Splitting at the Seams (RadioApple)

Part 12

Lucifer forced himself to walk down the stairs, off balanced without his cane to anxiously fiddle with, mentally chanting; 'You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. You can do-"

"-do without all of that nonsense, thank you very much!" Came a familiarly chipper voice to interrupt his internal chant, stopping him in his tracks. Ahead of him and the dining table was the wide-open door to the kitchen, close enough to get a clear view of Alastor's back, clad in an apron and with his hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Charlie was by his side, having her hands smacked away with a wooden spoon, herself wearing a cutesy blue daisy-patterned midi dress. She whined in despair and tried again to reach for something obscured by their bodies, only to gasp loudly as Alastor again snapped the spoon against the table. "Cease!"

"But- but- but I like my food salty!" Charlie whined, leaning over so that her face rested on the high-up counter dangerously close to whatever was cooking. Lucifer lurched forward a step, ready to grab her if she burned herself.

"It's plenty salted my dear, believe me!" Alastor snapped. "It needn't have more, because the other spices will more than make up for the flavour enhancement!"

"But I like saaalt..."

"Good grief. Go send for your useless father again sooner than pester me, would you?" Alastor groused, shaking his head as his ears twotched, returning to gently stirring what sat in the pan.

Ouch.

"I'm here, actually. Hold the applause." Lucifer snapped, rounding the doorframe and watching as both of them swerved to stare at him. "Charlie told me to get off my ass and I did. Charlie, dear, I don't think you're meant to be backseating the recipe. Plus you're giving me the heebie jeebies stood so close to that bubbling thing with all of your skin exposed."

"I was just getting everything else ready. I got distracted!" Charlie complained, reaching behind herself to, indeed, hold up a stack of fancy painted plates. "Al wouldn't tell me what he was making, even though it smells soooooo good."

Lucifer expected Alastor to retort with something like 'a surprise is hardly so if you spoil it the moment someone asks', but the overlord simply gave Lucifer a dubious back glance before shaking his head, his only sound a light exhalation, impossible to tell if it conveyed exasperation or amusement. Now that the king looked, he couldn't really make out what that concoction was either, it was nothing he was familiar with. Twas a better distraction than lingering on Alastor's current attire, what with his tied-back hair with the two strands falling down to perfectly frame his face and the down-toned outfit, only consisting, similarly to Lucifer's, of a poofy long-sleeved shirt covered by a suit vest and of course the apron. The absence of his usual coat revealed his tail for all to see, shockingly, and the devil viciously resisted the urge to reach out and touch it.

Charlie glanced between the two of them for a second, apparently sensing something Lucifer couldn't, because her face lit up and she jumped back away from them, still carefully balancing the fine china. "Ookay, well, I'm gonna put these out and then yell for everyone else! Dad, can you get the cutlery out of the second drawer on the left, there? The good ones? You'll know them when you see them."

"Of course." Lucifer obliged, watching her go before doing as she asked, stepping over to open the drawer he thought she'd gestured to.

...nope. Those were bottle openers.

How about this one? Nuh uh, cocktail equipment. Wait, did she mean second from the left or second... down... to the left of the hob? There was so many drawers! Wait... hm... agh.

"Here." Alastor said, yanking open the drawer just to the side of him, gesturing dramatically to the shining contents. "I believe this is what our hotelier meant."