Through the Grapevine [ABANDONED]

Arabic and Arithmetic

Lucifer tossed his notebook across the room to his bed and rested his forehead on his folded arms, taking tired breaths. He looked up to see the alarm clock on his desk. 2:00 a.m. was far too late for a person to be up. He had gotten home from work at 11:30, but then he had his paper for AP Literature to finish, and then his AP Calculus test to study for. And now he had to go to sleep so he could get up at 4:00 since he had track practice before school. He yawned and shut his eyes. He could get two hours of sleep. Two hours was enough. Lucifer was sure of that.

He woke with a jolt to a loud banging on the front door. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and climbed to his feet, opening the front door. A dark-skinned man with a serious face and a deep-set frown was holding a boy by the collar of his shirt. The boy had dark hair and bright blue eyes, the color of the sky. He was smiling sheepishly at Lucifer. The older boy's eyes shot back to the frowning man and took in his police uniform before sighing deeply.

"Where's your dad?" the officer said.

"I don't know," Lucifer mumbled. "I haven't seen him in a week or so. Do you want to come in, Rufus?"

"No can do, kid. I'm on the clock. Just figured I'd return this...idiot to you. I should have just left him in the holding cell," Rufus said, pushing the younger boy through the door. Lucifer grabbed him by the collar when he tried to sneak up the stairs.

"Not a chance, Castiel," Lucifer growled at his little brother. "You should have left him in there. Then maybe he'd learn to behave himself. What was he doing this time?" 

"I wasn't doing anything, Lucifer," Castiel grumbled. 

"He was out at the old Marley farm. Getting high with a bunch of those girls...I would recommend you keep an eye on him," Rufus said. "And I'll let you know if I hear anything about your dad. You know you can come by the station and file a missing person's report." Lucifer shot a glance at Castiel, who was probably too high or drunk to know what Lucifer was saying, but he still didn't want to risk it. 

"Sit on that couch and if you move before I get back, I swear to myself, you will suffer," Lucifer said seriously. Castiel huffed as his brother released the grip on his collar. He sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone. Lucifer sighed and grabbed Rufus's arm gently and pulled him onto the porch, shutting the door behind him. "And you know I can't report my dad missing. And there's no need. He's probably on a drinking binge a town over, and he'll be back, apologizing and sober in a week." 

"You could still..." Rufus started. 

"I can't and you know that. If the cops know that it's just us must of the time, they'll call CPS. And I'm not getting separated from my brothers. I take care of all of us just fine," Lucifer said, crossing his arms over his chest as if it would change the fact that he was standing in the below twenty-degree weather in a thin T-shirt and some fleece pajama pants. 

"Okay," Rufus said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm going to do what I can to help you out, you know that. But if that boy in there gets arrested by a cop that isn't me, they're going to ask for a parent to come to get him from the station. And what are you going to do then?" 

"I'm going to figure it out," Lucifer said stubbornly. "I'll find my dad and drag his ass to the police station." 

"You're a good kid, Lucifer Novak," Rufus called as he walked back to his patrol car. 

"Thanks," Lucifer mumbled, opening the door again to see Castiel still sitting on the couch. 

"Hello, Lucifer," Castiel said seriously. 

"I'm going to fucking kill you. What the actual fuck were you thinking? I was at work for six hours, Castiel. I asked you to stay at home. That's all I wanted. And then you have to go out and party like some sort of rich playboy...you know that I need you to be responsible. Just for like, two seconds," Lucifer hissed. "I'm trying so hard to keep things together here. So fucking hard..."