My apologies in advance for how short this chapter is and how long it took to write it. I promise, the next chapter will be better. I PROMISE OKAY.
Many thanks to EllaMichelle, kb18142, Kathrin J Pearl, AngelofBlue-Amaliel, and Wictory for reviewing the previous chapter!
By Wednesday, Lu had pretty much perfected the art of avoiding Balthazar without making it incredibly obvious that he was avoiding Balthazar. Fortunately, the blonde had to work on Monday afternoon and didn't get home until after midnight, by which time Lu had already gone to sleep (without the aid of alcohol, no less). He was gone on Tuesday morning, so Lu managed to enjoy the first half of his day without any external stress. He made a mental note to pick up some cereal from the grocery store because he was usually too lazy to fry bacon first thing in the morning for breakfast and instead just settled for toast. He wasn't particularly hungry anyway, but he trying to savor every second of having the place to himself for a few hours.
Balthazar returned around two in the afternoon, and by then, Lu had holed himself back in his room. He'd made sure to clean up the kitchen (and the bathroom after his shower) so Balthazar wouldn't have anything to complain about. As soon as he was sure Balthazar was home, he plugged his iPod into the dock and started playing The Damned, not so loudly as to be irritating, but loudly enough that it was obvious he didn't want to be disturbed.
He wasn't quite sure why exactly he was avoiding Balthazar. Since Sunday night, the two of them had barely spoken. Lu knew that the events of that night—specifically, the sloppy makeout—were still pretty fresh in his mind, and he had a feeling that Balthazar hadn't been drunk enough to black that part out. Maybe that was why—they were both feeling a bit awkward about it.
But that was stupid. They weren't twelve. Lucifer was twenty-five, for God's sake, and Balthazar was twenty-eight. They should be able to talk about awkward and uncomfortable things. And they had to talk about this, especially if they were going to be working together for awhile. Lu decided to finally say something to Balthazar as soon as possible.
Which is how he ended up sitting at the bar on Wednesday night with Gabe and Sam, the impending conversation with Balthazar still awkwardly un-had.
He hadn't even planned on leaving the house until Thursday, preferring to wait out the days to his job interview spending as little money as possible, but by Wednesday, he was becoming unhinged and almost jumped at the chance of getting out and especially away from Balthazar. The whole day, the blonde had lurked in the living room, watching TV, and the urge to join him was almost overwhelming. For a few moments, he'd seriously contemplated it, wondered if the singer would shift uncomfortably as he sat down, if they'd start talking, if either of them would be brave enough to acknowledge the obvious tension between them. But as appealing as the prospect was, he didn't have the courage to make that first move. So when Gabriel and Sam rolled up to the house shortly after eight, Lu jumped into the closest clean pair of jeans and almost dashed out before Balthazar could ask him where he was going.
"You look tired," Gabe observed, twisting in the passenger's seat to grin at Lu.
"Yeah, well…" He glanced back at the house as Sam pulled away from the curb. "Doing nothing for three days takes a lot out of you."
"Bored?"
"You have no idea. Although I have been able to get a bit of writing done, so it hasn't been all bad."
"Huh. I pegged Balthazar as the exciting type."
"He's at work a lot during the week, I guess," Lu said quietly. Before Gabriel could comment further, he reached between the seats and turned on the radio. That successfully distracted the guitarist, who immediately began to channel-surf until he settled on 91X, a "local, independent radio station" that played a lot of college rock. It was about the only channel their whole group could agree on, a happy medium from all the trashy pop Gabriel listened to and the old punk Lu favored and the nineties grunge that Sam pretended not to like as much as he did. The Red Hot Chili Peppers song that issued from the speakers was far preferable to continuing in the inevitable vein of their conversation, and Lu was perfectly content to stretch out in the back seat and enjoy the song.
As it turned out, the bar they usually went to wasn't far from Balthazar's house—only about three miles, just far enough to make it too far of a walk through a rather sketchy side of town—which was great because they were there fairly regularly. Lu felt himself physically relax as they flashed their IDs at the bouncer (just a formality, since the guy knew them and waved them in) and made their way to the bar. He'd just mentally settled himself in for relaxed spell when Gabriel batted a bottle of Guinness in his direction and raised his. "To wasted days," he joked, and Lu snorted with laughter and obligingly clinked his bottle against Gabriel's and Sam's.
"Anyone else coming by?" he asked casually after taking a sip.
"Nah, or else I would have had you drag Balthazar along. Nah, it's just us tonight."
"Hmm." That was a bit unusual for Gabe, inviting him to a bar with just his boyfriend as company. It probably should have made Lucifer feel a bit like a third wheel, but Sam was fairly easygoing and probably wouldn't let Gabriel start making out with him in front of the whole bar, so he shrugged it off.
They finished off their first and second rounds without incident. By the time the third round came (Sam had only joined them in the first; after that, he stuck with Coke), Gabriel decided to bring up something he must have been meaning to ask for awhile. "So what actually is going on with you and Balthazar anyway?"
Fuck. He thought he'd been subtle. He'd been almost certain that he hadn't given himself away by looking at him too long or too intensely, but apparently, he was wrong. Silently cursing, he feigned ignorance. "I don't know what you're talking about, Gabe."
The guitarist raised an eyebrow over his bottle. "Really? You don't know what I'm talking about?"
Deny, deny, deny. "No, I can't say that I do."
Gabriel looked puzzled for a moment. "Then you're a fucking idiot, because I can't count the number of times I've seen him looking at you. I think he likes you, man."
It wasn't the answer he expected at all, but Lu scoffed. Now he knew Gabriel was just playing with him. "Yeah, right. That's pretty much the exact opposite of how he feels. I mean, he doesn't hate me or anything," he added quickly, "but he definitely doesn't like me. Not like that, anyway."
Gabriel shrugged. "Whatever you say."
"Besides," Lu said before he could stop himself, "even if he did like me, it would be really stupid to pursue anything with a bandmate anyway."
Gabriel gave him a quizzical look but didn't answer. He didn't have to say anything; Lu could read his expression easily. He seemed to be asking, "Is that why you bolted that morning?"
Lu let out a sigh and took another sip of his Guinness. He would never admit it out loud, but that had been one of the reasons why he'd freaked out so badly the morning after they'd slept together. It had been a drunken mistake on both their parts. He distinctly remembered waking up and feeling sore in places that didn't make sense and realizing he was in Gabriel's room. The night before had washed over him in a heady rush of half-remembrances that were only verified by the clothes strewn over Gabriel's floor, the hickeys lining the still-sleeping guitarist's neck (and the one on his own hip), the haphazard twist to the sheets, and, most damningly, the condom in the trash. They wouldn't have even contemplated sleeping together if there hadn't been something insidious lurking between them, and Lu had been twenty-two at the time. He'd been stupid. He'd thought there couldn't be any way that Gabriel would have fucked him sober. He was convinced that it was pointless to even hope, so he quickly dressed and, fighting off the world's worst hangover, dashed out before Gabriel had fully regained consciousness. He validated it to himself later, reminding himself that even if Gabriel did want him like that, getting involved with a bandmate was stupid (it was practically his life's mantra). By the time he realized that maybe there could have been something between them, something that Gabriel genuinely wouldn't be opposed to, Sam had already entered the picture and Lu didn't feel like it was worth coming between them, especially when they were bandmates anyway and God forbid they break up and make everything awkward. No, it was better this way, and Sam was good for Gabriel, and Gabriel was good for Sam. He let it go, and there was an unspoken agreement between them that they wouldn't mentioned what had happened between them to anyone.
They hadn't even spoken about it with each other, and maybe they should have, if only to clear the air. At this point, rehashing a three-year-old one night stand seemed unnecessary, but then again, if Gabriel was willing to have this discussion… But Sam was right there. No matter how far in the past their affair (or whatever you'd call it) had been, he was pretty sure he didn't want to talk about it right with Sam next to them. He was almost completely sure Sam had no idea in the first place, and over drinks was hardly the time to mention it.
Gabriel looked like he was contemplating saying something, but decided against it at the last minute. He finished off his Guinness and hopped off his barstool, making his way to the jukebox with only the smallest amount of swaying. Lu watched with idle interest as some other guy, who'd been sitting with two other guys who were presumably his friends, went over to Gabriel and said something. Gabriel must not have liked it, because he shot the man a what the actual fuck look. They exchanged a few more words before one of the guys sitting with the stranger got up and approached them. Immediately, Lu's gaze sharpened. He didn't like this at all. He glanced over at Sam to confirm that the taller man was indeed paying attention to what was happening, and he slid off his barstool a moment later as Gabriel glared from one of the strangers to the other. Lu thunked a twenty and a five onto the bar to pay for their alcohol and followed Sam as the third strangers also got up and joined the others at the jukebox.
"It's fine, Alastair," the third man said to the first one, but he wasn't having any of that apparently, because a moment later, he'd taken an almighty swing at Gabriel. Gabriel dodged out of the way just in time, but before anyone else could react, Sam leapt into action and landed a blow square on Alastair's cheek. For a second, they all just stared, stunned, until the second man took a swing at Sam. As foolish as striking the younger Winchester might have been (being six-foot-four and built like a linebacker), Lu didn't even give him a chance; he reacted quickly enough to counter his blow with one of his own.
It just degenerated from there, with a few more swings and dodges getting in before a handful of bouncers appeared to break it up and kick them out. It made Lu glad he'd left some cash behind to pay off their tab because they certainly would have gotten some dirty looks the next time they came back.
The other three got into a car and pulled away, shooting glares at Lu, Gabe, and Sam as they went, but Gabriel just nonchalantly flipped them off as they went. Sam couldn't help laughing, tilting his head back and pinching the bridge of his nose to stem the flow of blood. The guy who'd initially thrown a punch at him had managed to get in a lucky jab and gave Sam a bloody nose, but he'd had worse. Lu wasn't particularly concerned with any of them—they'd sustained far worse injuries before. Gabriel was still cackling as he leaned up against the side of Sam's car.
"Alright, this was a good night," he managed to wheeze once he'd finally gotten his laughter mostly under control. "Look," he added, suddenly a bit more serious, "we gotta get back pretty early, so I'm just gonna have Balthazar pick you up, okay? We kind of need to get the moose here home anyway, and you have your interview tomorrow, don't you?"
Lu sighed but nodded. He didn't care enough to argue. He just plopped himself on the curb and waited for Gabriel to call Balthazar.
That would be the world's most annoying conversation, that was for sure.
So the guy who was trying to calm down Alastair was Baldur, and the other guy was Azazel. I feel as though that was necessary to explain.
Like I said, the next chapter will be MUCH better.