A/N: I think this is probably the first and only Michifer fic I've ever done, though I do quite like the pairing. Enjoy!
~Alorev
"Michael!"
Michael moaned softly and rolled from fetal position fully onto his back just in time for Lucifer to land directly on his stomach as he jumped onto the bed.
"Oof!" Michael shot up, bending in half around his brother, eyes wide in shock and pain. "Lucifer!"
Lucifer grinned at him and Michael took a moment to revel in the brightness of his brother, how pure he was, the so-called Morning Star.
Then Lucifer straddled Michael's lap and that purity seemed to be an exact paradox of what he was currently doing. "Shh. Michael. Don't want the others to get concerned and come in here to see what the fuss is about."
Michael levelled a glare but snuck a look around Lucifer to make sure the door to his overly spacious room was still closed and no one was peeking inside to see what was going on within. "Then why did you yell and jump on me?"
"Had to wake you up somehow Mich." Lucifer purred and Michael pursed his lips, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Why do you and Gabriel insist upon calling me by that infernal nickname?"
Lucifer slipped his hands beneath Michael's shirt and held him tight, cold hands against Michael's warm back and Michael squirmed before settling down. "Because we're your favourites and you love us."
Michael sighed softly and used his fingers to pry Lucifer off, rolling over to lay down on his stomach as he stuffed his face into the multitude pillows. "'M goin' back t' sleep."
He spread his wings, all six of them, across the bed and there was a moment's pause as Lucifer straddled his back.
Then Lucifer slid off him, squirming beneath Michael's wings and letting his blue-white feathers intermingle with Michael's smoky grey and white ones. It took him a few moments to get there and they both yanked limbs over and around each other, attempting to get more comfortable.
Michael sighed again and allowed Lucifer to burrow into his arms, planting a kiss in the younger archangel's hair with a soft nuzzle. "You're aggravating."
"Part of my charm." Lucifer was cool against Michael, contrasting to Michael's fiery touch and the two of them fit against each other seamlessly, Graces intertwined, tying them together in an unbreakable bond. To the majority of the Host they were just brothers who were joined at the hip, Lucifer having been raised almost fully by Michael and to be honest they were. They cared for each other fiercely, Michael would protect Lucifer with his life and Lucifer looked up to Michael like the sun shone from him. But the line between brotherly love and soul mate love was thin and angels weren't born, at least not yet, just created. The word brothers meant different things to some than it did to others. The idea was siblings was something each had to decide for themselves for the moment. "Wanna bribe Gabe to cover for us so we can spend the day in bed?"
"Can't. Gabriel's still on fledgeling duty for that stunt when he found some of Dad's spare parts and made the platypus. And the goose. Which for the record, you should not have added teeth too. That was cruel." Michael rolled onto his side, tucking Lucifer's head beneath his chin.
"Pawn it off on Zachariah then." Lucifer nuzzled Michael, wings making slow, smoothing movements over Michael's, feathers tickling along his back. "He's a butt kisser."
"Lucifer…" Michael's tone was warning but it was doubtful his brother really cared, it was the attempt that counted.
"What? Heaven knows I can wheedle Raph into covering for me." Luci's tone was playful in return and Michael swatted him upside the head with a wing.
"We'll see."
"Thought so." Lucifer rolled them so Michael was lying on his back and Lucifer was sitting on him, feet tucked around Michael's waist and it was reminiscent of how he'd barged into Michael's room earlier.
His hands went out, guiding Michael to spread his wings out wide, fingers threading through the feathers. Michael allowed him to, keeping his wings still so Lucifer could play with them as he wished without any hindrances.
"Maybe velvet today. Black and red stand out very nicely against your feathers."
Michael chuckled at the younger angels spoken musings. "You do so enjoy putting stays in my wings."
Lucifer blushed, surprisingly delicately, his eyes avoided Michael's gaze as if looking would show too much about his thoughts. It didn't matter, Michael couldn't read him as well as he wanted to sometimes. But Lucifer could read his older brother, like an open book. "You...you look very handsome with fabric among your wings. Especially when it matches or contrasts your wings and armour."
Michael placed his hands on either side of Lucifer's jaw, turning him to face the older archangel. "Don't be embarrassed. I like it when you do up my wings so nicely. Why don't you go grab the stays and anything else you need and I'll get comfortable and you can do them up nicely?"
Lucifer broke out in a wide smile that was honestly infectious as he slid off the bed, headed for Michael's closet. Michael sat up and rearranged his pillows, moving them so he was laying on his front at an angle allowing for easy access to his wings. He spread out five of his six wings, leaving the sixth hanging in the air for Lucifer to position as he needed. The bed dipped beneath his weight as Lucifer returned, once again straddling Michael, this time in a kneeling position and sitting back on his heels.
Michael guided his wing to lay across one of Lucifer's legs for easy access, curling around behind his younger brother, flight feathers skimming his feet.
His eyes closed as Lucifer combed through the feathers. His hands were quick and nimble, threading the red velvet stays between and beneath the feathers and then across to the next wing, forming a series of knots in the material down Michael's spine as he did. The stays crossed each other in the pattern Lucifer preferred, forming an corset style look down Michael's back. He did it carefully and smartly so it wouldn't infringe on Michael's ability to fly or move but would be shown off everytime he flashed his feathers. Wings were a point of pride among the host and the bindings you could do only enhanced their beauty. With Lucifer's work, Michael's tended to be envious, falling short only just below Lucifer's own glowing appendages.
It was relaxing for both of them, Michael getting his wings preened and pampered and Lucifer having something to focus on and do with his hands. Not to mention that Lucifer tended to show his affection much more openly and publicly. For Michael to allow Lucifer to do up his wings and show them in public showed Lucifer that no matter how neutral Michael seemed in public, it didn't mean he didn't think about him, didn't love him when they were in public the way he did when they were alone. Everytime Lucifer saw the stays it would remind him of how Michael really felt.
As Lucifer finished he leaned down, planting small kisses along Michael's neck and then down his spine. "Thanks Mich. Love you."
"Love you too Luc."
/
Michael's wings were wide and violent and glorious. Sam was staring at them in awe, awake but without control of his own body. He wanted to tremble at the sight of them, as almost everything in creation did but Lucifer had seen Michael's wings like that before and he wasn't quite so easily cowed, even if they did spark a hint of terror within him too.
But Lucifer wasn't staring at them for quite the same reason Sam was. Not that he'd ever tell the Winchester that. He didn't want this as much as Sam didn't want it, but if Sam knew why, he could turn it, twist it until Lucifer simply bowed beneath Michael, let himself be struck down and let Sam die.
There were no stays in Michael's wings now. They were free and angry, grey spots turning into fast blurs with the strong beat Michael was setting, indicating his wrath. They were unbound, untethered, lethal and powerful. There was nothing holding back the power, or at least appearing to hold back the power. They were not the magnificently accessorized, gentle and smooth wings that Lucifer remembered from before that Fall. They had gone from a symbol of Michael's gentle calm and benevolence to a symbol of his heavenly anger.
Michael had cut off the stays. Had cut off Lucifer.
/
"Lucifer?" Michael's voice was soft and hesitant and Lucifer looked up from his corner of the Cage.
Michael's eyes were tired as he kept a tendril of his Grace extended to protect Adam. They'd tried to do the same for Sam until he'd been somehow pulled from the Cage. But the Winchester had expected torture when he jumped into Hell and the Cage responded to give him what he was thinking would happen. The Cage had tortured him the way Hell tortured anyone, preying on their worst nightmares and giving them their expectations. Michael had been able to warn Adam about it and clear the boys mind, allowing the archangels to protect at least one of their vessels. It broke Lucifer, to know he couldn't save Sam, even if Sam had wanted this over the apocalypse. He felt as though he hadn't done enough for the Winchester.
"Ya?" Lucifer shrugged and shook himself just to be able to feel his muscles move again. It was easy to stay still for too long when you were in a cage forever but the sensation of moving felt nice.
"Can we...can we stop this?" Michael rolled his lips nervously, in that same, slightly confused and thinking pout Lucifer had been fond of when they were younger. Time hadn't changed his way of expressing himself.. "I just...you were right. We both should've walked off the chessboard. But now...I just...can we go back to how it used to be? Maybe we can't fix what's happened or what's happening. But can we try to fix us? That's...that's all I care about anymore."
Lucifer hesitated before coming to sit next to Michael. He wasn't afraid of Michael attacking him, they were both tired and had gotten their frustrations out of the way long before Sam had even been pulled from the Cage. They'd given up hope that anyone was coming for them and that made it hard to want to fight or keep up appearances. No one was watching them, the point was moot. "Ya. Ya, I want that too."
Michael moved a little stiffly and in slow increments until he had Lucifer wrapped in his arms and wings. "Oh...Luc, I'm so sorry and...and that doesn't even begin to cover it."
"So am I." Lucifer brushed Michael's wing soothingly, burying his face in Michael's shoulder. He frowned when his hand hit resistance among Michael's feathers. "Mich...what?"
He pulled Michael's wing closer before the eldest archangel could protest and spread the feathers apart. There was a strip of shimmering gold biting into the flesh, silk weaved with the precious metal to match Michael's white and gold armour. It was the same fabric, same alternating pattern that Lucifer preferred when he bound Michael's wings. "Mich, are these…?"
Michael looked away, smoothing a few feathers self-consciously as though he was attempting to distract himself. If the look on his face said anything he knew Lucifer wasn't going to let the subject drop. "I couldn't. Couldn't cut them off or untie them. They reminded me of you. I missed you. I couldn't just go without them or have someone else redo them."
They were the same silk stays that Lucifer had used the night before he'd fallen. Michael had sat quietly while he did them, knowing Lucifer was upset about humanity and needed something to take his mind off it. He'd come to his decision to disobey while putting the stays in.
The next day Michael had been forced to throw him out of heaven.
The stays were tattered, ripped and shrunken but still whole. They had dug so deep within the feather and flesh they were next to impossible to locate.
"Maybe…" Lucifer swallowed and pressed close to Michael. "Maybe we can start by cutting these off an'...an' I'll redo them. Fix them. So it won't hurt you anymore."
Michael obviously caught the secondary meaning to the words and he spread one wing out for Lucifer. "Ya, I'd like that."
Lucifer's fingers set to work in that old familiar pattern once again.