Angel Wings and Demon Pitchforks

31. Suprise! I've Been Avoiding You

In his past experience, Michael found that breaking down to a friend usually made you closer. However, after his melt-down at the Novak dinner, Lucifer had started avoiding him.

Michael didn't know what he'd done. He didn't understand why Lucifer wasn't answering his calls or his texts. When they sat next to each other in class all Lucifer did was scribble notes in his notebook (something Michael had never seen him do) and avoid eye contact. Then when the bell rung he'd rush out, his head down - not even a snarky nod at the teacher.

It made Michael feel terrible. And what made it worse was thinking that this was exactly how Lucifer would have felt when Michael avoided him.

On Thursday, exactly a week before Thanksgiving, Michael decided he'd had enough of the persistent avoidance and decided to confront the devil before school. So, as Lucifer walked past Michael's locker, he reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, Lucifer."

"Hey." Lucifer gave a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Is everything okay? You've been kind of distant all week."

"Yeah, sorry. Just busy with... school." Lucifer's eyes darted away. Something was up.

"School?" Michael rose an eyebrow.

"Yeah. School. Homework. Projects. Stuff. Stress. School." Lucifer started rocking on the balls of his feet. Michael, confused, turned the lock and opened the locker.

"I didn't think we had much homework this week," he said, grabbing his books.

"Yeah well I haven't done anything... So. Yeah."

"You're acting weird." Michael had to stop himself from asking, does it have something to do with what happened on Monday?

"I'm always weird." Lucifer gave a genuine smile and Michael actually believed that everything was fine. "But I actually have to go print something off at the library now. So, bye." Lucifer hurried away.

"I'll come with you." Michael jogged to keep up.

"No, no that's okay."

Michael fell back a step and watched Lucifer rush off, his stomach sinking.

---

Michael tried again on Saturday at work. Lucifer was finishing his car, adding the final polish and whatnot, and Bobby was out the back collecting a few spare parts for another car.

"Lucifer, are you sure everything's alright?"

"Everything's fine, Mikey." Lucifer smiled over the bonnet of the car. "Why'd you ask?"

"It's just... nothing. It's nothing." Michael didn't know why he couldn't ask. Maybe he was just afraid of the answer. "Do you want to hang out later?"

"Can't, sorry. I'm just swamped with things to do. Maybe another time?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

After work, however, Michael, as he cleaned up the tools, caught Lucifer telling Bobby something. They were too far away for him to catch what was said, but by the way Bobby was grinning, it must have been good. But no matter how much Michael thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

---

Sunday afternoon was quiet. Dean, Sam, Michael and Jo were lounging around the living room, sprawled out on the couch. Jo and Dean were playing cards and Sam was reading a book, while Michael tried to remain inconspicuous and quiet on the chair in the corner, to make them forget he was there. The night before they'd all shared a knowing look with Bobby which meant the three of them knew something that they weren't telling Michael.