Sam and Dean share a confused look for the umpteenth time that day — night — evening — whatever time of day it is. It's Dean that finally reacts, silently excusing himself from his conversation with Benny and Crowley — yes, it was going as horribly as it sounds — and walks up to Gabriel, who's leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and just looking bored.
Dean glances at Lucifer, who's sitting on the floor near the younger archangel and asks quietly, "What's up with him?"
Gabriel looks down at his brother, who has been playing on some tablet device and muttering something under his breath in a language that pretty much no one understands, oblivious to the people watching him, for the last half hour.
"I made the mistake of introducing him to Peggle," Gabriel replies.
"That is him playing Peggle?"
Gabriel nods. "It could be worse. He could be screaming in Swahili instead of whispering in it."
"Swahili?" Dean repeats, amused.
"Yep. He was speaking in Romanian earlier."
Dean chuckles despite himself. "Getting a little too worked up over a video game, in my opinion."
"Don't blame me. It's the fucking sunflower," Lucifer says without looking up.
Dean glances back at his brother, sharing an amused smile.
"I can't believe Satan just said that," Dean laughs.
Lucifer just ignores him. The entire room — which isn't very many people; just the two youngest Winchesters, Jess, Benny, Crowley, Samandriel, the archangels, Jo, Castiel, and Balthazar, which actually seems like a lot of people now that I write it out like that — watches as he continues playing. Every minute or two, he mutters something under his breath, and each time, Gabriel announces which language it's in.
"French." "German." "Enochian." "That was, like, a weird mix of Spanish and Swedish."
"I'm pretty sure no one cares what language I'm speaking unless I'm speaking to them," Lucifer says, his eyes still on his game.
"And usually, we prefer it to be one we can't understand," Dean adds.
"Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury of not understanding what people are saying," Lucifer replies, then starts muttering something under his breath again.
"Italian," Gabriel announces, then adds, "And very rude, too. What did the sunflower ever do to you?"
"It existed."
Gabriel just shakes his head at his brother, an amused smile on his face.
Lucifer continues playing his game, continuing to mutter under his breath.
"That was, like, part Bengali, part Hindi, and part Portuguese," Gabriel says slowly as he attempts to process this. "I don't even know how he strung those into a sentence right there. It was something like 'I hate this flower and I want the unicorn back,' I think, but the sentence structure is weird and it doesn't really make sense."
"It doesn't have to make sense," Lucifer snaps. "I'm not talking to you guys."
"No, you're apparently talking to a sunflower," Dean laughs.
Lucifer doesn't even look up when he flings Dean into a wall. Benny walks over to the hunter and pulls him to his feet.
"You got a lot of guts, antagonizing the devil like that, brother."
"I wouldn't say guts," Dean replies. "More like boredom. Besides, he makes it too easy."
"Can't I complain about this mother fucking sunflower in peace?" Lucifer asks, exasperated.
"Not if you're in the same room as us," Balthazar replies. "It's your own fault you can't keep your mouth shut."
Lucifer sighs in frustration. "Fine." He disappears with a flap of his wings.
Gabriel sighs. "I should probably go find him."
"Or you could hang with us," Jo suggests. "Looks like Lucifer just wants to play Peggle in peace. I'm sure he won't cause too much trouble."
Gabriel's gaze flicks to Sam and Jess almost unconsciously, only for a brief moment before looking at Jo. "He's got a bit of a temper. I should probably make sure he doesn't break anything. Or anyone."
Before she can protest, Gabriel disappears, leaving everyone else in silence for a good two minutes.
It's Dean who speaks finally. "Well, that just happened."
"Wow, very observant of you," Crowley says sarcastically, adding, "Moron," under his breath.
"I didn't ask for your input, Crowley," Dean snaps.
"No, but if I'm stuck here, I might as well not sit in the corner sobbing uncontrollably, as much as you make me want to," Crowley replies.
"You and Lucifer have barely even acknowledged each other in days," Michael observes, his voice quiet enough that the conversation is just between him and Jo.
Instead of telling him the real reason — that they slept together and now things are awkward and she wishes he would just not exist — she just shrugs. "You told me to stop picking fights with him, so I did. He seems to have gotten the memo."
"It seems like it," he agrees. "Thank you for it. Lucifer and I may not be on the best of terms, but I do want the best for him. I don't think he'll start getting along with anyone but Gabriel if everyone just sees him fighting all the time."
"Can we not talk about Lucifer right now?" she asks.
"Of course, sorry. What would you like to talk about?" he asks politely.
"Food?" she suggests hopefully. "What time even is it?"
"About four," Michael replies, because somehow, he just knows. I didn't logic this. He's just magic that way.
"Isn't that about sunset?" she asks.
"It wouldn't matter. We couldn't watch it from inside, anyway."
"Maybe Chuck would let us on the roof, at least," she says hopefully.
"I don't know. You could fall..."
Jo rolls her eyes. "The odds of me falling off the roof are the same as me drowning in the bathtub. It's not gonna happen, Michael."
"It's possible," he insists.
Jo sinks into her hip and crosses her arms. "You really think I'm going to fall off the roof?"
Michael opens his mouth to say something, closes it, then concedes, "No, I guess not. Come on, let's go see if we can watch the sunset."
Michael flies them both to the roof, and they lie down next to each other. The sun is still shining, and they know they still have a bit to wait until it begins to set.
"You mentioned food?" Michael recalls. "I could make you something."
"I'll eat after," she replies, her gaze still on the sky.
She foods her hands behind her head as a pillow of sorts, and Michael does the same, gazing up into the sun because he knows it won't hurt his angelic eyes.
Jo closes her eyes, murmuring, "If I fall asleep, wake me up when the sunset starts."
Michael gazes down at her, lying there so peacefully. That has to be rare for a hunter. He can hear her breathing slow as she drifts off into unconsciousness.
After a few minutes, she shifts her position, her head somehow ending up on his chest. He looks down, startled, unsure what to do. Finally, he decides to just let her stay there. It's not hurting anyone, and it looks like she could use the sleep.
A few quiet minuets pass when suddenly, Lucifer's voice, which is practically a yell after all this silence, "How'd you know where I was going?"
"Because I know you liked that sunset and I figured you'd come watch another," Gabriel replies simply. "And — ooh, look, it's a Michael!"
Michael attempts to look at them without waking up Jo, but they're too far away. She must have heard their loud entrance, because she murmurs something indistinctly and buried her face in his chest as if that will drown out the noise.
"Oops," Gabriel whispers, just now noticing her. "Sorry, Jo. If you're awake. I can't tell anymore. Oh well." With the flap of his wings, he's lying next to his older brother. "Hey, Mikey! Are you here to watch the sunset?" he asks, quietly but excitedly.
"Yes," Michael replies simply.
Gabriel rolls into his stomach to look at Lucifer behind them, a disapproving look on his face.
"Luciiiii! Let's watch the sunset with Mikey!"
Lucifer doesn't say anything for a moment. Gabriel looks up at him expectantly.
"I told myself I'd beat that sunflower today, so I'm going to go do that now, but you three have fun."
Immediately, Gabriel is by his side, grabbing his older brother by the wrist before he can move. "Come on, Lucifer. Stop being such a whiny little baby and come watch the sunset with us."
Lucifer pulls his arm free. "I said no." He disappears immediately, despite Gabriel's best efforts to keep him here. He sighs, frustrated. Why can't Lucifer just try to play nice?
"You can't have honestly thought he would stay," Michael says quietly.
"Thought? No. Hoped? A little," Gabriel replies.
"He hates Jo and me more than anyone else here," Michael reminds him. "I'm just grateful he left without making a scene."
"That's the thing, though," Gabriel insists, sitting down next to his brother. "I think he's adjusting. He's barely acknowledged Jo in days, he hasn't picked a fight with anyone who didn't antagonize him, he's capable of being in the same room as other people and not screwing with their conversations. Hell, we've even watched the sunset together for the past three days. I think he's finally figuring out how this whole thing works. I think he's finally decided to stop being Satan and start being an angel again."
Michael sighs. "I wish that was true, but you know him as well as I do. He has his good days, and he has his bad days. But overall, he's not a good person, and he'll never be a good person. Not since he rebelled and I cast him down to Hell."
"I don't believe that," Gabriel protests. "He can change. Right now, it looks like he will change. We might have our brother back."
Michael smiles slightly at that. "I hope you're right, Gabriel. I really do."
"But he's not perfect yet so I'm gonna go make sure he hasn't killed anyone yet. You two have fun up here." Gabriel flashes his brother a smile before disappearing to find Lucifer.
Michael looks up to the sky, watching the sun approach the horizon. He should probably wake Jo up now. He shakes her gently. "Jo, the sun's setting," he tells her softly.
Her response is mumbled in her sleep like state, and Michael isn't sure if it can even be classified as English.
"Jo?" he tries again, receiving the same agitated reply. Well, it doesn't look like she's actually going to watch the sunset.
Michael debates moving her inside, but the only way back in would be to fly, and he's heard humans don't like that very much, and he doesn't want to wake her up. Instead, he creates a warm blanket out of nothing, laying it on top of her gently. If she's going to sleep outside during December, it's probably important for a blanket. Humans can get really cold, right?
He looks down at her for a moment, not sure what to do. Should he give her a pillow instead of his chest? Probably. He tries to slide out from under her, but she whines softly in protest, absentmindedly throwing an arm around him. Giving up, he just lies back down comfortably — or as comfortably as he can while on the roof with a girl sleeping on him. This is going to be a long night, and, for some reason, he can't find it in him to care.