Chapter 37

Lucifer is just staring at the ceiling, lost in thought, when Jo wakes up the next morning. Well, technically, it would be later that morning, with how late they stayed up last night, wouldn't it?

Noticing how her head rests on his chest, arm thrown carelessly around his waist, she pulls away immediately and sits up with a groan.

"What are you still doing here?" she snaps.

His expression is unreadable — then again, it usually is when he's not purposely conveying an emotion. "You fell asleep on me. I couldn't leave — not without taking you with me."

"Well, you should've figured something out. I don't need anyone thinking there's something going on."

Lucifer gasps in mock offense. "How swiftly you dismiss our love."

"I swear to god, Lucifer, if you —"

"Chill," he interrupts, rolling his eyes. "I soundproofed the room, and no one was expecting me, anyway. No one knows. Trust me, you're not the only one trying to keep this between us."

"I'm not trying to keep this 'between us.' I'm trying to pretend it never happened. Last night was a mistake. It was two-thirty in the morning and I wasn't thinking straight. And you... I don't know. You're just a horny fuck. But as far as we and everyone else is concerned, that never happened."

Lucifer doesn't say anything for a moment as he sits up, smoothing his short hair down with his hand. Finally, he says with no emotion in his voice, "I guess it's settled, then. Last night never happened."

Jo nods. "Good. Now, I'm gonna go take a shower and —"

"Don't bother," he interrupts. He just waves a hand towards her, and she's suddenly clean and clothed. "Go socialize or whatever you usually do during the day."

And with that, he disappears, as does any trace that he was ever in the room at all. Jo just sighs and falls back onto her bed. That was not the most restful night's sleep. Unfortunately, she went to bed so late that it's already well past time for her to get up.

She throws her hair up in a ponytail, because it's the one thing Lucifer didn't help with. Then again, it would look weird if she woke up with perfect hair. Man, he really thought this through, didn't he?

She walks out into the war room, and is immediately greeted by Gabriel saying, "Hey, have you seen Luc — no, wait, we would've heard you arguing. Never mind."

"Are you expecting him?" she asks instead of lying.

"I ," he replies. "He was following me out last night, and then he just... wasn't. I'm sure he just didn't want to socialize, though. Nothing to worry about. He's probably hiding out playing video games or something. But you're probably stealing Michael so I'm gonna go look for him."

"Or you could stay and talk to us," she suggests. "I mean, this is kinda the outcast club."

"I will keep that in mind if I can't find him," he replies. With that, he flies away, leaving Michael and Jo alone. Well, they're not really alone. There are a crap ton of other people in the room as well. Still, it feels like they're alone, because they never talk to anyone else here.

"'Morning," she greets Michael tiredly. Is it still morning? Who knows?

"Good morning," he replies. "Did you have a nice night?"

Jo just shrugs. She sure as hell isn't going to say yes, but she can't honestly say no, either.

Fortunately, he doesn't question her nonanswer, assuming she's just too tired to answer properly because for some reason, humans seem to be more tired when they wake up than when they go to bed, which he'll never understand.

"What'd you do last night?" she asks curiously. What does he do when she's not here to keep him company?

"I spoke with Gabriel," he answers, then clarifies, "Well, he spoke. I mostly listened."

"What'd you talk about?" she asks, mostly because she wants to draw the conversation out because they run out of things to talk about often.

"Angel stuff," he replies vaguely.

"Like?"

Michael just shrugs. That's how the humans say they're not going to answer, right? Because it's nothing Jo would care about. It's not a secret; it's just not interesting. They discussed their mutual hatred of Chuck, for example. It's not as if he hasn't earned it.

They also wondered about Raphael, but decided there's no possible way they could bring him back. Even with Lucifer's help, as unlikely as it would be that he'd cooperate, they wouldn't have enough power to bring him back. Michael saw it as more of a misfortune than Gabriel did, but the younger archangel was more than vocal about how unfair it is that he's the only archangel not here.

Michael also had the opportunity to hear stories of his younger brother's antics on earth as the Trickster, which didn't warrant any attention when he was ruling Heaven and Gabriel was just another monster, but are fun to listen to now that he knows his brother was the one doing it.

And then there was also something that he's definitely keeping between the two of them, at least for now.

"Does Gabriel seem... off to you?" he asks randomly.

"Um... I don't — I don't really know him, so I wouldn't know," she replies uncertainly.

"Oh, right. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows him like I do. He's just so... out there with everyone."

"Oh, yeah," she agrees with a soft laugh. "Gabriel's something, that's for sure. It's too bad he's stuck babysitting Lucifer, because he'd be a great addition to our little band of misfits."

He chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah..."

It's at that moment Charlie walks into the room, giggling behind her hand. Meg walks just behind her, a slight smirk on her face. She pulls the geek closer and presses a kiss to her cheek, one hand on her ass, and Charlie giggles harder.

No one's really surprised at this — mostly everyone has already guessed that they're together. This is just the first time they've openly shown it. Well, good for them.