Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lucifer’s head hurt. Really, really, really badly. He grunts and slowly rolls himself onto his back, to hear a voice tell him to be careful and hands touch his face gently. Chloe, of course, that explained the hurting.

“What happened?” He blinks up to her, frowning lightly at the stone walls

“What can you remember, Lucifer?”

“We… a fight club? Did I win?” He grins, slowly pushing himself to a sitting position.

“You didn’t fight. They know I’m a cop, someone must have tipped them off. They let us see the start of a fight before knocking us out and dumping us down here.” Chloe sighs and roughly rubs her face, glancing around. Lucifer follows her gaze around the jail cell, noting now that they aren’t alone, yet the surrounding people made no move to check on them, or even to look at them. Battered and bruised, most of them seemed resigned to staring at the floor or napping on wall sides.

Lucifer looks back to Chloe, gently taking hold of her hand and tugging lightly to catch her gaze, “This isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself, we’ll figure it out.”

“There was a guard before. Big guy, sack on his head as a mask. He has all the keys around his neck… maybe we could take him down?” Chloe hums quietly, glancing about in case anyone over heard her.

“How big are we talking?” Lucifer tilts his head thoughtfully. If he could get her away from him, it could work, but with his mortality around her, he doubted he’d get a hit in before the guard knocked his arse back down.

“About your build I’d say. Difficult to pin point, he was wearing a big baggy top.” Chloe glances back toward the door, “we’ll have to wait until he comes back around.”

“We should rest a little before. Gather some energy.” Lucifer raises an arm, wriggling his eyebrows with a smirk, “Only for warmth, love. Promise!”

Chloe sighs and shakes her head with a grin, leaning into his side, “Behave yourself.”

He awakes to screaming. His initial reaction is to curl around Chloe’s form protectively as she jolts awake. Not her screaming then. Spinning to see who’s making the noise, he notices the sack faced man in the room, currently holding one of the bruised females by an ankle, dragging her from the room.

Lucifer jumps up and marches to try and help, only to be suddenly launched back into a wall with a thud, sliding back to a heap on the floor. Chloe is by his side immediately, checking in on him. By the time he’s pushed himself back up for another try, the door is locking and the screaming woman is outside trying to escape the mans grasp.

“Lucifer, sit down, you’re bleeding…” Chloe softly pushes at his chest as he stares to the door, sliding back down the wall to sit.

He lets her pat away at his head as his thoughts roll. The strength was known to him, but it was impossible. The only beings with the strength to toss the Devil himself like a rag doll would be an Angel, or a Demon, either of which he should have sensed. Maybe it was the mortality getting worse. But the guard looked unhappy, controlled. He’d managed to get a good look before getting thrown, the man was his height, build impossible to tell as Chloe had said though obviously rather good from the throw, but the sack wasn’t just a mask. Around the mans neck had been a collar of some form, thick and metal. He was obviously a captive with them, being put to work but why? He zones back to the world to see Chloe’s face rather close to his own, looking very concerned.

“Well that’s a lovely sight, fancy coming a little closer?” He plasters on a grin, hoping for a yes, as well as calming her down a little, “You’re blushing, Detective!”

“Stop it, Lucifer. How are you feeling? That was a hard hit you took.”

“I’m fine, Detective.” She doesn’t look convinced, but he continues on anyways, “He’s a captive. Whatever he’s doing, it’s not his fault or his choice.”

“Yes, I noticed the collar as well. The question is, how do we get him on our side?” She sighs and leans against the wall by him, leaning in slightly when he curls an arm back around her, “I’ve never even heard him speak. He just walks by and looks or grabs someone and leaves.”

Lucifer frowns and shrugs lightly, “I could try charming him. Depends on his desires though.”

“Lucifer, this isn’t time for parlour tricks.”

“Yes, of course, Detective.” He sighs and rolls his eyes, staring through the bars, “Let me think some. Rest some more, I’ll wake you if anything happens.”

He’s warm and yet rather uncomfortable when he’s rudely awoken by his crossed legs being kicked. Growling he looks up to freeze for a second and the blue eyes stare at him from beyond the burlap sack mask. From this view, he can see that the mask seems to have a mouth stitched in, made of five or six crosses.

“What do you want? You’re not getting her.” He growls out lightly, tightening his grip on Chloe protectively. Luckily she’s still sleeping against him, her head resting gently on his shoulder, her face tucked into his neck. Under different circumstances he would be enjoying this a lot more.

The man heaves a sigh and shakes his head, glancing around the room at the other people sleeping. He makes a wave of his arm and looks at Lucifer expectantly before moving back to the door and waiting. Lucifer frowns and shakes Chloe awake gently, nodding toward the man at he door as she awakes, “Apparently we’re wanted, Detective.”

They cautiously move to follow the man, walking out of their cell and into the corridor as the masked man locks the door back behind them. They both silently look around, mapping out as they follow the man, who keeps a good enough distance that should the try and jump him he would know before they had the chance. Eventually he stops them, waving to another cell, this time empty.

“You don’t have to do this. We can help you,” Chloe tries, reaching to put an hand to the mans arm, but he gives a snort and backs away, shaking his head lightly, “Please, let us help you. We can help!”

The man stares at her for a second before staring harshly at Lucifer, squinting as if to say ‘why would he help me’ before nodding towards the cell again. Lucifer frowns deeply and moves towards the cell, pulling Chloe’s arm with him, “Come on, he’s not going to help us.”

The door closes and locks, and the masked man leaves. Lucifer listens to the keys rattle away from them and heaves a sigh.

“He knows me.” He grunts, looking around the cell, “don’t ask me how or why, but the way he just looked at me…”

“There’s a TV in here…” Chloe mumbles, walking over to investigate. The screen lights up, causing her to jump back into Lucifer’s chest.

The crowd cheers around the cage, bashing fists into the bars, jeering as someone is manhandled into the cage. He hits the opposite end and turns, giving the camera a good look at the confused and bloodied face.

“Lucifer, is that….?”

“Not me, love.” He frowns and leans closer to the small screen.

The man who looks like Lucifer rubs his bleeding eyebrow lightly, ridding the flow of blood from his eye. He runs a hand through his dirty blonde hair, turning when the cage door opens once more. Another man enters the cage. The cheering gets louder, then rattling intensifies. The smaller man squares his shoulders and grins.

‘You don’t want to do this. Bad idea, pal.’

The bigger, newer contestant huffs a laugh and takes a run at the blonde man. The blonde takes a slight side step, and spins as the man runs at him, his hand grabbing the bigger mans head and using it as leverage to slam the runners face into the cage wall. A swift fist follows into the back of the mans head and the bigger slumps.

‘Is that it? Can I go now?’ The crowd is in a stunned silence for a few seconds before an angry roar rips through the crowd. The man sighs and shakes his head, turning back around as the door reopens and two more men appear. Armoured and weaponised. The blonde squares again, obviously ready to fight, not expecting the two taser shots that hit. He jolts and thumps to his knees, struggling as his hands slam onto the mat, trying to push himself up. One of the armoured men approaches and he whips out a fist, trying to fight the man off as a syringe hits his neck.

The man moves away again, waiting. The blonde struggles to try and stand. The second armoured man shrugs and pulls out another syringe, jabbing it into the blondes neck again. This time he slumps down, still awake and moving, but obviously powerless as they drag him from the cage.

Chloe turns to look at Lucifer, gasping loudly as she spots the masked man stood back at the door, watching them.

“Was that you?” The masked man nods, glancing down and pushing something small under the door before turning and walking away, “Wait! Damn it.”

“What did he leave?” Lucifer grunts, nodding towards the small black thing on the floor. She slowly moves towards it, crouching down to look before grinning and grabbing it, “Well? What is it?”

“A phone! He gave us a phone.” She grins at him and he can’t help but smile back softly, “You know him. Who is he, Lucifer?”

“Later, Chloe.” He growls lightly and turns away, “Call the precinct, get us out of here. Then we can talk.”

“We will talk about this, don’t think you’re running away.” The ‘again’ wasn’t needed vocalised. She’s dialling and turning away from him again. She’s annoyed at him, he can sense that much. He’ll have to tell her later. Hopefully with the help of his brother, sans the sack head.

Chapter Text

The cops waste little time on arriving. They can hear them storm the arena upstairs, screaming and footsteps thumping from above, dust falling from the ceiling. Chloe stands near the door, watching, whilst Lucifer leans up against the furthest wall. Chloe hasn’t spoken other than to mention that her work mates were on the way. The silence was killing him, but he really doesn’t want to have this conversation. How can he explain this when she doesn’t even believe him about himself?

‘Yes, he’s my brother. He’s the one who threw me from Heaven and watched me burn as I fell. He’s the one who cursed me to Hell, he’s the one that locked me down there.’ Yes, that will go down swimmingly.

The yelling is getting closer. A door down the corridor opens.

“Where are they?!” It sounds like Dan, but Lucifer can’t be sure. Someone stumbles and growls deeply. The light from the doorway dulls as bodies fill the same. It is Dan, holding a shot gun at the masked mans head, whom is holding up his hands, “Open the door then, Freak!”

Lucifer growls and shoves himself forwards, “Don’t call him that! This isn’t his fault!” He yells, and suddenly there’s silence, a soft hand on his chest.

“Lucifer, settle.” Chloe says softly, looking up to him, “Dan doesn’t mean it. He’s just angry.”

“He’s not—”

“Of course he’s not.” Chloe nods, “But Dan’s just working to get us out. We can explain soon, alright?” He nods and steps back, still glaring towards Dan. “Dan, the keys are around his neck. Back off a little, he’s the reason I could call you. He’s safe.”

Dan sighs and backs off slightly, nodding, but not lowering the gun, “Excuse me for not trusting the masked man who refuses the speak. Move slowly, unlock the door and step away.”

The man nods and slowly pulls the necklace of keys from his neck, fishing through them for the correct key and unlocking the door before backing away, lifting his hands back up slowly.

Lucifer moves forwards first, yanking the door open and marching to the other man, staring him dead in the eyes.

“Michael.” A nod and the eyes flicker down, “Oh don’t get shy now!” Lucifer bares his teeth in the semblance of grin, “Let’s get this sack off, hmm?” He moves his hands up to yank the sack, aiming to simply rip the part trapped under the collar only to stop as Michael grunts out a deep painful yell and curls his arms around his head tightly, grabbing at Lucifer’s hands. “What are you doing?! Don’t you want it off?” Lucifer growls, annoyed at his brother now and tries to yank it again, for another yell, but the face tips back now and the sight causes Lucifer to stop immediately. The front of the sack by the stitched mouth now has a steadily growing patch of dark colouration. Blood.

“Oh my god…” Chloe whispers and Lucifer whips his head around to face her, “The stitches… they’re not just the mask, are they?”

Michael whimpers slightly and shakes his head, hands arms slowly lowering as Lucifer pulls his hands away from the sack. Michaels eyes are at the floor, refusing now to even look at Lucifer. He’s unsure on whether he’s angry at Michael or for Michael right now. Who to punish? His brother or the monster to hurt his brother? Dilemmas, dilemmas.

“Get us some scissors, Dan? And get some officers down here to clear out the other cells.” Chloe moves over to Michael and slowly lifts the necklace of keys from his neck, passing them off to Dan, who nods and moves off, passing a hand gun off to Chloe with another nod.


Chloe is the one to sit Michael down and slowly cut away at the sack. She starts near the top and slowly cuts it down, periodically cutting chunks away. The face that looks so similar to Lucifer, if you ignored the dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Lucifer seems to be staying away from them, yet watching her like a hawk. She sighs softly when she’s cut most of the sack away, level to his stitched mouth and gags softly.

“Sorry, it’s just… its barbaric.” Michael is nodding, his eyes showing that he understands her issue. Lucifer moves back over with his hand open. Michaels eyes widen slightly and he glances to Lucifer with an audible swallow. Nervousness, Chloe surmises as she hands over the scissors and moves back to allow Lucifer access, “Be careful, Lucifer. They’re not exactly delicate scissors.”

“I’m not aiming to mutilate my brothers face any further, Detective.” He murmurs low, moving closely and softly raising a patch of sack to see the stitch entering his bothers lip, “You know, usually it’s Gabriel with this sort of punishment.”

Chloe’s unsure on what to think about that quip, but Michael seems to understand and chuckle deeply, leaning back against the wall heavily, knuckles white as the scissors move in. Lucifer moves fast and yet extremely carefully, honest to his word. Michael obviously trusts him to an extent, and yet seems so worried at first. She definitely wanted to know back story on these two.

Soon the sack is free, leaving only loose threads cross hatching through the lips.

“Alright, brother. This is the part that hurts.” Lucifer grips his brothers face lightly, lifting his chin toward the ceiling softly for a better light, “Ready?” There’s a nod and Lucifer starts tugging at the stitch softly. Chloe has to look away, unable to watch as the blood flows from his lips, the man scrunching up his face in pain. There’s an obvious cry from the mans throat that can’t fully escape. They should have waited for medics, what was she even thinking?! She turns to tell Lucifer to stop, only to see him stiff backed, standing a couple of steps away from Michael, who’s mouth is now free of stitches, slowly ebbing blood.

“We need medics….” She mumbles but Michael shakes his head.

“No thank you,” Oh god, he sounds just like Lucifer too, hoarser for obvious reasons, “Had enough of men prodding me lately.”

“But you’re bleeding!”

“It’ll stop soon enough.” He smiles softly, then grimaces as it tugs at his sore mouth.

“Oh great, you’re as bad as he is!” She points at Lucifer who grins ruefully and shrugs lightly.

“He’s not wrong. Will we be needing to stay much longer, Detective? Me and my brother have some… catching up to do.”

Michael is glancing nervously at Lucifer again, Chloe notes.

“No. We’ll go to your penthouse together, I think.”

“Chloe---”

“No Lucifer.” Chloe points at him angrily, “I want my explanation, and I’m going to get it. Stop trying to avoid it.”

He sighs deeply and shakes his head lightly, “You’re not going to like what you hear.” You’re not going to believe what I tell you. “Fine. Together. But just remember, I warned you.”


It doesn’t take long to convince them that Michael was just as much a victim as the other celled people. It probably helped that anyone mentioning holding Michael got such a glare from Lucifer that they all retracted their thought immediately. They travelled in Lucifers car, which Michael seemed to enjoy immensely, sticking his head up like a dog in the wind grinning lightly. Chloe noted that he was right, those wounds seemed to have stopped bleeding and obviously weren’t hurting him as much as they had.

“Home, sweet home.” Lucifer breaths as Lux pulls into view. Michael leans forwards between the seats and Chloe has to bite her tongue as to not scream at him to sit and belt up.

“That is Home to you?” She’s unsure on whether that tone is derogatory or amazed.

“Problem?” Lucifer growls and glances over his shoulder to Michael, slowly pulling into his private parking lot. “Better than the place you kicked me.”

That causes a wince and a pull back from Michael. Chloe very much wants to know now. They walk into Lux, Lucifer nodding to his doorman and heading straight for his lift. Michael follows, head down, hands shoved into his pockets, looking more and more like a child about to be scolded as they move. He’s back to not looking at Lucifer.

The trip up in the lift is perhaps the most awkward Chloe has ever felt. This must be how people felt in rooms with her and Dan when they broke up. Lucifer walks through, grabbing himself a glass of whiskey as he moves and shoves himself to his piano stool, pointing at the sofa by it.

“Sit.” He growls out, glaring back up to Michael. The air shifts, Chloe nearly gasps at the weird feeling of it. Must be an air con kicking in. Michael moves in slowly, practically curling into the sofa.

“I—”

“Shut up.” Lucifer growls, “You kicked me out. You took one look at me and kicked me out. You have no idea what you’ve put me through!”

“Lucifer—”

“NO!” He’s up and pacing. Chloe has no idea what to do. She settles for watching carefully in case she has to stop Lucifer doing something he would regret, “You have no idea! I burned, Michael! BURNED!” She can’t see what Lucifer’s face shows, but something about it causes Michael to gasp and shrink back slightly, Lucifers arms either side of him, pressing him back into the sofa, “I have wanted to hurt you for millennia. No. I have wanted to kill you for millennia!”

“Please, Brother. I---”

“What, you didn’t want to? Didn’t mean to?” Michaels face is conflicted, “What, brother?! What are you so scared of? Me??” Lucifer is laughing in Michael face, “Father. You’re scared of father!” Lucifer pushes himself back, laughing deeply now, pacing around the piano. Chloe sighs and shakes her head softly, he never cough act like an adult. She glances over to Michael and frowns softly. Michael looks furious. This was about to get interesting.

“I have no idea?! Why do you think I’m down here, Lucifer?!” Michael yells back, shoving himself to his feet to face Lucifer, who stands his ground and growls, “Do you think I’m down here for fun? Think it’s my idea of a good time to be used as a pet for humans?!” Chloe will never understand this families obsession of thinking they’re not human. “Lucifer he sent me down to earth a couple of earth years after you fell. He banished me for going against his word!”

That seems to freeze Lucifer, a frown appearing on his face, “What do you mean? Against his word? He wanted me gone!”

“No Lucifer. He wanted you gone.” Michael sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “His words to me were ‘I want him gone. Out of my sight.’ He didn’t mean sent to hell, Lucifer. He meant gone. I couldn’t do that to you. I just couldn’t, alright?! I’m so damn sorry that I couldn’t kill you.” Michael is practically screaming, his voice cracking out. Lucifer is frozen, looking a mixture of surprised and confused.

“He…” Chloe is pretty sure her heart has stopped. Lucifer’s father wanted him dead? How heart breaking. It was hard enough for her to hear, so god knows how Lucifer felt right now. He looked lost.

“Lucifer, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t want to say it like that.” Michael sighs and walks to Lucifer slowly, putting a hand to his arm only to have it shrugged off, “Luci, please. I never stopped caring. I had minutes to figure out what to do. I had the flight to the edge to think up a plan. I know I hurt you. I know that, and if that means you hate me, you want or need to… to… punish me for it, then so be it, I will subject myself to you wants and needs.” Chloe gasps softly as Michael kneels down in front of Lucifer, bowing his head until his forehead touches Lucifer’s toes, “I will try my best to fix what I have done to you, brother.”

Everything seems to stop, the air seemed to freeze. Chloe moves forwards slowly, trying to catch Lucifer’s eye. He raises his brow slightly when he sees her, seemingly having forgot she was even in the room. He glances down again and slowly kneels himself down by his brothers head, stroking through the blonde hair softly.

“Michael, I don’t know how to feel right now. This is… a lot to take. There’s spare rooms. Why don’t you go relax a bit, let me think.” Michael glances up and nods softly, slowly pushing himself up and stumbling from the room, stopping for a second to glance back and point through the archway, “Through and left. Any room that isn’t a bathroom is fine.”

A few moments later there’s a thump of a door and Lucifer slumps his shoulders, staring at the floor. Chloe moves to him quickly and kneels in front of him, running her hands up his arms softly.

“I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on with your family…” she starts, speaking softly, “I would love for you to explain it one day, but I’m not going to push for that right now. I just want you to know I am here for you.” She tugs him softly, and he moves forwards, his head lowering to her shoulder. Her arms wrap around him, rubbing his back softly and she can’t help but be surprised when he shakes softly, a soft sob escaping him. “It’s alright, Lucifer. You can be upset. It’s allowed, normal. God kn---”

“Don’t mention him!” A deep growl emerges from her shoulder, his arms tightening around her slightly painfully for a moment. Right. Father. Devil. God.

“Of course, sorry…” she mumbles and continues rubbing his back slowly, hoping she hasn’t just ruined the moment. A few moments later he sighs deeply and relaxes back into her arms. She really needed to clear up this whole delusion soon.

They relax there for a few more moments, until her legs start to tingle painfully and she mumbles, “Fancy moving to the sofa?”

“Would prefer the bed.” He rumbles, a playful tint to his voice as he lifts his head, eyes red rimmed. Defensive mechanisms kicking in. She sighs softly and slips her hand into his. Tugging him to the sofa, they sit side be side a little awkwardly until she wraps an arm around his neck and tugs again, mirroring what he had done to her in the cell. He seems to notice and chuffs a little laugh, but follows her tug and leans into her. He would talk more to his brother tomorrow, he decides, slowly relaxing down and closing his eyes. Right now he just wanted to enjoy the close time he had with Chloe.

Chapter Text

Lucifer is warm. Overly warm. Hellishly warm. Blinking owlishly into the darkness of his penthouse living room, he sighs softly and pushes the blanket to the floor roughly, stretching his long legs over the side of the couch. Chloe is noticeably missing from the room, he notes sadly, but also takes note that he had been somewhat stripped. Jacket, shoes, socks and belt are all piled on his piano, his shirt half undone, his trousers unbuttoned. Interesting. He grins roguishly and digs into pockets for his phone, quickly typing out a text to Chloe.

You know, you only have to ask if you want me to strip.*Devil Emote*

Don’t start, Lucifer. It was only to make you more comfortable. Nothing more. Behave.

He laughs softly, moving across the room for a whiskey finger.

Have you spoken to your brother?

He sighs heavily. She’s not going to give up on his, he knows that, and he really wasn’t sure on how he was supposed to make her understand when she just wouldn’t believe him about any of it.

Lucifer saunters towards the closed door, slowly creeping it open to peek inside. Well, he wasn’t expecting the feathers, but sure. Michael was laid out, snoring heavily, barebacked, with his slightly greyed wings stretched over each side of the bed, the tips brushing the floor with each breath.

He backs out of the room, deciding to leave Michael be for now. Angels don’t generally need to sleep much, so if Michael was so out of it to unfurl his wings? He must be completely knackard. He backtracks to his phone to reply Chloe.

He’s sleeping. I don’t want to wake him. I’ll talk to him later.

I’ll come over after work.

You don’t have to. I’m fine.

No you’re not. I’m coming over tonight.

He sighs grumpily and throws his phone into the couch cushions. Of course she would. Usually he would be ecstatic, but she’ll just want him to speak to Michael about feelings. Even the thought makes him down his drink and pour another. Maybe he needs something a bit…. more. Lucifer smirks and grabs up his phone once more, throwing off a message to Maze.

Michael awakes slowly, frowning and tucking his wings up tight against his back, glancing around quickly before relaxing when his mind catches up a little. Not the dungeon, no mask, free. He smiles happily and rolls to his back, listening to the loud noises appearing from the other room.

“Maze, gimme! It’s not funny!” Lucifer is yelling, “Don’t make me command you!!”

“Command me and I cut you off of everything, Luci.” Maze sounds angrier than Lucifer and suddenly Michael isn’t certain whether he wants to try and venture out. Though the voices are getting nearer.

“What’re you doing, Maze? Oh come on! Don’t flush perfectly good— MAZE!”

“You don’t need this. You need to talk to him.” Theres a thump on his door, and Michael watches as the handle twists before thumping back to closed.

“Leave him be.” Lucifer has lowered his voice now, “He’s resting.”

“Doesn’t deserve rest.”

Michael sighs softly and nods to himself, bracing himself before opening the door up.

“She’s right, you know.” Lucifer looks surprised before frowning deeply.

“Don’t take her side on things. Everyone always does.” And with that, he walks away, back to the living room area. Maze growls at him before turning to follow Lucifer, and Michael slowly follows through too, unsure on how to approach the situation.

“I can understand if you want me gone, brother. Just give me the word and I’ll go.”

Lucifer seems to take this negatively. Suddenly Michaels back is hitting a wall, his wings flaring out in pain. “No! You don’t get to run from this. You don’t!”

“Alright. I won’t run. Just tell me what you want.”

“I don’t know!!!” The anguish in Lucifer’s voice is a punch to Michael’s stomach. This is his brother. His twin. The dark to his light, not that Lucifer had always been this dark, but that again was his fault. The hands holding him to the wall leave, his wings fluttering lightly back to his sides. Lucifer is at the bar, taking the drink Maze is offering up, and Michael can’t help but want to join him in the drinking. He doesn’t move though, unsure again on what he should do. Lucifer walks back to him, holding out a drink and Michael smiles gently, taking the drink up and sipping, hissing when the burn hits his lips. Still slightly open then.

“Drink it faster. Let it burn your throats rather than your lips.” Lucifers eyes dart to the dots surrounding Michaels mouth and lets it a growl. “Sit down and tell me what happened.”

“From when? The cage or your fall?”

Lucifer looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding and sighing, “The Fall. Explain it more.” In for a penny…

Michael flies as fast as he can towards the castle. His father has asked for him, specifically him, pulling him from the battle in the fields. Samael is wearing thin, they can tell, but he never meant to hurt, he just wanted more than he could have. Father should understand, Michael thinks, he knows Samael’s mind. He lands with a soft thump in the throne room, taking a knee for his father.

“Stand, my Son.” He stands and relaxes softly, meeting his father eyes, “As you are well away, Samael is causing a lot of trouble right now. This needs to stop. He needs rid of. I want you to do this for me.”

Michaels heart stops for a second, he’s sure. His father can’t mean…. “Father, what would you have me do?”

“I wish for you to get rid of Samael. Plainly. I no longer have the patients to deal with his temper. Go. Now.”

“Father—”

“Now Michael!”

Michael scrambles slightly for quickly taking flight, his thoughts running as quickly as his wings flap. He can’t kill his brother. He can’t! But how could he ‘rid’ of him? Think Michael, think!! Rid…. Rid…. Rid doesn’t necessarily mean kill, what if he… rids him from Heaven? But where…? Oh! The new domain! The netherworld. Samael wanted power, that should work, right?! Right.

He arrives to see his brother on knee, struggling against the angel brothers and sisters pinning him down.

“Samael.” He sighs deeply and draws out his sword, Samael looking up in shock, “I cast you out.”

“What?”

“You are banished, no longer to return! You shall fall beyond the earth to roam forever more.” Michael moves forwards quickly, in case anyone else knew of his fathers plans, grabbing Samael by a wing and throwing him down, unable to watch as his brother screams in agony at the fall.

Michael sighs deeply, running a hand through his hair.

“What happened once I fell?” Lucifer growls out.

“Brother, please.” Michael glances to him softly, “Just a moment. I swear I will tell you all you wish to know of me. I just need a moment.”

Maze snorts and walks away, returning with three glasses and a large decanter of whiskey. She pours them all a large glass and settles back down. Michael takes a deep drink before continuing on.

Michael wasn’t sure he had ever felt this fearful. Everyone could feel Fathers anger at his rebellion. The air is heavy with it as they fly, surrounding Michael as they go. They’re pushing him back to the field, where earlier he had thrown his brother from The Silver City. As they land, he is shoved, further and further towards the end. He knows he has the choice, Fall himself, or be thrown. He steps to the edge and looks over, his body shaking as he does. He turns to look to his brothers and sisters once more before stepping from the edge, crying out sharply as the atmosphere hits him, burning at his flesh and wings.

“You threw yourself?” Maze leans in, looking rather impressed.

“I didn’t want to pass the burden on to another. I knew how it felt, and I wish that on no-one.”

“But you have your wings.” Lucifer leans towards to flick at the feathers, smirking as the wing shivers.

“I seem to be grounded. They’re… there if I wish them, but other than them moving?” Michael shrugs and sighs, taking another drink and grinning when Maze refills it for him, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think your Demon was getting me drunk, Lucifer.”

“Maybe I am.”

“Can you?” Lucifer tilts his head, curiously, “Have you lost your grace in your fall? Amenadiel lost his feathers, and now he’s a light weight.”

“Don’t know, never tried.” Michael looks thoughtfully at the glass.

“Well what a fantastic time to try!” Lucifer grins, tapping his glass up against Michaels and Maze’s before downing his glass. Michael follows suit with a laugh.

“What about you then? Wings? Grace? Drunkness?”

“Well, I had Mazeikeen cut my wings off when we first climbed up, but as it happens, they seem to be back.” He shuffles out his wings, out, stretching them out before letting them sit by his sides, watching as Michaels own wings seem to reach for their brothers. “Grace, I’m unsure on. My true form is covered, as to not terrify all of the humans, all of the time, but I don’t think that’s my grace. It’s not like He would ever let me know.”

“Your wings grew back?” Michael frowns, “Redemption?”

“Perhaps. I saved someone close…”

“The girl?”

“Of course the girl. Chloe. His Detective. The mortal that makes him mortal.”

“Maze!” Lucifer growls, flashing his eyes red for a moment. Maze raises her hands and rolls her eyes.

The lift chooses this moment to ding, signalling someone coming in to the penthouse. Both brothers jump and tuck their wings back as they look towards the doorway. A loud squeal appears as a small torpedo like object zooms across the floor into Lucifer’s legs. Chloe appears from the lift shortly after, smiling at the sight of Lucifer trying to shake Trixie from his legs.

“Spawn, release!”

Michael huffs out a laugh before freezing himself as the small human turns on him.

“Erm… hello, small one…?” He raises a brow, taking a half step back but cannot escape the small arms wrapping themselves around his legs.

Chloe laughs and walks over, “Alright, Trix, let him go. You don’t even know him!”

“But he looks like Lucifer!” Trixie reasons, “He must be fine!” She releases and jumps up onto the sofa, sitting by Maze but looking towards Michael, “What’s you name?”

“Michael.” He nods and slowly sits back down, edging as far to the edge away from Trixie as possible.

“You two are as bad as each other!” Chloe laughs and shakes her head, “She’s not going to kill you.” She smiles and takes a seat by Lucifer, “Have you two been talking?”

“Yes. Clearing up some things.”

“Good… if you’re feeling up to it, we could do with a statement tomorrow too…” Chloe looks between the two brothers slightly, “It will be with Dan, so I’ll need you-“ she points at Lucifer, “-to behave.”

“Why him? Why not…” Lucifer seems to grasp for a second before snapping his fingers and grinning, “Ella! What about Ella?”

“She wasn’t there, it’s not even her case.”

“I can fill her in.” He smirk for a moment before getting his arm slapped by Chloe and a pointed nod towards Trixie, “Sorry, spawn in the room. Forgot.”

“So, what have we been discussing?”

“I have been explaining why I—”

“Family matters.” Lucifer speaks over Michael, cutting him off suddenly. Michael looks confused for a second before giving a look of understanding. “We have cleared up some family messes and have moved on to drinking.”

“Lucifer, you can’t just drink away your problems.” Chloe sighs and pulls the glass away from Lucifer’s hand, glaring when Maze giggles from the corner, “And you shouldn’t be letting your brother drink with what he’s been through!”

“I’m alright…” Michael rumbles, placing his drink down, “I must thank you for helping me. I thought I was going to be stuck in that place for a long time.”

“How long were you there?”

“I’m… unsure. A few months, perhaps.” He rubs a finger over his lips softly, feeling the bumps and sighing.

“It’s ok. We don’t have the speak about it right now.” Chloe leans forwards to place a hand to his knee softly, squeezing. Michael feels a flutter for a second before jumping up and coughing.

“Excuse me a moment.” He makes a dash for his room. Lucifer’s eyes track him before looking to Chloe, who looks very concerned.

“Maybe he hasn’t had much lady comfort in a while?”

“Lucifer.” It’s a warning, but only causes him to grin more, “Go check on him.”

“I don’t want to see that!” She slaps his arm and stands herself.

“I’ll go then!”

“You probably should.” Maze rumbles, “Otherwise Trixie might give him a panic attack.”

Chapter Text

Michael paces around the bed, growling at himself softly, flicking his wings slightly as he walks. He hadn’t asked for them to appear, and he was extremely lucky he’d made it to the room before they had fully manifested, but now they wouldn’t go away.

“Woooaaahhhhh!!!” He spins to the bed in the centre of the room, wings flaring in surprise at the small human bouncing on the bed. How had she snuck in?! “You have wiiiinnnnggsss! Can you fly? Are they fluffy? Can I pet them????? Pleaaaaaasssssseeee???”

There are hands moving close to his wings so he snaps them away, frowning lightly at the small human. “You shouldn’t be in here. You shouldn’t---” What was he supposed to do with this now? He couldn’t exactly send the child back out to scream at its mother about his wings. “Shhhhh, child, please be quiet.”

“You have wiiinnngggssss” the child stage whispers at him, causing Michael to roll his eyes and nod.

“Yes, but it’s a secret, alright?”

“Does Lucifer have wings too?!”

“You--- he--- ask him.” Michael growls lightly before shuffling his wings and moving to sit by the child, “If I let you touch.. gently(!) Will you keep this a secret?” The child nods hard, a grin so wide on her face. Slowly Michael stretches his wing out to lay out across the end on the bed, watching cautiously as the child lowers her hands to his feathers. A shiver runs through his wing causing the little girl to jump and raise her hands in fear of having hurt him.

“It’s alright, you’re doing really well. It was a nice shiver…” He thinks. It’s not like he’s ever had a human touch his wing, and such an innocent human at that. Her hands go back, ruffling his feathers slightly. “Here, watch.” He reaches across, taking one of her hands and slowly running her fingers down one of the long primary feathers, squeezing the vanes together as he pulls her fingers down it. She nods softly and starts to pull softly at each feather causing him to sigh softly. It had been so long since someone had groomed his wings for him, even if she had no idea what she was doing. Another gasp rings out and he opens his eyes to look at the child in confusion, but she looks quite happy.

“What??” Oh. Doorway. The child left the door open. Damn it.

“Erm… well…”

“Michael, what’re you doing?” Lucifer frowns, stepping up behind Chloe, placing a hand to her shoulder and sighing deeply, “Ah. Alright, so that’s something we should probably talk about.”

“Hi mummy! Michael has wings! They’re super soft! But shhhhh, it’s a secret!” Michael drops his head to his hands and groans in despair.

“That’s not really how that secret was supposed to work.”

“Ohhh…. Sorry Michael.”

“Don’t worry, child.”

There’s a thump from the doorway and they look over to see Lucifer holding Chloe up. “Mummy must be tired.”

Lucifer laughs softly and scoops her up, “Not exactly how I’d planned getting you into my bed, Detective.” He rumbles at her sleeping form, carrying her up to his bed, “Though this is better than the last, I suppose.”

Chloe frowns as she awakens in the bed, looking around. Lucifer’s bed, again, without memory of getting there. She must stop doing this. Wait, why was she here? Wings. Wings!! She jolts up, staring around the room before jumping up and marching back to the room, coming to a screeching halt in the doorway.

In the bed lays Michael, light grey wings out but cocooning himself with a smaller body, Trixie. Her little hands are holding onto the wing curling over the top of them like a blanket, a little smile on her face as she sleeps. Chloe slowly backs from the room with wide eyes, squeaking when she backs up into someone. Lucifer looks down to her with a finger to his lips and nods back towards the sitting room. They move through silently, sitting down across from each other on the couches.

“Wings, Lucifer?”

“I have tried to tell you, Chloe.” Lucifer sighs softly, looking out towards the big balcony windows, “Devil. Angel. Wings.”

“You… you said you cut yours off.”

“And so I had.” Lucifer looks back to her, “But mine are back.” He raises a brow and cocks his head slightly, “Would you like to see?”

“Yes.” She seems determined, even whilst looking ever so slightly terrified, “Show me.”

Lucifer slowly unfurls his wings, stretching them lightly, refusing to meet Chloe’s eyes. Chloe gasps, hands stretching out before dropping sharply as Lucifer sharply twists away.

“Sorry, no, you can touch…” he says softly, brushing his wings back around his shoulders, his primaries brushing lightly at her fingers. She looks at him in shock, eyes wide, causing Lucifer to become more unsure of himself. Slowly her fingers stretch out to pet him, sending a deep shiver though his wings.

“You have wings…”

“Yes.”

“You’re the Devil.”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

“Yes.” He smirks at her as she chokes out a laugh and slaps at his chest. “Behave?” She nods and moves in, fingers stroking through his feathers. It’s probably a good thing that Maze left earlier, as she would have murdered him for this. He lays his head to her shoulder softly, enjoying the first person to pet at his wings in eons who actually wanted to without his forcing.

Soft plodding footsteps break them apart guiltily, only to see his brother half asleep, being lead by Trixie, who holds the end of one of Michael’s wings. She grins up to Lucifer as she pushes Michael’s form into one of the larger, plush seats.

“So you do have wings! Cool! Mummy, I’m thirsty.”

“I’ll get you a drink, Trix.” Chloe moves away, leaving Lucifer to watch as Trixie climbs up onto Michaels lap, his brother blinking lightly before curling sideways into the seat, around Trix, his wing coming up as a blanket for her before his eyes re-close and a soft snore escapes his lips. His brother must have been through a lot more than he was mentioning to need this much rest, Lucifer notes, smiling as Chloe returns with a glass of orange squash for Trixie.

“Seems like you’ve made a new friend there, Trixie.” Chloe smiles at her daughter, taking back the empty glass once Trixie was finished.

“He needed a cuddle.” Trixie nods in thought, cuddling back into Michael. Chloe returns to Lucifer, keeping an eye on Michael and her daughter.

“He won’t hurt her.” Lucifer rumbles lightly, moving to sit on the couch, patting the seat by him lightly.

“I have questions.” He grins and nods.

“Of course you do. Just don’t bug me about Hitler please.” She looks at him in confusion and he smirks again, “Linda. When she found out and finally started talking to me again, she kept asking about Hitler’s punishment.”

“As long as it’s a good one.”

The next couple of hours are taken by Lucifer filling Chloe in on what Michael and himself had discussed earlier, as well as a little more about his time in Hell, such as Maze, his mother and Amenadiel. It feels nice to talk about his life with her, to explain bits and pieces that had happened around them but for her to now understand what was truly happening. He talks about why he had chased his wings in the auction, how he had burned them and why, about Azriel’s blade, but stumbles a bit when it comes to Uriel.

“It’s ok.” Chloe smiles and runs her fingers through his wing again, smile widening at the shudder she causes, “Feel nice?”

“Lovely, darling.” Lucifer lets out an appreciative groan, “These new ones have never been touched, but even before, no one ever dared touch them. I haven’t had a good groom in forever.”

“Groom?” A blush flushes across his cheeks, causing Chloe to become more invested in what this meant, “I could try, if you show me how. Teach me.”

“It’s…” private? Formal? Close? He sighs softly and pulls his wing forwards, tugging at a feather lightly, “OK, the easiest is just this… I don’t think there’s any major matts, not that I can feel…” he shows Chloe how to brush the vanes through, shivering lightly as she takes hold to copy.

Chapter Text

Somehow, he’s ended up laying on the floor, on his stomach, arms folded under his chin as a pillow. He’s completely relaxed, Chloe sat to his side, calmly sorting through his coverts and scapulars and honestly he never wants her to stop.

Michael has woken up, Lucifer can tell. He just doesn’t know what to do with the Spawn, so has remained frozen. During his nap, Trixie has somehow ended up completely curled to his chest, Michaels head on one armrest, his legs dangling over the other, his wings both curled up around then both. Lucifer can see his brother trying to figure out if he can somehow escape from the corner of his eye and chuckles lightly.

“You’re not going to escape her. Trust me. I never can.” Chloe turns to look, catching Michael’s puppy eyes ‘save me’ face and taking pity. With obvious ease, she lifts her daughter from the bare chested man (angel?) and lays her on the couch. Lucifer pushes himself to lean up against the couch, his wings disappearing as he does so.

“So, Brother, what’s with showing your wings off, hmm?” Lucifer asks, “Just trying to make my life awkward?”

“They just won’t go away!” Michael grumbles, shuffling his wings around with a look of deep concentration which only ends in a thump of his foot to the floor. Chloe laughs.

“Did you just stomp your foot like a child having a tantrum?!” She laughs, sitting by Trixie’s curled form, “If I couldn’t already see the family resemblance…”

“Hey! Rude!” Lucifer calls out, twisting to give a soft glare before turning back to Michael, “They won’t go away?”

“No. I’m trying what… usually happens, but they’re rather stubbornly still here.”

“So we see. Probably father with some insightful message that he won’t ever bother to explain.” Lucifer grunts lightly, rolling his eyes. “So you’ve explained my fall, and your own. When did you fall?”

“Not long after yourself. I only fell to Earth, however, not Hell… though I did spend many moons traveling throughout Morpheus’ realm…” Michael sighs softly, “But other then that, I’ve been on Earth since the basics. Hiding here or there… was once court marshalled out on a war field for disobedience, which lasted so long as all their shots missing and deciding that was a sign that they should listen to what I was saying.” He rambles slightly before coughing and stopping himself.

“So how exactly did you end up with a sack on your head?”

Michael freezes for a moment, rubbing his lips thoughtfully. He starts to speak, only for Chloe to cut him off, “You may as well wait until we go into the station later on. No point is explaining it all twice. We can all go in together, it’ll probably help Michael’s case a little.”

“What do you mean a little, Detective?” Lucifer tips his head back to look at her on to couch, “It’s not like they can arrest him for what happened.”

“That’s not what I mean, Lucifer.” Chloe rolls her eyes at the Devil, “I just mean things will be a little easier anyways, with him being the only reason we were found. We’ll pick you two up at around 9 tomorrow morning. I best get Trix back home before Dan throws a fit about me ‘taking away’ his time with her.” She scoops up Trixie and nods to Michael, before moving for the lift quietly, “Just text or call me if you need anything.”

They remain in silence for a while, Lucifer moving to his piano to play a couple of melodies without but thought.

Neither brother seems to know what to do or say to the other, so after sitting in silence for a while, Michael wanders off to the bedroom again, aiming on trying to get his wings back down, whilst Lucifer sits and contemplates the new information he has about himself and his family. His father wanted him dead, which rang true with what his mother had told him, but Michael had ticked him and fallen for that fact. Could he hate him for it? Yes. Could he hurt him for it? Lucifer wasn’t sure anymore. He thinks of his other siblings and what they would have done for him and mostly came to the conclusion that only Michael would have been the one to even think of trying to not kill him. This was going to take a while to sort out within his own mind. Hopefully tomorrow’s talk with the detective and Dan opened up some more information.

At around 8AM, Lucifer pulls Michael into his room, and starts to pull out some suits. “Strip. You can’t go out looking like that.” Lucifer points off to a doorway, “Bathroom, shower, go. Throw those” he waves towards Michael’s trousers, “Into the bin. Or the fire. Or out the window, for all I care.”

Michael gives a chuckle but does as he is bid, wandering off into the bathroom and stripping, throwing his trousers into the corner for now and stepping into the shower. The hot water beating down on his shoulders and wings felt glorious, one of the best things Michael had felt in a long while. Scrubbing himself until the water runs clear, Michael walks back into Lucifer’s room, jumping when he’s hit in the face by a shirt.

“Put this on.” Lucifer stands, fastening his shirt cuffs cuffs, smirking as Michael shoved the shirt on, “That worked.”

“What worked?” Michael frowns.

“Your wings.” Lucifer grins, “I had a thought, you’ve been thinking about making up to me, and explaining everything, so maybe you were over thinking putting your wings away. Ooooorrrrrr you just liked the Detective’s spawn stroking them.”

Michael flushes lightly and shakes his head, concentrating on buttoning up the shirt, “Shut up, Lucifer. Give me some trousers.” Lucifer laughs and throws out a suit jacket and trousers before leaving the room.

“The Detective will be here in a moment!”

Chapter Text

The ride to the precinct was silent, Lucifer being the first to speak when him, Michael and Chloe all sat down in the interview room.

“It’s strange being on this side of the table. Hope the Douche hurries up.” Lucifer grumbles, yelping when Chloe elbows him to the chest, “Ow, Detective!”

“Behave, Lucifer.” Lucifer sighs and crosses his arms, pouting lightly. The door swings open for Dan, carrying in a small pile of files and a voice recorder. Setting the recorder and files to the table, Dan takes the seat across from the three.

“Dan Espinosa, interviewing Lucifer Morningstar, Chloe Decker and Michael…” Dan trials off a second, flicking one of the folders open and smirking over the table to Michael, “Nightbringer.”

Lucifer turns in his seat with a disgusted look, “Nightbringer?! Of all the names??”

“Lucifer, quiet.” Chloe hisses, shaking her head, “Sorry, Dan.”

“It’s expected. Right. So, as you know, you’re here to discuss the events of two nights ago, in which Chloe and Lucifer went to investigate a illegal Fighting ring, and subsequently turned up in a cell block along with a few other victims, whilst Mr Nightbringer patrolled as some form of guard. Does this sound correct so far?”

“It sounds correct as a base line, however there is more information to collaborate with this.” Chloe replies.

“Alright, we’ll get to this soon. First of all, I want to confirm a few bits of information with Mr Nightbringer.” Dan goes back to his files, shuffling a few pieces of paper before pulling out a few photos and sliding two mugshots over, causing a soft groan from Michael, “Is this you, Mr Nightbringer?”

“Yes. It is me.” Michael looks down, watching as Lucifer pulls one of the photos towards himself to chuckle, “I believe this was when I was arrested for a bar fight.”

“And found to be in the possession of weapons and drugs in California.”

“Yes. I, however, did my duty and was cleared.”

“You gave information of a deal. That’s here too. It, however, states you used to do a lot of.. lets say, unsavoury jobs.”

“I was somewhat of a handyman, yes. I never did anything too terrible.” Michael sighs deeply, “In all honesty, the fist fight was the worst it got for hurting, anything else was an empty threat… for fathers sake, sometimes I even fixed sinks.”

“So people paid you and you did it.”

“Unless it was too much. Then I refused.”

“But didn’t report?”

Michael stays silent causing Dan to smirk and pull out another photo, holding it out of reach while speaking, “You and Lucifer claim you haven’t seen each other in a long time, correct?”

“Myself and Lucifer have not had communication since being kicked from our family home.” Michael frowns deeply, turning to look at Lucifer who mirrors his confused look.

“So who would this be with you here?” The photo is laid down and Michael draws it forwards before trying to quickly get it out of sight. Lucifer snatches the photo quickly, pushing himself to his feet.

“Gabe?! You’ve seen Gabe?!” Lucifer growls deeply, trying his best to control himself. Now really isn’t the time for Devil eyes to flash. He turns to Dan, waving the photo, “When is this from? Where?”

“Two years ago, in Texas. Mr Morningstar, please take your seat.” Dan raises an eyebrow as Lucifer takes his seat once more, slamming the photo down to the table, “I take it you were unaware of this meeting?”

“First of my family I saw since---“ He stops himself from saying my fall, “Well, it was Amenadiel, my Mother and now Michael. I haven’t seen anymore of my family and wish not too.”

“Luce, he was sent to keep check on me. I told him to get lost! It’s his fault I got arrested anyways! Went off to blow off steam, ended up in a bar fight.” He sighs deeply before turning back to Dan, “What does this have to do with me being kidnapped and used as a guard dog?”

“You have priors. We need to know this to make an informed decision about your situation.” Dan continues, “Now that we’ve covered this, we can go over what happened. How did you end up in a Fight club?”

“Basically, I was supposed to be in a meeting about another job, that very quickly turned into an attack against me, I was bundled into the club and thrown into the cage. I’m guessing you have the footage I showed my brother and the Detective?” Dan nods, “Well after that, I woke up in a cell, just like the one you two were in… they continued to make me fight for a couple of nights until one night I refused. I just let the guy lay into me. They sedated me again and next I knew I was tied to a table having my lips stitched into that sack and a collar locking it on. The beat on me for a few days, until I agree’d to key hold and travel people.”

“So it was a deal of stopping your own torture in exchange for other peoples?”

Michael growls deeply and glares at Dan, “Tell me you would do different! You’ve had your mouth stitched closed and beaten for days, you want it to stop and you’re given the chance. You’re telling me you’d refuse and take more punishment to yourself!?”

Chloe leans across Lucifer to lay her hand on Michael’s softly, “Dan, you know that’s not an appropriate way to speak to a victim.”

“You’re right. I apologise, Mr Nightbringer. Alright, why don’t we move onto Detective Decker and Mr Morningstar’s side of this.”

After explaining how the events had happened on Lucifer and Chloe’s side, they decided on riding back to Lux together, Dan having offered to take Trixie for a few nights. The ride is perhaps the most uncomfortable situation Chloe had been in for a long while, Lucifer somehow convincing the cop driving them that it was a fantastic idea for him to sit up front, leaving Chloe with Michael in the back. The return journey seemed at least twice as long as the trip to the precinct somehow, but finally they arrive and troop up to the penthouse.

Chapter Text

What Chloe doesn’t expect upon exiting the lift is for a body to go flying over her head. Michael lands with a harsh thud, sliding to a stop by the piano, immediately scrambling into a defendable crouching position. Lucifer storms towards his crouched brother, growling as he shoves the photo from the interview into Michael’s face.

“Why wasn’t this mentioned, Brother?! Spying on me after all??” Lucifer slams the photo to the piano in turn of snatching his brother up by his blonde hair, “Are you the second attempt to get me back downstairs? Hmmmm??”

“No!”

“Bullshit!” Lucifer starts dragging his brother towards the balcony, Michael trying his best to keep close to his brothers tight fistful of his hair.

“I swear! Lucifer please! I didn’t even know you were here!”

Chloe takes chase, moving herself in front of Lucifer and Michael as Lucifer drags his brother closer and closer to the balcony glass walls, “Lucifer, stop this. I don’t care how angry you are, whatever you’re thinking, you can’t do.”

“Chloe. Leave.” Lucifer’s eyes flash, reflecting a deep hell fire, causing Chloe to gasp and back away slightly before shaking her head softly and pushing back forwards, pushing both hands to Lucifer’s chest to stop him. She knows as much as he does that it would be child’s play for him to simply throw her off, but he can’t. It’s Chloe, he can’t hurt her, so with a sigh, he drops the grip from his brothers hair, watching from the corner of his vision as Michael pushes himself away, jumping up to his feet.

“He keeps showing up to tell me to return home and take knee! Be a good little angel and get back home. Turn on you, forget you.” Michael rubs at his scalp with a wince, “The fight I was taken in for was with him. Told him I wouldn’t kneel to someone who wanted to wipe out our brother. Apparently since I left, Gabriel has been in charge of the front line. No longer a messenger.”

Lucifer takes this in and turns heel, grabbing up a bottle from his bar and settling into a seat to drink deeply, “So Gabriel is now the soldier?”

“It seems so, however, in all honesty, I think he was a little crazy. Reminded me a lot of you, before you created the war. It doesn’t look good.”

“Time will repeat.”

Chloe walks to the piano, taking up the photo and sighing softly, “I shouldn’t have to tell you that you can’t be stealing evidence, Lucifer.” She shakes her head at his cheeky grin with ‘innocent’ puppy dog eyes, looking down to the photo with a frown, “Wait.. are you twins or triplets? How many of you are there?!”

“Myself, Lucifer and Gabriel are… well, as close to triplets as you can get. We were created in the same exact milli-second—”

“I’m the oldest.”

“--- you’re not the damn oldest, Lucifer.” Michael smirks, before continuing, “Other then that, Amenadiel, Azriel, Suruel, Raphael, Raguel, Castiel, Remiel and Uriel… to name but a few. Honestly? There’s a lot of us. Has to be, really…. Otherwise nothing would ever get done.

“Oh lets not forget the most famous of our little brothers.” Lucifer rolls his eyes, taking another deep swig of his drink.

“Emmanuel.” Michael groans and takes a thumping seat on the couch.

“I’m sorry, Emmanuel… isn’t that---”

“Yes, Chloe. Jesus. Our stupid little jumped up half brother.” Lucifer growls softly, “You know, he was only created to spite me. I wanted free-will, dear olde dad refused me, and yet then creates a half angel, half human mess and expects us to clean up after his experiments.”

Chloe stares at the brothers for a few moments before shaking her head lightly.

“Alright, I thought this was going to seem normal, but I was wrong. I’m definitely going to need some settling time.”

“Understandable, Detective.” Lucifer nods, looking a little worried, but trying to cover his discomfort with a smile, “You’re strong, you’ll get there. If you have any more questions, or maybe a request, do feel free to pop back or text.”

Chloe smiles softly and nods, “Don’t worry Lucifer, I’ll text you an update about Dan’s findings.” With this, Chloe takes her leave. The lift dings and hums, before leaving the two brothers in silence until Lucifer jumps up and claps his hands loudly, Michael jumping.

“Well! Time to open Lux up. Feel free to borrow some clothes and pop down.”

-----------------

Michael hadn’t really meant to go down to Lux at all, but after a couple of drinks and remembering he was nowhere near Lucifer’s piano playing skills, his brain seemed to decide downstairs was a fantastic idea. Lux was full, people brushing up against every available surface, which very quickly included Michael. A few had taken double looks, obviously seeing the family resemblance, and a few had already attempted to chat him up. He’s felt very lost in this sort of attention, so he continues to ignore them and move towards the banister, looking down into the pit of wriggling human bodies. He manages to stand there for maybe thirty seconds before his chest gets tight and his vision blurs. Shaking his head heavily, pushing the palms of his hands into his eyes, Michael backs away from the banister, spinning when he bumps into someone, who in turn yells at him causing Michael to spin and run back to the lift, slamming the button until he can shove himself into the box and back into the far corner of it.

The lift door reopens to show the penthouse, Michael stumbling out and ripping off his jacket and shirt, throwing them to the floor as he stumbles back to ‘his’ room. The grey wings throw themselves into existence once the bedroom door is slammed shut, wrapping themselves around Michael’s shoulders as he slides himself down a wall and into a corner, ignoring the bed. Darkness engulfs.

Chapter Text

Lucifer returns to his penthouse with each arm taken by beautiful females, grinning as he runs his hands up their spines lightly as he spots the rumpled, dumped suit jacket and shirt in the middle of the floor. Scooping up the clothing, he turns to the girls with a smirk, “Help yourselves to a drink, ladies. I just have to check on someone.”

As he walks into the bedrooms, he can hear the girls chattering and giggling, the clinking of glasses. Approaching the closed door of his brothers claimed room, he frowns softly, opening the door slowly. The sight of his brother curled into a tight ball, surrounded by his wings like a shell surprises Lucifer. He slowly approaches his curled brother, tilting his head when the wings start a creating a defensive hum as they vibrate tightly.

“Michael…? Wake up, Brother.” Lucifer lays a hand to one vibrating wing, realising very quickly how much of a mistake that choice was when the wing launches him across the room and into the wall with a thud. Grunting and picking himself from the floor, he growls lightly marching back towards Michael before spotting wide eyes staring from under the now outstretched wing.

“Michael? Are you with me?” Lucifer moves back towards Michael, stopping at enough of a distance, frowning at the whimper his brother gives, “Michael, its Lucifer. Wherever you are right now, its just your head. You’re safe, in your room, in my Penthouse. Lux, LA…” Michael seems to be blinking up at him now, a soft frown appearing on his face.

“Luce…?” Michael croaks, wings loosening off slightly.

“Hey. What happened?” Lucifer offers a hand, pulling Michael up, watching his brother take a seat on the bed.

“I’m not sure… I went to your club, but then I couldn’t breath… I—It was like I was back in the cage…”

“You panicked. You had a panic attack. I’ve seen humans go through this, but I had no idea that we had the capability.” Lucifer looks thoughtful, looking towards the door as he hears a giggle again. “If you’re alright, I do have a couple of… guests to see too.” Lucifer moves out of the room for a moment before returning with a MacBook, headphones and a credit card. “Here, you know how to use this, I assume. Go shopping, get yourself some clothes, or something to keep yourself busy. Spotify is on the laptop, unless you want to join us.”

Michael shakes his head and takes the items, settling himself onto the bed with a sigh, “Thank you, Lucifer. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”

It was mid morning by the time Michael thought it might be slightly safe to remove his headphones (having found this out by removing them at to early and hearing a lot of things he probably rather wouldn’t have). He heads to the living room area, spotting Lucifer softly playing away on his piano. Making himself a coffee, he silently sits and listens to his brother play. It has been an awful long time since he has been able to take pleasure in music, but hopefully some of his purchases with Lucifer’s card would solve that.

After a good half an hour of simple playing, Lucifer turns in his seat to face Michael, tilting his head softly, an obvious invite to talk that Michael refuses with a shake of his head. A card flies at Michael, who snatches the card from the sofa when it falls, scowling across to his brother.

“A therapist? Seriously?”

“Yes. She’s my therapist.” Michael’s eyes widen at this, “She knows who I am, what I am. She broke for a week because of me, but seems to have taken it in her stride. Doctor Linda is a fantastic lady.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll try her.”

“Good.” Lucifer grins, pleased with himself before waving an arm towards the lift doors. Michael looks across and flushes slightly at the piles of boxes already there, “I see you took to shopping on my card well, you woman.”

“Shut up, Lucifer. I needed clothes.”

Luckily for Michael, Lucifer is collected by Chloe rather soon thereafter, having been put back onto cases, leaving Michael with some piece to unpack and sort through his new wardrobe. He immediately dresses himself in some loose jeans and an overly large hoodie, sighing happily at his new found comfort. How his brother managed to wear suits day in and day out, especially as fitted as they are, Michael will never know. Whilst he sorts the boxes already there, another arrives, specially created and needing signed for. He quickly signs for it and opens up the box, picking up the instrument and bow. He slides the bow across the violin strings softly, returning a couple of strings as he goes before wandering across the living room, starting to play a melody.

----

“Are you sure you don’t mind, Detective?” Lucifer speaks from his Corvette seat, as Chloe stands outside by his Lux parking spot, “I’m sure he’s fine—”

“Lucifer, from what you’ve told me, your brother had a very bad panic attack. He might seem fine, but its also very likely he could trigger again and hurt himself.” Chloe sighs, seeing just how ‘alien’ like Lucifer was, unknowing of so many emotions and reactions, “Do you even know what triggered his attack in the first place?”

“No. He won’t speak of it. Micheal did mention that he popped down into Lux last night, but other than that, I have nothing. I’m going to ask Linda to speak with him. He’s agreed to speak with her, so I just need to convince her now.”

“She’ll help, that’s what Linda does.” Chloe smiles and waves her hand softly, “Go on, get going, you’ll be late.” Lucifer nods and pulls out of the parking space, disappearing off onto the street, leaving Chloe to make her way inside. Maze is behind the bar, seemingly restocking. Chloe gives her a wave and makes her way into the lift, gasping softly as the doors reopen into the penthouse, giving way to the soft sounds of a very well played violin. She pads her way into the living area, staying as silent as she can to continue watching and listening to Michael play.

His eyes are closed as he plays along, swaying lightly as he plays, standing near to the balcony windows. After a small while, Chloe recognises the played song as ‘Wide Awake’ being played so perfectly. She sits herself silently on one of the sofas and waits for Michael to finish playing like she has done with Lucifer and his piano.

Michael sighs as he finishes off his song, lowering the bow and opening his eyes, only to jolt and almost throw his violin. “Bloody hell!” Chloe also jumps up from the sofa, eyes wide, waving her hands softly.

“Sorry! I didn’t want to disturb you.” Michael nods softly and places down the violin and bow into their case, on top of the piano, moving over to the coffee machine.

“Care for a coffee?”

“Please, yes. A latte, if that’s an option?”

“This is Lucifer you’re talking about.” He turns to look at her, grinning lightly, “Do you really think he bought something that doesn’t have all the options available?”

“Ok, yeah, that is a fair point!” She laughs, taking the offered latte once made.

“I suppose he’s told you of my…” He frowns, unable to think of what Lucifer had called it earlier.

“Panic attack. He’s mentioned it, and it sounds very much like a Panic attack, but he has no idea of any details that could help.”

“Such as?” He’s rubbing at his lips again and Chloe can’t help but notice that his lips are healing up extremely quickly. Oh to be an Angel… she can’t help but think.

“Well, things that would help us to know how not to trigger another would be helpful. Where, how, what, when, why. The basics, not the extremities of it, but don’t feel like we have to speak about this. Honestly, right now, I’d like to know more about the violin.”

Michael grins ruefully, shrugging his shoulders lightly, “Lucifer gave me a card to do some shopping… he has his piano skills, I have my violin. It---it calms me.”

“Understandable, I think Lucifer has the same feeling with his piano… not that he will ever admit it.”

They laps into silence, enjoying each other’s company, yet also the quiet. They drink their coffee, Chloe curling herself onto the sofa.

“So can all Angels play?”

“Oh, father no. Music isn’t a thing upstairs particularly. Not much time for anything but doing as you’re told without a say.” Michael hums and takes a drink before sighing, “I learned once I hit Earth. Just managed to wrangle my way into a lot of very good players.” He smiles again, Chloe smiling back to him, “What about you? Do you play?”

Chloe laughs and shakes her head, “Oh G…. No. I’m not particularly skilled in those sorts of manors.”

“But I assume you are good at what you do, if you’ve ranked up to Detective.”

“I suppose I am, yeah—” She mumbles softly, “Doesn’t feel it sometimes.”

“I know the feeling.” They share a soft smile for a moment before Chloe grins slightly.

“If I named a song, do you think you could play it?”

“It depends on the song, I suppose… If I don’t know it now, I could listen to it and probably play it.”

Chapter Text

Lucifer felt his catch up session with Linda had went well, her being very happy that he had spoken and shown himself to Chloe, even more so that he has taken in his brother and wanted to help him. She had easily agreed to seeing Michael with an appointment being booked in for the next night, the only requirement being that Lucifer attend the first to hopefully calm Michael and also to protect Linda from any possible panic attacks.

Happily swaggering into his penthouse, he frowns lightly at the sound of music playing, some singing going along with it.

“Quietly ver bailar tu pelo
Quietly set Tu ritmo
Que le enseñes a mi boca
Tus lugares favoritos…”

The Violin in his brothers hands plays perfectly, nearly as perfectly as he plays his piano, Lucifer thinks to himself. It’s nice to see his brother relaxing on the sofa with the Detective, if a little annoying that she seemed to have accepted his brother a lot easier than with himself… ‘Jealous’ a voice whispers in his head, causing him to shake his head softly and walk into the room more, raising a brow to his now silent and slightly flustered looking brother.

“Starting a party without me?” Lucifer smirks and pours himself a drink. He’s happy when Michael flushes deeply and messes up a bow.

-----------

The two brothers sit side by side on the Doctor’s sofa, Lucifer with one leg crossed at the knee, Michael leaning his elbows to his knees, frowning at Linda softly.

“So, you want me to talk about feelings?” Linda sighs deeply, tapping the end of her pen to her book softly.

“And now I see the resemblance. Yes, Michael. Feelings. We don’t have to go too deep until you’re comfortable enough to do so.” She watches as Michael curls up onto the sofa, knees to his chest and sighs deeply.

“I don’t like all this feelings stuff, Lucifer.”

“Yes yes, I didn’t either. Just trust her, it works and she helps.” Twisting to look his brother in the eyes, Lucifer continues, “This lady has faced my real face and came out not screaming, she faced off with mum and won, and she’s a tribe mate of Mazekeen’s.”

“Fine. Fine, I’ll try.” Michael huffs, wrapping himself around his legs and putting his chin to his knees, “No promises.”

------------

As much as he had complained to start with, the sessions with Linda were helping. He’d even managed to spend a little time in Lux whilst it was quieter. There had been one moment in which Lucifer had been called back into the office when Michael had curled up into his wings and refused to come back out for a while, but he chose to ignore that ever happened.

Tonight was it. Three weeks of nearly nightly sessions with Linda or Chloe, random chats with Lucifer or Amenadial (once he had re appeared and accepted his brothers appearance) and some sparing with Maze had seemingly brought up Michael’s courage to stand up to a full Lux. Of course, Lucifer, being himself, had refused to simply allow Michael to walk in and have a drink. Nooooo, they had to make a show of it. Literally.

Lucifer was out on the central dance floor, sitting at his piano, playing some tunes as Michael stood out back, listening from the office as Lucifer started to talk to the crowd, introducing him to them. Picking up the violin and bow, he gives himself a shake, walking out out to join Lucifer by the side of his piano.

“This is one of my brothers, Michael Nightbringer.” Lucifer grins, clapping his hand to Michael’s shoulder with a soft nod, “Ready, Brother?” In an answer, Michael raises his violin, nodding lightly.

Lucifer retakes his seat and starts a tune, setting the tempo before nodding Michael in
around 15 seconds in. Taking a deep breath, Michael bows way, playing along with his brother softly, closing his eyes as he does so. Michael smirks lightly when Lucifer puts in a wedding march of ‘here comes the bride’ before seamlessly fading it back into the song they played, so he does so in return, both brothers sliding back into the main song, Lucifer taking the lead by playing a spotlight of Canon into the song also. The slow the pace as they bring the just over 3 minute song to an end. Michael’s eyes widen when the surrounding crowd erupts into cheering and applause. Lucifer however takes this in stride and grabs Michaels bow hand, dragging him into a bow before wrapping the arm around his brothers shoulders and wandering them towards the balcony bar, nodding for the DJ to start the normal music off.

“See, brother. Humans are magical. Dangerous for sure, but amazing in all the other ways.” Lucifer presses a drink into Michael’s hand as they move into the privatised balcony area, Chloe and Trixie quickly joining them. Trixie immediately ends up sat on Michael’s lap, engulfed in a bear hug.

“That was perfect, Michael!” At Lucifer’s harsh cough, Trixie grins, “You too, Lucifer!”

Michael smiles and wraps his arms around Trixie lightly, mumbling, “I guess humans can be alright.” Sipping away at whatever drink Lucifer has supplied him with, he sighs lightly, feeling the tightness in his chest again. Since understanding what was happening within himself, Michael had found that it was easier to disperse the feelings or leave what was causing him the issue. “I’m going to head upstairs for a bit.”

“I’ll come with you!” Trixie tightens her hold, obviously expecting a carry upstairs, making Michael frown lightly and look to Chloe for permission.

“If you’re alright with her, I’m fine with it. Lucifer and I will head up soon.”

With the permission, Michael stands with Trixie, listening to her ramble about his playing skills during the lift ride, dropping her to her feet when they enter the penthouse. What grabs his attention is her questions on his wings and flying.

“What was that?”

“I saaaaiiiiddddd, would you take me flying? Lucifer said he’s not a spawn ride, but I thought maybe you might be willing?”

“You want me to fly.. with you?” Michael frowns lightly, tilting his head softly, “I’m not exactly sure on how safe that would be. You’d have to ask your mother...”

“Plleeaassseeee Michael???” He groans lightly at her puppy eyes, shaking his head lightly.

“I can’t just take you flying, child! Your mother, never mind Lucifer, would kill me!” Michael waves his hands lightly, shaking his head again, “Get permission. Then we’ll talk.”

-----

The two of them ended up curled up on the sofa, watching some form of animated cartoon, which lead to nothing but confusion on Michael’s part, yet Trixie found hilarious. By the time Lucifer and Chloe returned, perhaps an hour and a half later, Trixie had decided a nap against Michael’s arm was the best idea. Lucifer, of course, had laughed at his misfortune once again, as usual. It had become a common occurrence, since seeing Michael’s wings, that Trixie had seemingly fallen for the overly confused brother, who in turn tried his best to avoid some of the attention, but always seemed to fail when it comes to Trixie. There had been multiple times of wing grooming, much to the embarrassment of Michael. It vexed him how the child was so good at sorting through his feathers, and couldn’t find it to refuse when she offered to ‘pet’ him.

Chloe, as usual, after giving Lucifer a slap for his laughter, saves Michael from the sleeping child, heading off for one of the spare rooms by Michael’s, causing Michael to frown to Lucifer.

“They’re staying over the night. Chloe’s drank and doesn’t fancy dragging the spawn home for her to wake up on the way and refuse to go back to sleep.” Lucifer shrugs lightly, slumping himself into a seat across the table from Michael, shoving his feet up onto the table between them. “Get too much? Downstairs?”

For all he was the Devil, Lucifer seemed to be really tried to understand and help his brother through this. It was glaringly obvious that Lucifer wanted to know more details, even at one point ending up in a yelling fight when Michael had found out about Lucifer snooping into one of Linda’s therapy note books. Michael sighs softly, nodding lightly.

“I think its just the noise. The crowd, constant chattering. It’s too much like it was then.” Michael rumbles, watching Lucifer jump to his feet and grab a couple of glasses and a bottle of whiskey. Pouring them out a large helping each, he settles himself back as he was, waving his hand for Michael to continue. “Being inside the cage was hard, but somehow it was harder afterwards... with the mask. Knowing I was helpless, that I was useless to help them... knowing exactly what I was putting them in for. You honestly have no idea how happy I was when I saw they had you in a cell. Don’t get me wrong, I was terrified... I mean, its you, the Devil, the brother I threw. They never let me forget it either. Other than Gabriel, no one lately, but back a few hundred years back, a few lower Angels visited me, tried to congratulate me on my defeat of you...” Michael growls lightly and takes a large sip, “I nearly sent them down to you for fun.”

Lucifer smirks lightly, nodding, “It might sound strange to you, but I do somewhat understand. Hell was my home. Was, mind you. But, when down there, near the end... maybe the last few hundred years, its been a bore. Sometimes someone interesting would show up and Maze would try and get my interest back up, but I just couldn’t. Not only was it a chore, but I started to feel bad for those with such small misdeeds. So many small time heathens.” Lucifer shakes his head, sighing deeply, “It’s hard to know you can do nothing to help. The more I’m around Chloe, the more I’m understanding how hard mortality can be. Just understand, that for all our... issues, I will always try to be here for you. Unless you try to send me back down, because if so, then you’re on your own and I’ll happily take you down.”

Michael snorts out a laugh, stretching his legs out by his brothers, giving him a slight kick, “You know, the kid wants to go flying.”

“Yes, the Spawn has tried to convince me already.”

“You refused?”

“I set her on you.” Lucifer grins, shrugging off the kick to his shin, “Chloe is much more likely to agree to allow you to taxi her around than me!”

“You’re such a Dick!” Michael laughs, taking another drink, settling himself deeper into the sofa, getting comfortable, watching Lucifer do the same, “Might be fun though... I’ll take the kid, you take Chloe... It’ll be like ferrying fledglings across the fields.”

“Oh don’t remind me!” Lucifer laughs deeply, “Bane of that field training, getting the runts to and from it. Still think once they were in they should have had to fight their ways home. It’s how we learned!”

“Cheers to that, brother!” They laugh together, raising their glasses. Together, the brothers sit through the night, reminiscing on older times, telling some stories from their times either on Earth or in Hell.