"This is bad," Cas said. "This is really bad." The five of them were still sitting at the table after Michael's little outburst.

"Oh you don't say," Gabe muttered. "Luci what the hell?" Lucifer just scowled at him, before looking back down at his drink. "Shit we have a concert tomorrow, you guys have to perform together—"

"I don't think Michael wants to perform," Luci growled.

"That's not really a choice he gets to make," Gabe replied. "He signed a contract, he's in this band, and even if he wants to quit he needs to at least do these last concerts with us."

"Just find someone to replace him," Luci muttered.

"Luci it doesn't work like that," Gabe said.

Meanwhile Sam and Dean were looking back and forth between them awkwardly.

"Should we go?" Dean asked quietly. Gabe sighed.

"Honestly that might be best," he said. "As much as I love Sam's company, we really need to sort this out." Sam nodded, and he and Dean stood, quietly gathering their things.

"Hey Cas, when you get the chance, I need to talk to you," Dean said to Cas, leaning in close so no one else could hear.

"Okay Dean," Cas said, tilting his head slightly. "I'll come by once we get Michael sorted." Dean just nodded and turned to walk out, Sam following hesitantly behind him as he looked back at the distressed Novak's.

Well. This certainly puts a hole through our ship.

~~

"Dean what's up?" Sam asked when they got back to their hotel room. Dean had looked distracted the whole way, gradually looking almost annoyed.

"It's just something Michael said," Dean said. "Making me a bit confused. Doesn't matter Sammy, there are obviously bigger problems going on right now."

"Whatever it is is clearly bothering you, you shouldn't just ignore it," Sam said.

"It doesn't matter, I'll talk to Cas and clear it up with him tomorrow," Dean said, shaking his head. Sam just sighed, knowing exactly what Dean was talking about, and knowing that if he was going to find out, it shouldn't be like this.

~~

Gabriel sat in Michael and Luci's room, waiting for Michael's return. He waited, and he waited. At around 1am it became evident that Michael wasn't going to come back, even if Luci wasn't there, crashing in Gabe and Cas's room instead.

He picked up his phone again to call Michael, but it went unanswered just as the all the other calls had done.

"Well Michael I didn't want to have to do this," Gabe muttered, before scrolling to a different contact and dialling the number. "Hey Crowley. Yeah I've got a bit of a problem...think your demons can track down Michael?"

That was how roughly an hour later, Crowley showed up at the hotel with a scowling Michael in tow. Michael was a mess, clothes untidy, hair tousled, a slight stumble to his step that meant he'd probably been drinking.

"Sort this mess out now," Crowley demanded. "I don't care what personal shit you've got going on, you're all performing tomorrow night whether you like it or not. The contract demands it." He turned briskly and left the room, leaving MIchael and Gabriel alone.

"What do you want Gabriel?" Michael said, but without any of the bite his tone had when he was speaking to Lucifer.

"I want to know what's wrong," Gabe said. Michael's eyes darkened, but Gabe continued before he could start speaking. "And Mike, I don't care if you're having problems with the band. Wait that doesn't sound right. I'm bad at this." He sighed. "What I mean to say is, if ever you wanted out, you could've just told us. Because we're a band but you're also our friend Michael, you're pretty much a brother to me and Cas. Your happiness comes first."

At this, Michael's resolve visibly weakened, his eyes dropping as the anger seeped out of his expression. He moved to sit on the bed beside Gabriel. "It's not that Gabe. Maybe I was just using that as something to throw against Luci, just anything that would hurt him. I love being a part of this band, and maybe it wasn't where I always wanted my future to go, and sometimes I do wish I was somewhere else, but it's part of who I am now."

"So then...what happened between you and Luci?" Gabe asked softly, putting a comforting hand on Michael's shoulder.

"I'm not sure...it wasn't any specific thing...he's just, he's been getting on my nerves lately. It's like he wants to control my life, he wants to be around me all the time and he never seems to want to share." Michael gave an exasperated sigh. "And he's just so...blind, and clueless, and hopeless."

"Michael...have you ever thought about the reason why this is bothering you so much?" Gabriel knew he was prodding at the issue now, but Michael needed to come to this realization. Because everyone seemed to be able to see it except those too.

"Because...I don't know, because it's not his choice what I do with my time?"

"Okay but does it really bother you that he's always around? You two have been inseparable since you met."

"I guess...maybe not, but...why else..."

"What's he so blind about Michael? And clueless about?"

Michael didn't say anything for a few moments, visibly struggling with the answer. Gabriel let him think, not pressing further for an answer.

"He...he's always around me, how doesn't he see how it looks? Everyone thinks we're a couple and he just seems oblivious to it. We flirt back and forth and he shakes it off like it's nothing and still has the audacity to interrupt when people seem interested in me." Michael looked visibly shaken up by this point, tears threatening to spill from the corners of his eyes as he looked down at his hands.

"Okay well Mikey," Gabriel said. "What I think is that you need some time to think about this. I'm going to leave the room and you can clean yourself up and get some sleep. And if you're not up to performing tomorrow then that's okay. But I'm going to leave you with one question to think about..." He paused for dramatic affect, because he's Gabriel, of course he's going to be dramatic. "Does that all bother you so much because you're not actually dating him, or because you want to be dating him?" Michael looked up with him with wide eyes, and Gabriel just gave him a pat on the shoulder before quietly leaving the room, heading back to the other hotel room.

Michael sat in the silence for a few moments, eyes still wide. A sob choked through his body as what Gabriel said really set in his mind.

Meanwhile, Gabriel made his way back to the room where Cas and Luci were sitting tensely.

"Did you find him?" Cas asked, standing up as Gabe walked in. Gabe nodded.

"I talked to him too," Gabe said. "I think he just needs a bit of time, but he'll come around. But Luci..." Luci didn't even look up as Gabriel addressed him. "You can't be too hard on him for this. He has his reasons and they're fair."

"Like hell they are," Luci muttered. "Who does he think he is to treat me like that after we've been friends for so long." Gabe shared a glance with Cas.

"Lucifer," Cas said quietly. "You can't put this entirely on him...if anything, you're at fault here too."

"Oh and now you're both on his side?" Luci snapped. "Are you both going to suddenly quit the band too? Ruin my entire life and everything that I've worked to build?" Cas just sighed.

"You're mad at yourself Luci, not us," Cas said. "I think it'd be best for us to leave you alone right now. Go get a new room." Luci's scowl deepened, and he stormed out of the room.

"Do you really think that was a good idea?" Gabe asked his brother.

"You know him as well as I do," Cas said. "He'll tire himself out and then will sink into misery again before actually figuring out what's wrong."

Gabe sighed. "We should never have let them get this out of hand."

"It was never our place to say anything," Cas replied.

"You can say that all you want Cassie, but sometimes I feel like if I say something it'll work out better for everyone."

Cas narrowed his eyes. "How I deal with Dean is my business, don't you dare mess with this."

"Well it's your funeral anyway," Gabe muttered. "Why are all my brothers idiots?"

"Says the one who's essentially dating someone just so they can eventually get in their pants."

Gabe froze. Stared at Cas for a moment. Narrowed his eyes. "You don't know anything about this Castiel, stay out of it. He's more to me than that."

"He'd be the first," Cas muttered and Gabe just scowled.

"It's late, I'm going to bed," he said dismissively. "Goodnight Castiel." He turned his back and proceeding to ignore Cas as he went about getting ready for bed. Cas just turned away and pretended that the use of his full name didn't hurt.

~~

Sorry that it's short, but the next event is something that I wanted to give its own chapter, and this one was Michifer centred so I decided to leave it there...next chapter will centre around Destiel ;)

So how are yall? I had comic con on the weekend and bought a bunch of art despite not actually having a single bit of free wall space...oops xD

*Gives everyone popcorn*