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absolutepokemontrash · 10 months

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If I Had Been There…

This is Father’s Day number 3, guys! How exciting!! So this year, you guys are getting some ANGST, but don’t worry, I have some crack coming up today or tomorrow to make up for it.

Genre: Angst

Warnings: The alternate timeline has Asmo and Lucifer being REALLY shitty dads.

Masterlist

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Another year, another Father’s Day.

Lucifer sat in his office, leaning a little too far back in his chair, gently turning a record over in his hands. It was a lovely gift from Venus, they claimed they had to fistfight a ghost for it, and while Lucifer doubted the validity of the story, he was pleased with his present nonetheless.

After popping the record into the player, letting the music wash over him, Lucifer let out a content sigh. The house was quiet for once, all except for the music. Asmo and Mammon were off with Ash and Cecil, Venus was up in their room sleeping, Belphie was passed out by Beel in the living room, and Lucifer could only assume Levi was out at a convention somewhere.

Peaceful, blissful, quiet.

It was so nice, that Lucifer almost missed the present that appeared on his desk in a tiny puff of smoke.

The little box was wrapped in deep burgundy paper with a tiny black stick-on bow. A little white note card was attached, and from what Lucifer could see when he eventually cracked open his eyes, the handwriting that was on the card was quite nice.

Lucifer gently reached out to grab the present, but stopped short as his eyes suddenly narrowed. This could be a prank from Satan, who had been unusually quiet that day…

Weighing his options (and taking a moment to remind himself where his favourite red rope was, just in case), Lucifer gently plucked the notecard from the box and read it.

Happy Father’s Day, Lucifer,

I hope you and Venus had a lovely day together. I found these files while cleaning out my laptop, and I think you’ll find what’s on them as adorable as I did. Enjoy.

-Deianira

Ah, a gift from Venus’ human parent. Breathing out a quick sigh of relief, Lucifer gently opened the present, and sitting inside was a little chocolate, and a USB.

Popping the chocolate in his mouth and wondering whether or not his laptop even still had a USB port, Lucifer powered on his computer and, after finding the port, plugged his gift in.

Clicking on the new file that appeared on his Home Screen, clearly labelled “Venus’ Videos”, dozens of photos and videos popped up, each neatly labelled with their dates and contents.

Lucifer clicked on the first video.

The screen was dark at first, and for a moment Lucifer wondered if he had broken something, only for the camera to be picked up and pointed at something.

A baby. A baby with eyes Lucifer could recognize anywhere.

“Come here, Venus,” a gentle voice prompted from behind the camera. The baby looked up, then wrapped a chubby fist around a table leg and hoisted themselves up. “Walk to me, walk to renny!”

A smile began to form on Lucifer’s face as Venus reached forward, stumbling a little, but managing to clumsily walk. He took a moment to softly chuckle as the scene continued, Venus with even chubbier cheeks was mind numbingly adorable.

“Like a little zombie~” Deianira giggled as Venus reached for them. “OOP!”

Venus fell right to the floor. They looked up at the camera, confused, then their lower lip began to quiver and they let out a wail.

“Oh no, sweetie…” despite how sweet their words were, Deianira was still giggling.

The video suddenly cut, this time it appeared the camera was peeking around the corner into a room. Once again, Venus was clinging to the leg of a chair, all on their own, eyes trained on the floor as they hesitantly reached their foot out, and began to walk forward.

“Oh would you look at that,” Deianira whispered, “they’re doing it all on their own.”

The video ended, and the grin on Lucifer’s face had somehow managed to grow even wider as he quickly clicked on the next one.

There were a few more videos of baby Venus, some had them playing with their toys, others had them gently sleeping and cuddling things five times their size.

One video began with an unflattering close-up of a two year old Venus.

“Hi.” The baby said into the camera. “I’m playing.”

The camera was clumsily dropped onto the floor and showed Venus toddling over to a small table set up with a plastic tea set, and surrounded by a couple of toys.

As the video continued on, Lucifer felt something other than the pleasant warmth that had begun to spread in his chest.

It wasn’t exactly sadness, that’d be too simple. A hellish cocktail of envy, regret, and sorrow began to spread, overwriting the happy nostalgia that the videos were laced with.

Lucifer quickly shook his head, hoping to clear the feeling that seemed to seep into his bones as he clicked on the next video.

“It’s someone’s first day of school~” Deianira cooed.

The video showed Venus halfway out the door, then looking back to give the camera a radiant little smile. They couldn’t be older than four.

They adjusted their little backpack that was quite adorably shaped like a bear, adjusted their glasses that seemed to be a little too big for their face, then looked up at their parent.

“What do you wan’ me to say?”

“Say bye bye!”

“Oh.” Venus cleared their throat, then gave the camera an award winning smile and a wave. “BYE BYE!”

The video ended, but the roiling ball of sorrow in Lucifer’s chest refused to dissipate.

Every photo and video he clicked through, none of them did anything to quell it. In fact, it only made it worse, but Lucifer couldn’t stop watching it.

He was watching his child grow up. He was watching it second-hand through videos and pictures he didn’t take. He was watching moments he wasn’t there for.

He was watching a ten year old Venus begrudgingly accept a second place ribbon at the science fair with their parent right next to them. He was watching Venus’ eleventh birthday party, watching them blow out their candles only for one of their human cousins to smash their little fists into the cake before they could even try a piece.

He wasn’t there. He couldn’t have been. For the briefest of moments, a scowl crossed Lucifer’s features as he watched Venus sneakily push one of their friends into a pool, before being immediately pulled in after them.

Deianira didn't tell him he had a child… despite the bitterness of the thought, how easy it would be to blame the human, Lucifer’s common sense trumped the notion almost immediately. How would she have told him? Only the most powerful of witches and sorcerers were even able to attempt summoning him, and even then, Lucifer wasn’t the kindest to those who interrupted his work.

Lucifer rubbed his temples as he took a shaky breath. He clicked on the last video.

“Look who’s back from RAD!”

Lucifer’s attention was snapped back to the screen.

Venus, newly thirteen and back in the human world for the summer. They smirked and adjusted their glasses before giving the camera, and their parent a wave.

“Back and tired.” They rolled their eyes, their smirk growing into a lazy grin.

“What?” The camera turned to follow Venus as they tugged their luggage to their room down the hall. “Did being with your father and uncles make you tired?”

“You have no idea!” Venus called back before walking into their room and shutting the door behind them.

The final video ended, and the screen went black. The replay button appeared, but there was no prompt to go onto the next video. Lucifer had watched them all.

He leaned back in his seat again. The music had long since stopped playing, but Lucifer didn’t even notice. His mind began to wander to a familiar place.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought back on the past, moments he wished he’d done something else, conversations he longed to redo, wars he wished he had won…

But this time, his mind wandered back to his child. He wished, he wished with his full heart he had been there when they were little. He wanted to watch them grow up, watch them grow into the half-demon that looked up to him and adored him, and who he adored in return.

Lucifer shut his eyes, wishing he was where he had been three hours ago, with the music washing over them.

…

Looking down at his teacup and letting out a sigh, Lucifer leaned back in his seat on one of the couches in Diavolo’s favourite sitting room. It wasn’t unusual for Lucifer to visit the castle, in fact, it had become even more common in the recent years as Lucifer had begun to hang out with Diavolo as a companion rather than his right hand.

But this time, he wasn’t here for Diavolo. He was here for someone else.

“You know, Lucifer,” Barbatos drawled as he expertly poured himself a cup of tea. “As much as the young master would probably love for you to nurse him back to health, I cannot allow you two to meet. You’d infect your brothers, and I can only imagine how terrible that would be.”

Lucifer let out a humourless snort of laughter as he shook his head. He straightened his posture and placed his untouched tea on the coffee table in front of him, squaring his shoulders and looking Barbatos dead in the eyes, Lucifer spoke.

“I actually came here for you, Barbatos.”

“Oh really?” The butler raised an eyebrow, then took a sip of his tea. “May I inquire as to why?”

“I need your expertise.” Lucifer continued. “I need you to search for another timeline.”

Watching as Barbatos placed his teacup down a little too forcefully, which was the butler’s equivalent to openly rolling his eyes, Lucifer tsked under his breath.

“You know I can’t do that, Lucifer.” Barbatos said calmly. “But which timeline, pray tell, would you like me to look for? I’m dreadfully curious.”

“I want the timeline where Mammon, Asmodeus, and I knew about our children from the start. The one that’s closest to this one with only that change.”

“You know I can’t show you that.” Barbatos almost huffed. “I can’t show you, or even look myself. Any visions of other timelines and futures are involuntary unless specifically requested by the young master during an emergency-“

“Barbatos please!” Lucifer leaned forward, letting his mask of calm down and showing the desperation underneath. He must have looked awful, he hadn’t slept in two days since he watched the videos, hadn’t eaten properly, and had barely taken the time to care for his appearance. “I… I have to know…”

Maybe it was the desperation in his eyes, maybe it was pity, or maybe it was the fact that Lucifer Morningstar seldom begged anyone for anything, but for just a second, he saw a flicker in the butler’s expression. A slight change. For just a second.

“You may not like what you see, Lucifer.” Barbatos warned, his eyes flashing gold.

“Whatever it is, I need to see it. I need to know what would have happened if I were there. I want to see-“

Lucifer felt like something just punched him in the gut as he forced his next words out. “I want to see myself raise my child…”

“Fine.”

So sharp, so sudden, Barbatos rose from his seat and placed a hand on Lucifer’s forehead. His eyes rolled back, and Lucifer’s vision went black.

…

“It’s yours.”

Lucifer opened his eyes, a strange weightlessness spread across every part of him, and yet, when he looked around, he saw that he had no body at all. He was a spectator, just here to watch and react.

This timeline’s Deianira looked to be about three months into their pregnancy, their arms were crossed, and they were staring expectantly up at- at Lucifer.

The look of shock mixed with abject horror on this Lucifer’s face would have been funny had the context of the moment been stripped away.

Lucifer felt himself wince, he wasn’t naive enough to think he would have leapt for joy at the news, especially considering how he viewed Venus during the start of the exchange program, but even that didn’t prepare him for what left his counterpart’s lips.

“And why haven’t you gotten rid of it, then?”

Deianira’s stare hardened in an instant. “I’ve wanted to be a parent for a long time now, and the opportunity has been given to me. Simple as that.”

Their icy tone didn’t seem to phase this timeline’s Lucifer, as he scoffed and rolled his eyes. He turned on his heel and began to pace through what Lucifer recognized as Deianira’s living room.

“Do you have a shred of an idea how dangerous a half-breed is?!”

“I come from a family of witches, Lucifer, we know how to handle magic.”

“Magic isn’t what I’m concerned about.” The other Lucifer growled. “Those things don’t have any qualms about wrecking havoc anywhere they go! It’s what they’re meant to do! It’s why Lord Diavolo stopped allowi-“

“This is a child you’re talking about!” Deianira shouted, stepping forward and jamming a finger into Lucifer’s chest. “My child! If you don’t want the responsibility of watching it then I’ll take it! I never asked you to-“

“Oh no.” Lucifer grabbed the finger and shoved it away from them, staring Deianira dead in the eye. “If you’re keeping the thing, I’m going to come up here and watch it. I’m not going to leave the thing to cause chaos and ruin Lord Diavolo’s plans.”

“Plans- what are you-“

“Call me when it’s born.”

The vision shifted, Lucifer could feel himself being yanked forward and then stopped suddenly. He was in a hospital room.

Deianira lay on the bed, holding a baby in their arms, an older woman kissed their head and whispered something before quickly leaving the room, leaving the two alone.

Lucifer allowed his consciousness to drift around, floating closer and closer to the baby. He longed to be able to hold them, cuddle them close to his chest and whisper how much he loved them, but alas, Lucifer had no body, and he was only here to watch.

And watch he did, as this timeline’s version of himself appeared and cast a quick glance down at the two before sighing in annoyance.

“You went to a human hospital?”

“Where else was I meant to go?” Deianira replied, their voice completely deadpan and uninterested.

“How were you going to explain a pair of horns to a human doctor if they had come out with them?”

Deianira raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “…Lucifer. Not even baby goats come out with their horns. They grow later.”

Lucifer reflexively bit back a snort of laughter as he watched his counterpart stiffen at both the comparison, and the correction.

“Whatever.”

There was a beat of silence, Deianira didn’t seem terribly bothered by it as the baby on their chest gently slept. After a few moments, Deianira took a deep breath, and shifted the baby in her arms.

“Do you want to hold them, Lucifer?”

Yes.

Lucifer found himself actually attempting to say the word, but with no mouth to speak.

Please.

That’s all he wanted. Hold his child just once.

The other timeline’s Lucifer looked down at the baby- down at Venus for barely a moment, before he harshly shook his head.

“No.”

At that exact moment Lucifer felt his heart shatter.

He didn’t even hold them.

If Lucifer had proper eyes he would have started to cry.

Why didn’t he?! Why didn’t he just…

Lucifer was kidding himself. He knew exactly why.

To him, at that moment, Venus was nothing but a mistake.

A chore.

Something Lucifer had to remedy.

And then, something especially harsh hit Lucifer.

…I… wouldn’t have held them…

The scene began to shift again, and Lucifer longed to dig his claws into the floor to stay there. To admonish his other self for being that short sighted and terrible.

But no, he watched as years flew by right before his very eyes. He watched as this version of himself never once acted like the father he longed to have been. He missed Venus’ first steps, and when the child walked over to him on his next visit, he didn’t even care.

“Almost every living thing learns to do that, am I meant to be impressed?”

Lucifer wanted out. This couldn’t be the right timeline. Barbatos must have made a mistake, an awful awful mistake. It had to be. It had to be a punishment for even asking to look at another timeline. These visions had to be fake, fabrications made up by Barbatos to teach him a lesson.

Lesson fucking learned! Lucifer wanted to go home!

The scene settled into one where Lucifer was standing in front of the door to Deianira’s home. His arms were crossed and he was levelling an annoyed scowl down at them, Venus however, was nowhere in sight. The early morning sun streamed in through the large French windows, but the pretty scene did nothing to soothe either parent’s mood.

“I can’t believe you’re actually trying to send them to a human school!”

“Well they need to learn somewhere, Lucifer, and I have a job and can’t be home all day.”

“Ah yes,” Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Send them to a human world school where some random child will set them off and cause them to go ballistic. A wonderful idea, Deianira, truly.”

At the edge of Lucifer’s senses, he heard a faint sniffle, then a hiccup. Drifting away from the argument and up the stairs, he saw a pair of wide eyes behind massive glasses peeking out from one of the rooms.

Venus, no older than four, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Almost on instinct Lucifer tried to rush forward, wrap his arms around them and demand to know what made them so upset so he could fix it, but this time… he knew damn well what was upsetting them, and it was right downstairs.

Wiping their tears and shakily walking down the hallway towards the staircase, Lucifer watched them flinch as his counterpart raised his voice.

“Be quieter!” Deianira snapped. “You’re going to scare Venus!”

Lucifer watched as his counterpart rolled his eyes like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world that he should even care about something like that.

“That doesn’t matter! What does matter is that Venus isn’t going to be able to control themselves if someth-

“I’ll be good!”

The pair turned to see Venus halfway down the stairs, all dressed for school. They quickly rushed over to their parent, grabbing their leg and looking up at Lucifer, barely managing to mask their fear.

“I’ll behave!” They said. “I promise.”

Lucifer’s eyes only flicked to the child for a fraction of a second before he returned to arguing with Deianira.

Lucifer visited once a month. Once a month to demand answers from Deianira about how the child was progressing and whether or not they had done something to expose their demonic side.

In all that time, he hardly ever spoke to them, and Venus barely made an attempt to try and speak to him.

It was plain to see. Venus was terrified of him.

Well, terrified until they turned eleven.

“You know, I’m standing right here.” Venus, newly eleven said to Lucifer. Despite their confident posture and glare, it didn’t take a genius to see that they were still nervous.

“I can see that.” Lucifer’s counterpart sighed, turning to the child and raising an eyebrow. “And?”

“You don’t have to ask my ren everything about me. I can just tell you myself.”

The other Lucifer let out a humourless laugh and shook his head. “No, that isn’t necessary. It’d be quite tedious to ask your parent afterwards if you were lying.”

“Fine then. Enjoy getting info second hand, Lord Lucifer.”

That. That right there. That was the first time Venus addressed him by name.

They hadn’t called him father, or dad, or even by his untitled name. Lucifer had pushed them so far away, the first time Venus uttered his name was in disgust and with his fucking title attached.

The scene shifted again.

The exchange program. Venus had been called down entirely by accident. Unlike the amount of barely concealed excitement in the child Lucifer knew so well, this version of Venus looked so silently devastated.

“Can I just- pardon- can I just stay with the other exchange students?” Venus asked Lord Diavolo, who tilted his head in confusion.

“Do you… not want to stay with your family?”

Venus’ gaze flicked to Lucifer for just a fraction of a second, before eventually… they only managed a shrug.

“Just try staying with them for a bit, Venus,” Diavolo urged with a kind smile. “You might end up liking it.”

To put it simply, they didn’t.

Just like in Lucifer’s own time, his brothers weren’t immediately endeared to the child out of familial love, no no no, just out of interest in a shiny new thing that happened to belong to their dear big brother.

And there were no adventures to endear them to each other. Venus barely left their room. No romps through the labyrinth, no school festivals, no being trapped in video games. Nothing.

Finally, the scene settled again, Venus was in Lucifer’s office, and the demon was thumbing through a report card.

“Decent.” Lucifer said after a long beat of silence, he placed the report card down and went back to his paperwork. “You can go now.”

“I have a question.”

Looking up from his paperwork and raising his eyebrows Lucifer inclined his head. “Speak.”

“What did I do?”

“…what? Venus you need to be more specific-“

“What did I do that was so wrong to make you treat me like this?”

The question froze Lucifer’s counterpart in place, but only for a second before he rolled his shoulders and went back to his work.

“Nothing. And I don’t know what you mea-“

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I MEAN!”

The sudden outburst was enough to stir Lucifer from his paperwork. He scowled over at Venus, who’s fists were clenched to the point where they were shaking.

“Don’t you dare yell at me.”

“I’m going to fucking yell and you’re going to take it!” Venus snarled, tears beginning to pool in their eyes. “You’ve treated me like shit my whole life! You’ve never once told me you loved me, or you were proud of me- NOTHING! Did I do something wrong?! Just- just- WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH ME THAT YOU COULDN’T LOVE ME?!”

Nothing. You did nothing wrong… Lucifer longed to say to them, assure them that he loved them… but that wasn’t what the other Lucifer had said.

“You, Venus, are a penance I have to endure.” Lucifer stood up from his desk and walked over, his glare sharp as the point of a sword. “You are my mistake to deal with. You are that, and the exchange student, nothing else.”

A tear rolled down Venus’ cheek, they turned on their heel, and moved to walk away.

“Well, with that attitude, no wonder two of your brothers won’t come home.”

Two… wait-

The scene shifted, Venus was standing in front of Diavolo, crying.

“Please just- send me home!”

Diavolo’s eyes widened as Venus wrapped their arms around themselves and cried.

“I don’t want to be here anymore! I want to go home, to my real parent!”

Almost on instinct, Diavolo opened his arms and Venus ran into them, holding onto him like if they let go, they’d drown.

“I hate him… I hate him…” Venus whimpered. “I just hate him so much…”

Venus and Lucifer had their ups and downs. Lucifer knew that. He wasn’t perfect, despite his attempts to make others think he was. He was flawed. He had neglected them at times, he hadn’t been the father they deserved. Venus wasn’t perfect either, hell, they had accidentally cursed their family and wiped Lucifer’s memories, but they had worked together to fix that.

At the end of the first year of the exchange program, Venus chose to stay with Lucifer.

They were a family, and this family loved each other.

And now Lucifer was watching his child beg his friend to let them go home. To the human world.

But… a thought entered Lucifer’s head. Two brothers… two missing brothers…

…

Where was Mammon?

Belphie was still in the attic, Venus hadn’t let him out, but where had Mammon gone?

…

The scene began to shift again.

This time, the other timeline’s Lucifer wasn’t present. Mammon, and who Lucifer recognized as Ash’s mother, were standing in front of each other, and whispering in hushed conversation.

“I didn’t mean to leave all sudden like that…” Mammon scratched the back of his neck. “But my brother called n’… yeah…”

“It’s not your fault… at least you left your number.”

“Heh… yeah…”

Lucifer had heard the story of what happened in his timeline from Ash dozens of times. Mammon and their mother had spent a week together, Mammon had been summoned back to the Devildom, and Ash’s mother was left without a phone number to call, and later found out she was pregnant.

It was an honest mistake on Mammon’s part, he had no idea he had left a hookup hanging, but it seemed in this timeline he was able to scrawl his number down on a piece of paper before he was pulled back down.

“So… a baby…”

“Yeah,” Ash’s mother’s face hardened. “Are you going to stick around, or try and fly the coop?”

“Eh?! I wouldn’t do that!” Mammon snapped back, an embarrassed blush painting his cheeks. “W-we’re gonna do this together, right?”

Relief painted across Ash’s mother’s features, she then nodded. “Good… good…”

The scene warped again, Mammon was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar bedroom, a baby, about six months old sitting on his chest.

“Sittin’ up already, buddy?”

“Aaah!” The baby, Ash, leaned forward and lightly whacked Mammon on the nose, who snickered and shook his head.

“So violent, you got a temper, huh?”

“Amaaaa…”

“S’no big deal, little buddy, I’ve had worse.”

“Gah…”

Despite himself, a warmth began to spread through Lucifer. At least in this timeline Mammon and Ash were happy. There would be no childish bickering or malice between the two, not this time.

The scene warped and shifted, Lucifer was back in the Devildom, and Mammon was resting his head on one of his outstretched hands in the dining room, a scowl on his face.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Levi,” Mammon shot a glare at his younger brother. “I didn’t take your shit.”

This was a common argument the two would have. Honestly, it was a toss up as to whether or not Mammon was actually guilty in any case.

“I know it was you Mammon!” Levi snapped, slamming one of his fists on the dining table. “I smelled you all over my stuff, and I want my figurine back!”

“I didn’t take any of your fuckin’ figurines! We played video games in your room less than three days ago, maybe that’s why your stupid room smells like me!”

As Mammon and Levi continued to argue, an audience began to form, Satan and Asmo lingered in the doorway, leaning in and listening to the exchange, while Beel and Belphie were bold enough to actually sit at the table.

“That’s it!” Mammon said, suddenly pushing away from the table and standing up, throwing up his hands in defeat. “I’m leavin’! I’m done!”

“Where are you going, Mammon?” Belphie asked, his tone bored, but his eyes locked on Mammon like a predator before a strike. “Going to visit that human?”

Mammon froze. “The fuck’s it to you?”

Belphie snorted and shook his head. “That’s what I thought, go run to your human and the half-breed then, if you’re going to be with them instead of your family then we don’t want you.”

The room went quiet.

Quiet until of course, this timeline’s Lucifer walked in.

“What the hell are you all yelling about?”

“I’m leaving.” Mammon started walking towards the exit again.

“Where and for how long?” Lucifer asked, almost sounding bored. “So I know how long to string you idiots up for interrupting my work-“

“It’ll be forever if you jackasses keep this shit up!”

“What?” Asmo piped up, the familiar venom in his tone. “Why? You can’t possibly think they’d actually put up with yo-“

“They’re nice to me!” Mammon turned and shouted. “They don’t call me names and accuse me of shit like you bastards do! I’m done! I’m going.”

And with that, Mammon walked out.

“He’ll be back.” Satan said, checking his newly painted nails. “He’s not going to stay up there forever.”

The scene changed, months later, Mammon hadn’t come home, and Lucifer was now standing in the middle of a small apartment kitchen late at night.

“Mammon, home, now.”

“No.” Mammon shook his head. “I’m not leaving them.”

“You’re a demon Mammon, are you going to spend the next whoever knows how long pretending to be human?”

“I’d rather do that then go back with you!”

Running a hand through his hair and growling in frustration, Lucifer fixed Mammon with a stern glare. “You’re being ridiculous, are you really going to walk away from us like this? You’re a demon lord of hell, you have responsibilities!”

“Yes! I would!” Mammon growled. “And if you try and take me back by force, the Devildom’s never seein’ a drop of money again.”

The other Lucifer went quiet, his eyes widening for a fraction of a second before returning to his previous glare. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t tell me what I don’t mean.” Mammon snapped. “I’m sick of being the family punching bag! You all can just- just- FUCK OFF!”

The scene shattered.

Time went by. Mammon got to watch his child grow up and got to be the father Ash deserved. Though, as Lucifer watched, he couldn’t bring himself to be happy for them.

While Ash and their mother had an easier life than they did in Lucifer’s timeline… Mammon had left his brothers. Ash wouldn’t know his uncles, they would never meet Cecil and Venus…

The family was incomplete, and Lucifer knew perfectly well why.

During those years, all the way up until Venus had been pulled down, Mammon’s behaviour had worsened, which caused the insults and punishment to worsen, which in turn, made Mammon misbehave. But still… he wouldn’t have- wouldn’t have left after all that! There had to have been something else! Something that wasn’t there in Lucifer’s time-

Venus.

This Lucifer had to… “deal with” Venus in this timeline.

Mammon was the punching bag for all that stress…

No wonder he left… Lucifer thought, his heart twisting in his chest.

And no wonder I never saw Venus as anything other than a burden… Lucifer continued as a horrid realization struck him as hard as a punch to the face. Mammon left them all for a half demon.

As Lucifer felt something begin to tug him backwards, he wanted to wince.

He had one more brother to watch… didn’t he?

…

Lucifer could smell the perfume in the air before anything else. Asmo being summoned to the human world was always accompanied by a blast of whatever newest scent he had become obsessed with.

Cecil’s mother had found Solomon, and the sorcerer was kind enough to summon Asmo to meet his child…

“Oh they look just like me!” Asmo cooed, leaning down and poking at the baby’s cheeks. “Look at those eyes, awww, you’re a charmer like your daddy, huh~?”

“Be gentle, Asmodeus,” Solomon tutted as he noticed that Cecil’s mother seemed too nervous to speak up about Asmo’s handling of the baby.

The baby, Cecil, on the other hand, seemed to be plenty capable of speaking up for themselves as they whined and reached for their mother. Ignoring this, Asmo continued to turn the baby over and mess with their hair and outfit, making his displeasure at any imperfections known.

“I am being gentle, gentle as a kitten. Now look at this onesie, it’s hideous!”

“That’s the thing about Asmo,” Lucifer remembered Leviathan joking one day to Venus, “he wears down your self esteem over a number of years without even trying.”

Asmo would visit, once a month, and talk all about his favourite topic. Himself.

Every visit, from when Cecil was an infant to a preteen, Asmodeus would talk about himself.

Unless of course, something displeased him.

“Your hair is a mess, have you considered cutting it?”

“Did you pick out your outfit? Ugh, it shows.”

“If you put a bit of effort into your makeup you’d look better.”

And those were the times when Asmo didn’t forget he even had a child to look after. At first the visits were frequent, but as Asmo lost interest, the time spent with his child began to dwindle.

Lucifer watched Cecil sit at their dinner table, all on their own, waiting for hours on end for Asmo to show up, and never appearing.

All he did was talk about himself and they still waited… Lucifer thought bitterly. You really are too good, Cecil.

But it wasn’t like Asmo completely erased the child from his memory, oh no. He loved to brag.

Loved to brag about what a wonderful father he was. Loved to talk about how his child totally adored him. Loved to give advice on how to be even half the picture-perfect father he was.

Finally, the second attempt at the exchange program. Venus had left, and Cecil was brought down. Alone.

The scene shifted and warped once again, Asmo and Cecil were in Asmo’s room, the half demon painting his nails as he gabbed away.

Lucifer watched as Cecil’s eye began to twitch. It was quick, so quick that Lucifer wondered if he was just imagining things, but then it happened again. He watched as Cecil’s grip tightened on their father’s hand.

“Stop talking.” They said, their voice clear as day.

Asmo didn’t seem to hear them, he kept on rambling. Rambling. Rambling. Rambling.

“I said shut up.” Cecil’s scowl deepened, but Asmo wasn’t even paying attention.

“And then I told her to stop trying to get me to wear something that garish. Can you imagine? Me wearing that?! Anyway I-“

Finally, Cecil dropped Asmo’s hand and stomped over to Asmo’s dozens of perfume bottles, they grabbed one, and threw it straight to the ground.

The room went silent the moment the glass shattered against the floor.

Asmo opened his mouth to demand what the hell Cecil thought they were doing, but Cecil beat him to the punch.

“What’s my middle name?”

“…what?”

“My middle name!” Cecil repeated, their cheeks going an angry red. “What is it?! Don’t you know your own child’s name?!”

“Cecil, I don’t know what has gotten into y-“

“Of course you don’t!” Cecil snapped back. “You know nothing about me, you self-centred NARCISSIST!”

Asmo crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, Cecil, how original. If I had a nickel for every time someone tried to insult me by calling me a narcissist I’d have enough money to-“

“I. Don’t. CARE!” Cecil screamed, stomping down on the fragments of broken glass with their shoes and shattering them further. “What’s my favourite colour?! What’s my favourite movie?! What musical instruments can I play?! Huh?! You claim you’re such a good dad, now TELL ME WHO I AM!”

Asmo opened his mouth to respond… then slowly closed it.

He didn’t know.

“Who are my friends?! What are my hobbies?! What are my grades at this stupid school?! No, you don’t know, because you only care about yourself!”

And with angry tears running down their cheeks, Cecil stormed out, slamming the door behind them, leaving Asmo wide-eyed on his bed, completely motionless.

My Asmo wouldn’t. Lucifer repeated that, over and over again in his mind like a cultish chant. He adores Cecil, he loves hearing about them and what they do- he loves-

He didn’t always.

Lucifer grimaced. He knew his little brother, and despite how much he loved him, Lucifer knew Asmo didn’t have the best track record with rolling out affection. It was almost never selfless. It was always to gain something.

The admiration or respect of others, a product, status, a partner for the night, it didn’t matter.

And at first Cecil was no different.

Asmo was so excited to find out that he had a half human child in Lucifer’s timeline because Lucifer was a father and he saw what Venus did for his image. That wasn’t to say Asmo didn’t love Venus, but Asmo knew what made his follower count balloon into the stratosphere.

This Asmo never stopped seeing Cecil as a simple tool.

…

Lucifer’s eyes snapped open. He was holding his cup of tea in a shaking hand, looking dead ahead at Barbatos, who was calmly stirring milk into his tea.

“I told you that you might not like what you see.”

The butler continued to stir his tea, before eventually putting down the spoon and taking a sip.

“Was that really what would have happened..?”

“It might have.” Barbatos said simply. “There are other timelines, but you asked for the closest one, and that was one of the closest I could find.”

“…I see.” Lucifer put down his tea, almost completely untouched, before he gave Barbatos a shaky nod and stood up from his seat. “I’ll be going now.”

“See you tomorrow, Lucifer.” Barbatos said as Lucifer quickly walked out of the room.

As the demon made his way home, he couldn’t help but wonder when he had stopped viewing Venus as a chore. When he started seeing them as a child and not a dangerous ticking time-bomb.

…Lucifer remembered laughter.

It had been a nice day out, the bright moon was fading to its dim nighttime glow, and Lucifer was waiting by the entrance of RAD’s middle school division. Despite child after child coming out the door, Venus hadn’t made their way outside.

Hearing a familiar voice cheer just out of sight, Lucifer couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Venus was goofing off, most likely.

He stepped into the school and walked down the halls, moving past the stragglers and teachers cleaning up their classrooms at the end of the day, and finally made it to the yard.

Over by the swingset, he spotted them.

“Hi father!” Venus waved as their swing swung them backwards. “Gimme a sec! I’m gonna jump!”

“Venus, it’s time to leave, now.” Lucifer said through gritted teeth, the day’s exhaustion and frustration seeping into his voice.

“Just wait, I gotta get high enough!” Venus replied, kicking out their legs and leaning back, forcing the swing to go higher as their little audience of three of their peers began to cheer their name.

“Vee! Vee! Vee!”

Venus let go at the highest possible point, but the moment their feet hit the wood chips, their legs slid out from under them and they landed on their back.

“Ow.”

“Ooo…” one of the children winced, a girl with pink hair and a lollipop in her mouth. “Ouch. Vee, don’t you have wings?”

“Yeah!” Venus said as they sat up. “But in the human world we don’t use wings to land! I can do it- just watch agai-“

“Venus, we’re leaving.” Lucifer began to walk over in order to tug his child to their feet and pull them home. At this rate the two would be late for dinner and-

“Just a second!” Venus shot to their feet and ran back to the swing, hoisting themselves onto their feet and beginning to kick back and forth again.

“Enough of this,” Lucifer sighed. “Do you want to be late?”

“We won’t be late if you push me!” Venus said, pushing their crooked glasses back into place as they began to pick up speed.

“Push you? No.”

“Come on, father.”

“Venus, get off the swi-“

“Pleeeeeaaaaaase? Please let me jump one more time!”

To his absolute shock (and mild horror) Lucifer felt his resolve begin to crumble. He slowly stepped behind the swing, and caught the chains.

“Aw- father but-“

“Hold on.”

Lucifer pulled the swing back, then pushed it forward, sending Venus flying upwards as they held onto the chains for dear life.

“WOOOOO!” They cried as they sailed through the air, daring to free one of their hands and pump their fist in the air.

“Hurry up and jump, we don’t have all-“

Venus leapt from the swing, soaring through the air until-

“HAH!” Venus hit the ground on both feet, waited a moment for their balance to be perfect, before holding up their arms like a gymnast. “See! I told you I can do it without flying!”

The three other kids snickered and gave them a halfhearted, but friendly round of applause as Lucifer grabbed one of their arms and began to lead them out of the playground.

“Bye, Vee!”

“Bye guys! See you Monday!” Venus called out before turning to Lucifer with a big grin on their face as they slipped their arm out of his grasp and causally replaced it with their hand. “I bet them I could stick the landing without using my wings and I did it!”

“Yes, I saw.”

“Mhm, we do that all the time in the human world, it’s not hard.” Venus explained with a proud smile. “Now what’s for dinner? Can we have Akudonalds?”

“What? No.” Lucifer looked down at them, bewhildered. “We have food at home.”

“With Uncle Beel there? No way.” Venus replied, pouting. “What about pizza?”

“No.”

“Sushi?”

“No.”

“Ugh!” Venus huffed, puffing out their cheeks and looking up at Lucifer with a frown as the two turned the corner and began walking down the street to the house. “What do you plan on feeding me, then?”

“Hm,” Lucifer tapped his chin with his free hand in mock thought. “Gruel. It’s nutritious enough.”

“Ewwww!” Venus stuck out their tongue. “Maybe that’s what you eat but that’s nasty!”

“It’s good enough.”

“Good enough for someone who runs on… motor oil, maybe! Father, you run on motor oil!”

“Mhm.”

“Bleh…” Venus shook their head and began to look into the windows of shops they passed by. Despite himself, Lucifer began to crack an amused little smile. “Well if you plan on depriving me of deliciousness, can we at least get ice cream after dinner?”

“If you eat all your broccoli,”

“I like broccoli. That’s not going to be hard at all.” Venus said proudly.

“And your green beans.”

“What?! No way! You know those are nasty!”

“They’re nutritious.”

“Ewwww! No no no no! This is against the Geneva convention! At least make them in like- butter or something! Come on, father, they’re terrible!”

“If you don’t eat it, I’ll take everyone else out for ice cream.”

“Mammon’s not going to eat green beans either!”

“Then he doesn’t get ice cream either.”

“This is unjust!”

Lucifer’s smirk only grew as Venus continued to whine, while he unlocked the door. His child attempted to bargain with him over exactly how many green beans they’d need to eat before they could get their dessert as the door swung open.

“Uncle Mammon you won’t believe this!” Venus shouted as they kicked off their shoes and sprinted into the house, determined to find their uncle and continue to complain about the sheer unfairness of the whole situation.

To his surprise, a small, fond little laugh escaped Lucifer’s lips as he heard Mammon’s aghast response join Venus’ horrified retelling of what Lucifer told them.

“Kids…” Lucifer whispered.

As the memory began to fade, Lucifer found himself right at the front door.

He fumbled around for his keys before he managed to unlock the door and step inside, where he was greeted by the sounds of a video game running in the living room, and the intense shouting of someone losing said video game.

“Ya can’t just blue shell your old man like this!”

“Bold words for someone who mains Bowser.”

“THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!”

In the living room, Mammon and Ash were aggressively tapping away at their controllers with their eyes deadlocked on the screen, while Levi acted as their sports announcer.

“A bold move from Yoshi, but is it enough to beat Peach on a motorcycle?”

“I think so.” Beel piped up from his spot on the couch next to Belphie, who was peacefully napping through all of this on his shoulder.

“Well I mean- yeah it is a computer opponent but-“ Levi trailed off for a moment, before picking up his announcer act again with twice the previous vigor. “A jump from one part of the track to another! Bowser once again takes the lead before- NO! He falls into the abyss of space!”

“Dammit!” Mammon snapped, waiting for his kart to drop back onto the track while Ash exploded into giggles next to him.

“Would you all quiet down?” Asmo said from the other side of the living room, sitting on the floor surrounded by nail polish with Cecil. “I can’t hear a damn thing.”

“Then speak louder or somethin!” Mammon called back, which elicited an eyeroll from Asmo.

“What were you saying, Cecil sweetie?”

“Oh- right! I was just looking at these new shoes that Devicci dropped recently, and I really think they should stick to watches because-“

The faintest of smiles came across Lucifer’s lips as he saw how Asmo hung onto every word, how genuinely happy he seemed when he listened to Cecil recount how their day went.

But despite the little get-together they seemed to be having, Lucifer couldn’t spot the person he was looking for.

He moved on, down the hallway and up the stairs to their room, and tapped his knuckles against the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

“Come in.”

Lucifer opened up the door, and was greeted by Venus and Satan’s dear cat attempting to climb up his leg. Sighing, Lucifer picked up the cat and carried him over to Venus, who was hunched over their desk doing homework.

“What is it, father? Do you need something or-“

Venus was cut off by Lucifer spinning their desk chair around and absolutely crushing them into a hug.

“Ow- uh- father are you-“

“I love you, Venus. Don’t forget that.”

“…father are you sick?”

Lucifer pulled away and frowned in confusion. “What? Can I not say I love you?”

“Father seriously, the last time you were this upfront about it you had memory loss-“

“Quiet, you.” Lucifer tsked, but quickly began to chuckle. “That wasn’t the best of weekends, was it?”

“No, it was decidedly not.” Venus mumbled, then shrugged. “So uh- are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes… I’m fine.” Lucifer said after a moment of thought. “I just… got a little reminder of how much time flies.”

“You had an old person moment?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.” Lucifer said with a roll of his eyes. “But it also gave me a good reminder.”

Venus tilted their head. “What was it?”

Lucifer gently reached out and ruffled Venus’ hair as he softly smiled. “That even though I came into your life a little later than I would have liked, I’m lucky enough to spend the rest of mine with you now.”

———————

Author’s Note

Okay- writing some parts of this angst honestly felt like I was dragging myself through broken glass- angst writers how and why do you do this????

AND ON A REGULAR BASIS???????

Yeah- so uh- Luci’s content with being a good dad and meeting his kid a little late rather than being a terrible dad and being somewhat around for his kid’s whole life-

Shoot me an ask or comment or something and yell at me for this please.

#obey me #obey me!#obey me! shall we date?#obey me shall we date #Obey me Lucifer #Obey me Mammon #Obey me Asmodeus #Obey me fankids #obey me fankid #obey me OC #obey me fanfiction #obey me fic #obey me fanfic #obey me! fanfiction #obey me! fanfic #obey me! fic #obey me! Lucifer #Obey me! Mammon #Obey me! Asmodeus

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