Charlie Intermission V
By day two of Lucky not coming back, Charlie had started to grow concerned.
The prince’s warning that Hell would feel chaotic had been warranted.
He’d needed to close the blinds to shield his eyes from the strobing lights and turn on the TV to literally anything he could find that might help drone out the drum and bass.
He was horrified when shortly after Lucky had left the sky started raining blood so he was a little glad he hadn’t needed to go outside, but it was driving Luke and John mad.
He’d eaten his much-too-large meal of BBQ chicken—at least, he hoped it was chicken—over the course of the few days he’d been cooped up.
He was antsy, and bored.
Surely some paperwork wouldn’t hurt, right?
Charlie dressed in comfortable clothes with a hood and tucked his wallet and badge into his pockets. He’d slipped on the new harness Lucky had bought for the hellhound over the heads. Luke and John had outgrown the last three in the span of a week and the pup nearly came up to Charlie’s ribcage.
He slipped out of his unit, pulled the hood up over his head, and went to the elevator. It creaked under the weight of the hound inside, they’d have to start taking the service elevator that new tenants used to move their furniture in if Luke and John’s growth spurts kept going like this.
He hoped with it being so early in the day he’d go unnoticed.
Thankfully, he’d been better about paying attention to the route and knew exactly where to go, and it wouldn’t take long at a light jogging pace.
That was what he had to do to keep up with Lucky, anyway, and Luke and John seemed to enjoy the quicker movements.
Even with it being early morning, Hell was quite busy.
He heard murmurs of some of the demon lords coming back so he hoped Lucky would return soon, too.
Weirdly, he missed him. He hoped he hadn’t developed Stockholm Syndrome from being so lonely and only having Lucky to talk to, but he felt like he’d been lonely enough in his life that he wouldn’t have been so clingy.
He knew better, and he actually liked Lucky’s company.
Once the prince’s walls had started to come down, Charlie realized they had a lot in common.
Though Lucky would never say it aloud, they had similar personalities when it came to the deeper rooted things.
The perfectionism, the need to do well, the workaholic mindsets, the strong desires to please the people they’d pledged their souls to.
To anyone on the outside, it probably looked as though Lucky was an intense devil who was quick to snap, pompous and egotistical.
But to Charlie? He was trying his hardest to do his job well, was overwhelmed by it, and alone.
If the priest were to be honest, he felt connected to him.
As Charlie quickly walked into the Hell HQ building, he waved at the desk demon before he slid his temporary work badge around his neck.
“Good morning, Mr. Salazar,” Charlie said with a smile.
“Morning! I was wondering where you went,” Salazar replied.
“I took a few days off. Is Mr. Lucky here?”
“Nope, as far as I know His Royal Highness hasn’t come back from Earth yet.”
Charlie didn’t like that.
“Well, hopefully I can make his return a little easier by knocking out some paperwork. Can I use the elevator?”
“Of course. You need to stop by Chai Charon, first? I can watch the hound.”
“Would you?”
“Anything for Mr. Lucky’s favorite human.”
Heat dashed over Charlie’s cheeks. He handed the leash to Salazar and rushed to get a coffee before diving into a rewarding day of work.