Lucifer's Mansion, late Wednesday night

[betterthanaplan]

It took Duke awhile to get really properly trashed -- another sign that maybe he needed to pull back on the casual drinking -- but once he was properly wobbly, he decided to lean into the impulse he'd had at the Devil's Nest tonight and show up drunk on Lucifer's doorstep.

He had a large glass of rum with him in one hand and a bottle of brandy tucked under the other arm. He set the rum down with great drunken ceremony and dignity at the end of Lucifer's front walk for the squirrels -- he really didn't need to be having anymore public meltdowns over this, thanks -- and then sprawled himself down onto Lucifer's front stoop.

And, because he was in fact a drunken sailor and it seemed thematic, he started to sing.

"Eliiiiiiise believe I never wanted this
I thought this time I'd keep all of my promises!"

He maybe should have put out more rum.

[For the one who lives here, and NFB please!]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

Summer had left Lucifer with the brilliant idea of at least smoking some pot before bed this evening. So sprawled out on the couch in one of his fancy robes with something utterly forgettable going on the TV, it took him a while to pick up on the singing.

He sighed, pushing up off the sofa. "If this is some kind of squirrel thing, I don't want to know," he muttered, walking to the door.

And pulled it open to reveal a pirate sprawled on his doorstep.

"Well," he said, the unnecessary snicker a final product of the substance already quickly evaporating from his veins, "Not the usual drunken boaty doorstop."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tilted his head waaaaay back to look up at him.

"You have a usual drunken booty doorstop?"

Boaty. He meant boaty.

[my_own_advocate]

"You're the one who usually shows up to the Nest drunk, remember?" Lucifer said, laughing. "So what brings your booty to my doorstep?"

He was not above using that mangle, thank you.

[betterthanaplan]

"Tavi's in your Nest."

Hopefully Lucifer could translate the drunk on that one.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer blinked. "Really?" he said.

He was beginning to remember he was sad and stressed out again, damn it all.

[betterthanaplan]

"Uh huh," Duke said, taking a long sip of his brandy. "Walked in, thinkin' it was Tuesday and bam! Tavi. Didn't wanna do the -- stuff -- there, so I went home. And then went here. And then. . . ."

He gestured to encompass his drunken sprawl and the rum he put out for the squirrels.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, quite," Lucifer said, and looked at the mess that was Duke on his doorstep in earnest.

He held out a hand. "Come on. Bribing the squirrels won't do you any good if you keep sprawling on the street."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yup," Duke said. "Yup, that's why I was singin'." Duke reached for his hand and only missed the first time. Then wobbled to his feet. "This is what she did, right? When I was all -- stuck?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer said, pushing the door open and proceeding back into the hallway. "With a lot of stumbling and shouting and breaking a bottle over my head at least once."

[betterthanaplan]

"Right," Duke said, tripping over the doorjam. "Heard about that." He looked at his brandy bottle. "Not doin' that part. This is expensive brandy."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, and I would also appreciate it, because it's a pain to clean up," Lucifer said, stopping halfway down the hall to turn around and make sure Duke wasn't hurting himself. "And why exactly did you decide to follow in her almost-exact footsteps?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke leaned against the wall while he thought about that. It took a little while.

". . . Symbolism?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer moved past him to close the door. "And did you come up with that before or after you got horrifically plastered?" he asked.

[betterthanaplan]

"Um," Duke said. "Before. . . . But it might have been a joke until after."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a deep sigh. "Of course," he said. "Am I going to have to carry you upstairs as well, or are you able to summon some level of coordination in that already-gangly, flaily body of yours?"

He had his doubts.

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm not flaily," Duke grumbled. "I did all the stairs coming over here."

Slowly. With a lot of pauses. Occasionally draping himself across handrails.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer turned to face him, and a little amusement snuck back into his voice. "Really? Can you stand up straight without leaning on anything?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I don't do anything straight," Duke said proudly. He smirked at his own joke and pushed off the wall to stand upright.

And landed against the opposite wall.

[my_own_advocate]

"As I'm very intimately aware, darling, but no points for convincing me you are anything besides utterly uselessly hammered," Lucifer said.

And reached out to just... peel Duke off the wall. He clearly needed support.

[betterthanaplan]

"I may have had too much brandy," Duke mumbled, letting Lucifer peel and steer him. "Am I doing this right? I don't actually know how this 'show up drunk at Lucifer's' thing is s'posed to work."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, so far, you are definitely following Octavia's playbook," Lucifer sighed, guiding him towards the stairs. "Which is a weird thing to do, just to be utterly clear here."

Okay. Trying one step up the stairs with old boozy here...

[betterthanaplan]

"I get drunk at home all the time," Duke said. "I'm tryin' something different."

And Lucifer came over all the time, and Duke didn't want him to feel like he was the only one putting any effort into this -- friendship. He knew what that felt like and it sucked.

Admittedly, in retrospect making Lucifer clean up his messy drunk self was maybe not the best way to balance those scales.

"Am I being terrible?" he asked. He started leaning back towards the door. "I c'n go. 'Snot a problem."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed, pulling him back in.

"I am fairly sure you'll break your neck if I let you go back out there," he said, "and I don't remember telling you to leave."

[betterthanaplan]

"You said it was weird," Duke said, as though that meant the same thing. "I'm getting my weird all over you."

[my_own_advocate]

"You are," Lucifer agreed.

Arguing with Duke seemed pointless. Scooping him off his feet was, per the Octavia playbook, more effective, and so he proceeded accordingly.