Angel Wings and Demon Pitchforks

25. As Long As You Promise To Never Do It Again

It was the Wednesday of the second week of holidays and Michael was doing nothing. He'd been doing nothing in the holidays apart from laser tag and working on cars in the workshop. 

He was working on the small red one that had come in a couple of days earlier when Bobby walked in. 

"How's it going?" He asked. 

"Just need to adjust the valve and it should be good to go," Michael replied, his head buried in the engine. 

"Take a break for a minute then," Bobby said. "Talk to me." Michael straightened up and wiped his hands on his overalls. 

"What about?" 

"How are you?" Bobby asked, leaning back on the workshop bench. 

"Fine," Michael said simply. There wasn't a lie there; he really was fine. At that moment, anyway. 

"Dean, Sam and Jo are going out for lunch, do you want to join them?" 

"Not really." He could tell where this was going and he didn't like it. 

"You need to get out of the house more, Michael." 

He turned back to the car and stared at the engine. "No, I don't. I'm okay here." 

"I gave you the job in the workshop so you could learn a skill and do what you've always wanted," Bobby said, pushing off the bench and walking closer, "but you need to get out. You're only seventeen once. Spend time with friends, with your brothers." 

"I went to laser tag last week." Michael braced himself on the front of the car. 

"And that was good. But you need to do that kind of thing more. I'm just worried that you're spending more time for yourself and not enough time making friends. And you're pushing the friends you do have away." 

Michael's hands tightened around the cold metal. "What are you talking about?" 

"You're avoiding Lucifer." 

Michael tried not to wince. "No. I'm not." 

Yes, he was. In fact, he had told Lucifer to leave him alone on Monday. And now Lucifer was doing exactly that; Michael hadn't received a text or call since then. 

"Michael." Bobby put a hand on Michael's shoulder and it took everything in him not to flinch. And yet he still did. Bobby pretended not to notice, but took his hand away. "He's a good guy. And just because he thought that you were his soulmate shouldn't change the way you see him." 

"It..." Doesn't. Michael couldn't even get the lie through his throat. 

"Just be his friend, Michael. Don't let what happened before affect what happens now." 

Michael wanted to do that. He wanted to be Lucifer's friend. But...

"Bobby... he's dead, right?" It was barely above a whisper but there it was. The fear that was haunting Michael. The fear of his father coming back to find him friends with someone - a boy who he liked - named Lucifer. 

Lucifer. The name of the devil. The same devil who's pitchfork was branded under all of those scars on Michael's chest. The mark that his father had hated and resented and burned. 

"Of course he's dead, Michael," Bobby said. "There's no way your father is coming back. He's gone and now you can move on." Michael nodded and kept nodding as the tears fell. The tears he didn't notice until they were half way down his cheeks. Bobby noticed and brought him in for a hug, ignoring the flinch, and said, "that man broke you but that doesn't mean you have to stay broken. You boys can do it, understand? And Ellen and I are here for you. You don't have to do this alone anymore." 

Michael let out a sob. He wasn't used to not being alone. 

---

It was late afternoon when Lucifer arrived for his shift. Michael was reorganising the tool bench for the third time that afternoon, going over what he was going to say. 

I'm sorry seemed like a good place to start. Then, let's be friends again, please. He just hoped, prayed even, that Lucifer was going to accept his apology and forgive him. 

He was hyperaware of exactly where Lucifer was in the workshop. He was also aware that Lucifer knew exactly where Michael was. Neither of them said anything. It had been six days since they'd seen each other. It wasn't until Lucifer came over to grab a wrench that Michael actually said something. 

"Hey." 

Lucifer's eyebrows rose, but that was the only sign that he'd even heard him. 

"So, I-uh, need to talk to you." 

Lucifer hummed but started walking over to the car he was putting together. It was almost finished. 

"Can we talk?" Michael followed him over. 

"What about?" Lucifer asked and relief flooded through Michael. 

"I'm..." he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry." 

Lucifer finally faced him, his face unreadble. "About what?" 

"What?" 

"What are you sorry for?" 

Michael exhaled. "Everything. I'm sorry that I pushed you away and I'm sorry I told you to leave me alone and I'm sorry that I ignored you. I... I've missed you." Lucifer's expression softened, relieved. 

"Well I'll forgive you, Michael, as long as you promise to never do it again." 

"I swear I won't." 

Lucifer smiled. "Good. Now I'm going to hug you and there's nothing you can do about it." 

He pulled Michael in for a hug, crushing the slightly smaller boy, but Michael didn't care because it was Lucifer. Lucifer was hugging him, he wasn't mad or upset at Michael. He was just hugging him.

---

The boys had been talking in the workshop for a while now, Michael couldn't exactly remember how long. It was nice to talk to to Lucifer, he didn't realise how much he missed it. Michael stopped talking mid-sentence his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out.

Wednesday, 4:53pm

Sam:
Do you want to go to the diner for dinner? Gabe and I are going and we need to tell you smth. Dean and Cas are going too.

Michael looked down at his phone and Lucifer looked over his shoulder. 

"You want to go?" Michael asked. 

"Sure," Lucifer smiled, "just let me change." He gestured down at his grease-covered jeans and shirt. 

"You've got some on your face," Michael told him, pointing at his forehead. 

"Damn." Lucifer attempted to wipe it off, but only smudged it. 

"Come on," Michael chuckled. "Let's clean you up." 

---

The first thing Sam noticed was the fact that Lucifer was wearing Michael's clothes. They had shown up at the diner half-an-hour after Sam sent the text, so they probably had come from the workshop. Sam smirked but didn't say anything about it. 

"You're here," he said instead as they sat down in the booth, one on each side. Sam gripped Gabriel's hand under the table, out of Michael's sight. He was shaking. He had told Gabriel that he was ready for his brothers to know about them, but he had also said not to mention the whole soulmate thing. So there was no real reason for him to be nervous because Sam knew that his brothers would be completely fine with him dating Gabriel. 

"We wanted to tell you something," Gabriel started but was interrupted by Dean. 

"Sorry. This sounds serious, so could we order first?" 

"Jerk move, Dean," Lucifer said. "But yeah, I'm starving."