lucifer looks up and there are two men and one woman, who kneels down and shakes the man roughly by his shoulder. "Adam!"
"Lute, don't touch him he might have something broken," one of the men say. The woman, Lute, looks annoyed but stands back up giving Adam space.
Adam groans and starts to move, his head lolling slightly as he cracks open his eyes, grimacing. He blinks a few times and then stares at Lucifer before smiling and slurring out, "Am I dead?"
Lucifer stares, dumbfounded, before shaking his head, "No, no you're not dead, don't move, you've just been hit and we need to call an ambulance."
Adam doesn't listen and tries to sit up. Lucifer puts his hands on Adam's shoulders and stops him, "No, you need to stay laying down until paramedics arrive."
"Yeah, dumbass, stay on the ground," one of the men supplies, helpfully.
Adam just stares at Lucifer and smiles, "Are you sure I ain't dead? Cause I'm lookin' at an angel."
The friends of Adam burst out laughing, except for Lute, who just looks on worriedly, as Lucifer fishes his phone out of his pocket and calls the police to report an accident and request an ambulance. He's not paying too much attention to the man as he talks to the emergency operator, trying to keep the twinge of pure panic out of his voice, but he watches the man notice the bottle of beer and holds it up cheering about something. Then he's dumping the beer on himself and looking genuinely shocked that he now has beer on him.
This man is so drunk.
Lucifer looks up to the friends. "Wait, did you say he fell onto my car?"
"Yeah, the idiot was on top of our tour bus. We just finished playing the opening act and this fucking genius was high on the adrenaline and drunk off his ass. He wanted to show off for some groupies, so he climbed on top of the tour bus, because that's how you get laid, and fucking fell off. Onto your car."
The other band mate winces, "Sorry about your car, man. It looked sick as fuck before his fat ass broke it."
Lucifer runs his hand through his hair and looks at the car, slouching at the sight of his beautiful baby cracked and dented. "Yeah, it's pretty rough... But I'm more worried about... Adam, is his name?"
"Yep. Front man of our band. Professional drunk and full time idiot. Thinks with his dick and makes really smart choices. He'll be fine. He's pretty durable."
Lucifer can't say he shares their casual sentiment. The thought of dealing with this nightmare once authorities arrived makes his head hurt. As if on cue, Lucifer hears sirens quickly approaching.
"I am unfortunately going to be dealing with getting my car towed, but please, here's my number," Lucifer takes out his wallet and slips a business card from inside of it. He gets up and goes to his car, leaning in and rifling through his computer bag until he finds a pen. He jots down his personal cell number onto the back of the card, then walks back over and hands it to the man closest to him, "I would really like to know how Adam is once he's at the hospital, please. Contact me"
"Di' ja-just gimmie y'nummer?"
They all glance down at Adam, who is smiling with his eyes closed.
"Fuck yeah, gon' get laid tonigh'..."
Lucifer clears his throat as the band mates laugh, then the ambulance plus two cop cars are pulling up in the small, crowded alleyway of a road.
Lucifer shakes off any nerves he may have and focuses on the cop approaching him.
It is going to be a long night.