I meant to get this posted last night but my laptop was being purposely petulant. All in all, I don't think it turned out half-bad, considering I wrote the first 2,500 words pretty much hammered...

Many thanks to Chloe JP, KitCat1995, EllaMichelle, IslanderBib, GoForTehGig, r2metoo, charlotte. eliot. 3, kb18142, and Keefer for your reviews to last chapter!

On Tuesday, it occurred to Lu that he'd been on the schedule to work that weekend. He wasn't quite sure what had happened—or why Joshua (or anyone else, for that matter) hadn't bothered to call him to check on him. And then he realized that Balthazar had spent the whole weekend at home, as well. He started wondering what exactly had transpired during his extended nap.

"I called in," Balthazar said, running his fingers through Lu's hair for a moment. He peered into the back of the hearse (Lu had insisted on driving into the studio that day) and grinned, shaking his head. "Told them I had a rough week. They understood."

"Well, that's good. You're not in trouble, then?"

"Not at all, love."

"Good." He snuck a quick glance at Balthazar. "Did anyone from Radio Shack call while I was unconscious?"

Balthazar shook his head. "No, but I spoke to Castiel on Friday and he said he'd take care of it, so I assume he did."

"Huh. Yeah, I'll ask him about it."

"You did need the rest, though."

"Yeah, I know. That's… last week was kind of crazy, wasn't it?"

Balthazar half-smiled. "That's one word for it. I didn't even realize you weren't coming home until Thursday night. I'm sorry for that."

"We all had a rough week. It's not your fault. I mean, it's a nice thought, but you don't have to take care of me or anything. I just… lost my head for awhile."

"No one could accuse you of being the most rational person."

Lu got the impression that he should have been offended, but he knew what Balthazar said was true. He could get irrational and he was grateful he had a group of friends who actually put up with it. "Yeah, I guess so." It didn't help that they'd driven to the studio separately. He'd wanted to get in early on Monday and took off, leaving Balthazar to drive himself. If they'd shown up in the same car, it would have been impossible to hide the fact that he'd been at the studio all week.

But he was determined to put it out of his mind. It was in the past now; there was no use dwelling on it. He couldn't change what had already happened, but hopefully they could keep it from happening again.

When they got into the studio, Castiel and Gabriel were there, but Raphael had yet to show up. This was a problem, since the first item on their list that day was laying down the drum track to "Laid to Waste." However, this left Lu with time to pull Castiel aside and talk to him.

"Hey, Cas, what happened this weekend?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Radio Shack. I was supposed to work this week, wasn't I?"

"You were. I told Joshua the truth, though. You spent all week here and probably wouldn't feel up to coming in. He was alright with that, but I don't think he'll put you on the schedule for next week. In fact, I believe he said he wouldn't put you on the schedule until we were finished here."

Lu blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Yes. He said something like you can have a job there when you need one, but he needs someone who's a little more… reliable," Castiel said finally.

Lu furrowed his brows. "Oh. Um, okay. I guess I can see where he's coming from."

"I'm sorry," Castiel added.

"It's fine. I mean, you explained it to him, so… I guess I can't be that upset. He has a point, though."

"This is our full-time job now. Everything else is secondary," Castiel said.

"Yeah. I know." He attempted a smile. "But he said he'd give me another chance, right?"

"The implication was, after the record is complete, he'll be happy to employ you."

"Better than flat-out fired, right?"

Castiel nodded. "He understands that this is a time of upheaval for us all."

"Understatement of the fucking decade," Lu muttered.

Raphael finally showed up fifteen minutes later with Starbucks in hand. He didn't even have the decency to look sheepish. He simply finished off his drink, tossed it in the trash, and sailed into the soundproofed room. Without a word, he began setting up his drum kit and preparing for sound check, while Lu was nearly overcome by a case of the giggles.

He knew there was a reason they were friends.

By the end of the day, the entire rhythm portion and about half of the guitar part of the song was complete. Lu had to admit that it was a fairly productive day, even with Crowley breathing down their necks and Bobby coming in to check on their progress. He was half-convinced that even Roman would stop by and that prospect terrified him, although he wasn't sure why. Still, it was stressful to work even with just Crowley in the room, and Raphael echoed everyone's sentiments when he announced that he needed a drink.

Castiel disappeared around four when Dean showed up and waved at them all. Gabriel left a short time after him, claiming he had a date with Sam that night, and Crowley told the rest of them to leave, with a pointed look at Lu. Apparently, no one was going to be able to stay the night even if they tried now. After last week's incident, Crowley was keeping a tighter leash on them all.

As soon as they got outside, Raphael lit up a cigarette. "Well, that was heaps of fun," he joked.

"I could have just stayed home today," Balthazar said.

"Yeah, but if you had, we would have actually needed you today."

Lu almost wished Balthazar had stayed home. He had to pretend he didn't notice the way the singer's eyes were almost always on him while he recorded the bass line. It was a bit distracting to be the center of attention. It wasn't like when they were at shows—at least then, he had four other people around him and every eye wasn't on him. When he was in that soundproofed room, everyone was watching him and it made him just a little self-conscious.

Still, when he finally got out and Castiel and Gabriel went in, Balthazar scooted closer to him on the couch and started whispering filthy things in his ear, making him relieved the blonde had decided to wait until everyone else's attention was elsewhere before provoking him.

Once Raphael finished off his cigarette, he waved goodbye and Lu and Balthazar (who had lit his own in the meantime) and went to his truck.

The blonde took a long drag on his cigarette. "So, to home?"

Lu shook his head, the beginning of a smile playing across his features. "I had something else in mind."

Balthazar grinned. "I quiver with anticipation."

"I thought that was your natural state."

The singer snorted with laughter. "Touché. What are you planning?"

Lu pretended he didn't feel his face heating up slightly. "Well, since I figured, you know, we're kind of dating now—"

"'Kind of,' nothing. This is about as official as I could make it."

"Right. Anyway." He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the label "boyfriend" as applied to either Balthazar or him, but apparently Balthazar thought it was an appropriate one. "We haven't had a real date yet. So I think we should go on a real date."

"No Titanic."

Lu raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't on the schedule, but… care to explain why?"

"Later." Balthazar stubbed out his cigarette against the wall of Leviathan. "It's a very long story."

"So it really all started with that stupid Celine Dionne song," Balthazar explained two hours later. He took a bite of his burger before continuing. "But then it started spiraling to the whole franchise, you know? I mean, I have nothing against Leo or Kate but… that song." He gave an exaggerated shudder. "And then it just ruined the whole movie. Plus the whole thing is just clichéd romantic tripe set to a historic background anyway. Hell, if I could, I would go back in time and un-sink the damn ship. But I can't." Balthazar shrugged. "Plus it doesn't help that my sister is obsessed with the movie. I swear she watches it every night."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

Balthazar nodded, taking another bite of his burger. "Naomi. Older sister. I like her, but her thing with Titanic… it's a bit taxing."

Lu laughed. "So she still lives back in England?"

"No, she moved back to France to be closer to my dad."

Lu blinked. He wasn't sure why Balthazar's French heritage surprised him, considering the singer's last name couldn't be anything other than French. "So you lived there?"

"Until I was nine. Then my mother moved us to Scotland. That's where I learned English."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone. English isn't your first language?"

Balthazar laughed and shook his head. "No, French is. But I picked up English pretty quickly. I don't even have an accent. Not a French one, anyway."

"That's true." Part of him wondered what Balthazar sounded like speaking French, but he had a feeling it wouldn't end well for him. "I wouldn't have guessed."

Balthazar chuckled softly. "So what about you? What's your family like?"

Lu kicked at the bumper of Bones for a minute before answering. "I… I don't really have anyone. I mean, there's my mom, but she lives up near LA. Apart from her… I have cousins on my dad's side in Mississippi, and my dad still lives there… but that's it."

"So what happened with your parents?" Balthazar asked quietly. His tone made it perfectly clear that, if he didn't want to, Lu didn't have to answer.

The strawberry blonde rubbed the bridge of his nose. "My dad was… well, he was an asshole. My mom left him, took me, and came to California when I was seven. He… I don't remember why exactly, but for some reason, he broke my arm."

Balthazar looked stunned. "My God. I had no idea."

"I barely remember this. I just remember my mom throwing half of my clothes in her station wagon and us driving for two or three days until we wound up here. Her parents never supported us because she pissed them off by marrying him in the first place, and his parents were already dead at that point, so we were really just relying on her the whole time."

"I'm so sorry."

"I'm not. My life would have sucked so much more if I were still living there."

"So your mum. She still lives around here then?" Balthazar asked hesitantly, as though afraid Lu would say something like she was dead.

"No. She got a job in the Los Angeles area when I was sixteen. Of course, by then, I was already really tight with Ray, so when he found out I was leaving, he flipped holy Hell. Long story short, I lived with him and his parents through the rest of high school. His parents were cool with me and my mom trusted them of course. And I was really happy because I got to live with my best friend for two and a half years." Lu took a sip of his Coke. "He was the first real friend I had, anyway. I had no friends in Mississippi. I think I just gave off that 'battered child' vibe even though my dad breaking my arm was literally the worst thing he ever did to me. Then we got here and I was still antisocial as fuck until middle school, and then Ray transferred to my school halfway through eighth grade. We kind of just latched onto each other, but he's been the best friend I had. If I didn't have him, there'd be no way I'd be the well-adjusted individual I am now," he added with a playful grin.

"Wow. I didn't realize you two were so close."

"For a long time, all we had was each other. He doesn't have any brothers or sisters either, and even in high school, after everyone started over, it was hard for both of us to make friends. But we had each other. I've been lucky enough." Lu cleared his throat, aware he was getting a bit choked up. "Anyway, you've been getting close with Cas, right?"

Balthazar's face, which had looked deadly serious until this point, resolved into a more relaxed expression. "Yeah, as strange as it seems. We're what I would consider polar opposites—"

"He's a relative innocent, and you're… not?" Lu joked.

The blonde lightly smacked the back of Lu's head. "Something like that. But we've still been able to bond. It's nice. I don't have to be this persona around him, this fictionalized representation of myself. No offense," he added at Lu's incredulous look. "He was the first person I was able to relax around in a long time. Mostly because I wasn't worried about getting into his pants," he said after a moment with a quick grin at the bassist. "He's got Dean and even though Gabe has Sam and I'm fairly sure Ray's straight—not entirely sure, just fairly—I connected with him the most."

"Ray's straight," Lu said, swallowing his last bite of burger and tossing the wrapper into the middle of the parking lot.

"If you say so," Balthazar laughed. "But even so—" His tone changed almost immediately. "Is that Michael?"

Lu's head instantly snapped in the direction Balthazar indicated. The bottom dropped out of his stomach. "Shit," he muttered. Balthazar was right—walking out of In-N-Out Burger was definitely Michael followed by two petite blondes—neither of whom was Eve—and a shorter guy with a week's worth of scruff across his face. "Yeah, that's him."

"Might be a little awkward to run into him right now, eh? Especially with your new singer?" Balthazar added with a grin.

"Especially since he's the fucker my ex was cheating on me with? Yeah, I'd say so." Lu finished off his Coke and tossed it to the side before climbing into the storage area of the hearse.

"What? What's up?"

"You wanna see me fight that asshole again? Because I can pretty much guaran-fucking-tee that that's gonna happen if he starts talking to me. I don't think you want to see that."

"Could be interesting," the blonde joked.

Lu glared at the four who had their food in hand as they continued across the parking lot. "What I want to know is who those other jokers are." Maybe Michael was sleeping with one of the girls. That would certainly explain Eve's reestablished interest in getting back into Lu's good books.

But Michael had caught sight of Balthazar, who was still perched near the back bumper and calmly finishing off Lu's fries. The former Blue Archangel singer looked at the blonde and then, inexplicably, his gaze shifted into the back of the hearse to see Lu's cold stare aimed right at him. Michael smirked and headed toward them.

"Well, look who it is. What are you doing so far from home?"

Lu hopped out of Bones and glared at Mikey, wishing he could shoot death-beams out of his eyes. "Just finished up at the studio for a day. We got signed with Leviathan a few weeks ago." A muscle in his jaw twitched and he hoped he'd be able to hop in the front seat and make a quick getaway if need be. Or that Balthazar would have the presence of mind to step in and break up a potential fight.

The other three were gathering up behind Michael in interest. "A record deal, huh? Pretty impressive." Michael's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "I assume you found a new singer, then?"

"That would be me," Balthazar said smoothly, although Lu wished he had kept his mouth shut. He had no desire to make the blonde a target for whatever kind of revenge Michael may have had in mind.

The former singer's gaze immediately snapped onto Balthazar. The accent must have registered because he raised an eyebrow, but he didn't comment on it. "I'd probably feel threatened if we hadn't just signed with Leviathan last week."

"'We'?" Lu glanced at the three gathered behind Michael who didn't appear to regard them with any animosity, unlike Michael.

"Lilith, Chuck, and Ruby here. We're The Fallen Ones. Of course, Eve mentioned she saw you at the studio. Hard at work already, huh?"

Lu wasn't sure what to make of any of this information. "Yeah. Trying to get this cranked out as soon as possible. Is there something important you wanted, or are we just exchanging pleasantries?"

Michael scoffed. "That implies this is enjoyable. No, I just wanted to hear firsthand how you're doing. Call me sentimental, but I wondered."

It had already been a month and a half since Michael left, but it seemed sometimes like it had only been a few days. Anger started to buzz at the back of Lu's head, although he didn't know why. Maybe it was just that Michael had a tendency to infuriate him over stupid things or nothing at all. "Right. Well, we were just leaving," he nearly snarled, slamming the back of the hearse closed.

Michael narrowed his eyes. "So were we."

As soon as he and his new band were out of sight, Lu threw the rest of his fries halfway across the parking lot.

"I was eating those," Balthazar protested.

"I needed something to throw. I'll buy you another basket of fries if it means that much to you."

"I don't want different fries—I wanted those fries," the blonde said. When Lu shot him a half-irritated, half-confused look, Balthazar grinned. He was obviously being deliberately petulant.

"Quit whining," he said, although the singer's smile was infectious.

By the time they climbed back into the front of Bones, the run-in with Michael had completely escaped Lu's mind.

MOTHERFUCKING DATE NIGHT. I am totally in love with Lu and Ray's bromance. *swoons*