Lucifer's Answer

He didn't see Amenadiel for two weeks, and in that time his mood went from hope, to despair, to annoyance.

Two weeks for an answer was far too long for something so important to him.

To top it all off, Dusty was beginning a moult and refused to leave Dan's side during his time at Lucifer's. Which meant that his whole week was disrupted by Dusty not staying with him on Thursday nights. Dusty was worse than him during a moult.

Okay, maybe it just affected him, but it was his flock. It wasn't his fault the bird was going insane because of his new feathers coming in. That and he was getting hormonal and kept trying to mate with Dan's head. At least that had upped Lucifer's mood and made him laugh.

The bad thing about it being his own moult was coming up soon. Dusty would likely have two moults a year. Thankfully, he only had one. With any luck, their moults would sync. He guessed he would moult sometime in the New Year after winter was over.

That this was something he was worrying over now meant he was definitely feeling better about things. And, as was his life, as soon as he was content to let Amenadiel take all the time he wanted to come to him with an answer, his brother showed up and threw a curve ball at him.

"Luci. I want to talk with you," Amenadiel stated, coming into his home without letting him have a heads up.

It was pretty awkward, considering his head was currently down. He let go of the man he was having some sexy fun with and sighed against a thigh. "You have crappy timing, brother. Sorry, love, this will have to wait for later. Come back tomorrow and we'll have some uninterrupted fun."

Said man quickly pulled up his pants and left. He left behind a shirt, trousers and shoes. He hadn't bothered taking off his socks.

Yeah, he'd be back, if for no other reason than to collect his clothing. Yet again, Lucifer did have a growing collection of lost clothing items accumulating in his flat. He stored them in one of the spare room closets.

"Amenadiel! So, what can I do for you this evening?"

Amenadiel twitched and shifted from foot to foot, which perked up Lucifer's sense of curiosity.

"Oooh, is this a conversation we should sit for? Or are you just being awkward because you walked in on me with a lover shoved halfway down my..."

"Stop, please. I don't need to learn all about your love life."

Lucifer laughed, glad to know that, yes, it did seem to be a sexual awkward thing, and not an awkward conversation. He relaxed and let himself ease himself onto his lounge. "So! Really, what are you here for?"

Amenadiel sighed and joined him on the couch. "I wanted to tell you that I talked to Maze, and I talked to Linda and, I maybe talked to Ella behind your back too."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at his brother. He already knew, of course. Ella was horrible at hiding things, especially from him. She is just too obvious and loudly open with her emotions. She had told him so he didn't feel bad later.

"Yes, I know you talked to Ella. She didn't say about what, but she did mention the two of you talked. Considering that everything lately with you revolves around my flock and whether you will say yes or no, I am guessing you talked to her about your decision, or asked her about other things which would sway your decision one way or another."

Amenadiel nodded. "Okay, not so secret or behind your back. Yes. I talked to Maze first. She basically laughed at me and said if I hurt you she would hurt me."

A proud grin made its way across Lucifer's face. "That's my Mazie. And she will, you know? Hurt you, that is."

Amenadiel nodded solemnly at him. Yep, his brother was definitely wising up to the ways of Earth and his demon. It was oddly good to see. He felt less alone.

"Then I talked to Ella, as she seems to be one who is open with her words."

Lucifer widened the grin and nodded. "Yep, that definitely sounds like Ella. What did she say?"

Amenadiel slouched in the seat. A feat in itself given how tall and bulky his brother was. "I asked her if this was all really necessary. She said that it was and you would never stop asking me if I put it off for long."

He laughed at that and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back. "Sounds about right."

"So then I went to Linda. She said...she said she wouldn't tell me much but what she would tell me was that you need an angel in your flock to keep you grounded. Luci, I can't ground you. I can barely ground myself. I don't even know if I still have my angelic lifespan intact!"

He stared at his brother, because all of a sudden his excuse of not wanting to join right away because of his missing his old flock seemed like just that. An excuse. "Amenadiel, brother, are you telling me that this is what is making you unsure about joining right now? Whether or not you're mortal? But that's so easy to test! Cut yourself! If you bleed, you can die. If you don't, your angelic invulnerability is still intact. I'd be careful around Chloe though. I don't know if it is just me she affect's yet."

His brother hissed at him, a short letting out of breath through clenched teeth. "Fine. Got a knife or something?"

Getting up and making his way to the kitchen, he quickly grabbed one of the knives he used to cut meat and took it back to his nervous brother. "Here. Just a small cut. Nothing big. You don't want to do too much bleeding if mortality is a problem for you right now."

Amenadiel grasped the knife and held it over his arm, before bringing it down on his flesh and cutting a line. Or would have. There was definitely enough force behind the cutting motion to break skin. But the skin remained untouched. No blood welled and spilled onto the floor. No hissed breath of pain.

Lucifer grinned widely. "Mortality is obviously not a problem. You're still an angel. Ever thought maybe the reason why you can't ground yourself is because we're not made to be on our lonesome? I mean, even in Hell I had Maze to help with things. Not with my wings. I gave up on them eons ago, but in other things to keep me sane."

It almost looked like Amenadiel fainted for a few seconds with how fast he went limp on the couch, before he noted that his brother was silently laughing. "There are reasons why I started making myself a flock, Amenadiel. You should join. You won't feel so lonely anymore."

And then his arms were full of over six foot of crying angel, as Amenadiel wrapped him up in a hug. "Then yes, Luci. I'll join. Right now."

And Lucifer smiled into his brother's shoulder and relaxed. "Good. Just so you know, it's lousy timing on your part when it comes to Dusty. He just started a moult and is being a little flying monster."

He felt more than heard the laugh Amenadiel replied with. "Should I wait then? Until he is more up to dealing with others?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Nah. He approved before he went into moult and I'm sure he'll be fine again when he has his new feathers all in. He's just shitty because of the itchy ache of new feathers he currently is growing. It's his first moult with the flock. We're all letting him be as shitty as he wants to be."

Amenadiel hummed into his hair. "Reminds me of someone I know, Luci."

He smacked his brother's back, over where his wings were lightly, knowing that they were still out, just hidden under his shirt. He had trouble hiding them or long periods nowadays. "Careful. You wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself when your feathers decide to grow out.

Amenadiel let him go to stare at him with worried, open eyes. "Do you think I will get the use of my wings back?"

Nodding, Lucifer smiled. "Well, I did. So, yes, I do think you will. It's just taking time because you're stubborn and Dad wants you to suffer for your bad behaviour a while, that's all."

With a nod, Amenadiel leaned back in and accepted more touch to his down covered wings. "Then I will hope I make up for what I did soon. I miss flying."

Humming, Lucifer did his best to groom wings that were nearly naked.

He was already more relaxed than he had been in a long while.

Yeah, he really did need another angel in his flock.

He was glad he now finally had one.