Chapter 62

The room Lucifer picks first holds pairs Chuck promised would be together. Needless to say, it's very tense having just Sam, Jess, Gabriel, and Kali in a room together. Maybe they should have clarified that they wanted to be together.

The few minutes are awkward and quiet. It's Sam that finally breaks the silence, though he's obviously hesitant to do so.

"So... Kali, do you know J—?"

"I don't care," she interrupts.

"Right, sorry," Sam mutters, looking at the ground to avoid meeting her gaze. For someone so small, she's very intimidating.

"Kali..." Gabriel says quietly, his voice a warning.

"What?" she asks innocently.

"Play nice."

"Why?" she challenges. "He's the one who got you killed."

Jess looks over at her boyfriend in surprise. That's a story she hasn't heard before. Sam bites back a sassy remark. He'll let Gabriel deal with her.

"It wasn't Sam's fault," Gabriel tells her. "Michael and Lucifer started the whole thing. You gods kidnapped them. You're the one that called me there. Mercury got Lucifer to show so he could stab me. Really, it was a group effort."

Kali clenches her jaw, obviously not happy with how he turned the tables like that.

They lapse into silence again, not that anyone minds. It's better than talking to each other. Things are just too tense.

Suddenly, Chuck appears, just long enough to say, "Either keep talking or I'll switch things up again, and not in a good way," before poofing out again.

Gabriel sighs. "Control freak much?" he mutters.

"Guess we know how Jo feels," Jess adds.

"Ooh, right," Gabriel agrees. "I forgot about that. I feel kinda bad now." He didn't realize conversations with people he would like to avoid were so hard until now.

"Who do you think she's with right now?" Sam asks them. "Michael or Lucifer?"

"Lucifer," Jess replies. "That always seems to start drama we never get to watch."

"I think Michael," Gabriel says. "I think he has other plans for Lucifer, or he would've just stuck Jo and Luci somewhere and left Michael alone. Lucifer's probably making someone else's life a living hell."

"Oh, yeah, true," Jess agrees. "He seems to do that a lot."

"It's gotta suck, too," Gabriel adds. "I mean, he's my brother, and as much as I love him, I don't think I could handle be forced to spend so much time with him. I don't get how she does it."

"Is he really that bad?" Jess asks. "I mean, I know he's the devil, but at least he's got a sense of humor, right?"

" sense of humor? Sure. sense of humor? Not so much." Gabriel shrugs as if to say "What can you do?" "But whatever. Looks like I've done my time. Michael and Jo can have him now."

~~

Lucifer's eyes glow red for a moment as he stands up to find another scene to watch. He can't listen to that conversation anymore. Instead, he looks around for someone else who will hopefully be more entertaining.

He settles down at the table showing Michael and Jo mid conversation, because at least he knows Jo hates him, and he's decently sure she won't want to talk about him. And if she does... Well, if Michael feels the same way as Gabriel, it's better he learn this now than later.

~~

"— been kinda fun, sure," Jo says. "I mean, as fun as being locked in a building be. I don't know. You make it bearable, at least."

Michael smiles slightly at that. Now's his chance. He's just not sure he wants to take it. He thinks back to the pep talk Gabriel gave him back before Kali showed up. He can do it. What's the worst that will happen? He'll have to spend his time with Lucifer instead of Jo? That's not horrible. Not at all. Right? Maybe? Oh god, what is he doing?

Finally, he convinces himself to just go for it and hope for the best.

"So, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Michael tells her.

"Ask away," she replies.

"Well, I'm new to the whole human world, obviously, and I don't really know how this goes..."

God, he sounds like an idiot.

"Well, I am new to the whole human world, and I probably know how it goes, so what's up?" she asks.

Not sure how else to do it, he just spits it out and hopes the readers don't kill him.

"I'm just wondering if you want to be more than just friends," he mumbles quickly, looking at the floor.

Jo can't help but laugh at how unsure and out of place he sounds. She can see that Michael takes this as a bad sign, not at all how she meant it, and she rushes to make sure he knows that.

"Yes, Michael. I'd love to."

"Wait, really?" he says in surprise. "Oh, thank god, because otherwise, this would be really awkward."

She laughs. "Yeah, really."

And silence.

"So..." Michael says after a few seconds, "What do we do now?"

She shrugs. "Could be something along the lines of this."

She puts a hand under his chin and presses their lips together. It takes Michael a moment to kiss her back, because he's still so unsure about humanity's idea of a romantic relationship, but when he does, it's a slow and sweet kiss, and one they wouldn't trade for anything.